Who Is Andrew Jannakos? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Who Is Andrew Jannakos? Talented new country SONY Nashville recording artist, whose debut song “Gone Too Soon” went viral.

This week’s Swag Spotlight artist, Andrew Jannakos is a newly signed recording artist that we are super excited about. Fans may recognize his name from NBC’s The Voice or from social media, especially TikTok, but we are positive that you are going to remember his name because of his incredible talent. We chatted with the singer-songwriter about his journey and his passion for music.

A Georgia-native, Jannakos expressed his gratitude for his upbringing and his supportive family throughout the entire interview. Growing up north of Atlanta, the singer found an interest in music through his parents and grandfather. “Music was always there. Music was always a part of my life. My grandfather was a musician and had a bluegrass band and my mom has a great voice,” he shared with us, even adding later that he would listen to The Carpenters and scores from musicals with his mother in the car.

However, growing up as a 90s kid, Jannakos was all about being outside. At as young as five years old, he would go hunting with his father, and of course, country music was the soundtrack to their adventures. “I was always raised on country music and raised on southern rock like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey, The Eagles, and all those southern rock bands. So country was always the forefront of what I did.”

Of course, Jannakos also credits more current artists, especially Brad Paisley for his passion for the craft. “Brad Paisley is a huge inspiration to my music and just the way that I look at country music. You know he writes- his older stuff, his 90s stuff growing up, just told such a great story, and it got me through a lot of dark times in my life,” adding, “I have a different level of respect just because it got me through so much stuff.”

 

 

When high school ended, the singer pursued a career in hospitality, working at restaurants and bartending, honing his craft as a chef as well. “I never thought that I would pursue music as a career, I never thought that that would be an option,” he shared with us, later coming to a different realization, “It took me a long time to figure out that music was the thing that I wanted, it was the thing that I wanted to do with the rest of my life”.

That notion changed when he met his now wife and her young son. “She’s my biggest supporter,” he declared, “She saw me before I was even me […] She believed in me the moment she heard me sing.” With the support of his wife and her son, Jannakos took the little bit of momentum he got from The Voice, and continued to use social media as a platform for his music.

With some doors opening, Jannakos headed to a writer’s retreat in Chattanooga, Tennesee to write with some talented songwriters at the beginning of this year. It was at that retreat that he wrote his breakout single “Gone Too Soon” with Jason Afable and Joshua Clements Bricker. “We wrote the song in January,” he began, “I held it for a while, thinking about pitching it to some people, and I was finally like ya know what, why don’t I just cut it, and my wife was like ‘I’ve been telling you that for 5 months.’”

Once the entertainer finally received the final master back for the track, his wife encouraged him to post a Tiktok of him singing along to the song while cooking. After some hesitation on his part, he agreed, and the song went viral overnight, which eventually led to his record deal with SONY Nashville.

The track depicts the story of a long-distance relationship for Jannakos, but he acknowledges that others may connect to the song differently. “I just love country music. I just love music,” shared the singer, “So many people can connect to a song just through lyrics and it’s really inspiring to just want to continue to make good music.”

Jannakos is sure to continue to make waves with his original music. He anticipates a lot of new music coming down the pipeline next year, and fans can even get glimpses of unreleased tunes on his social media now. Jannakos is definitely one of the first on our list to see live when he is able to head out on the road to celebrate his accomplishments and of course “Gone Too Soon!”

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news about the upcoming Andrew Jannakos releases.