Who is LECADE? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music
Who is LECADE? The singer-songwriter joined us to chat about his journey to country music. Get to know the rising star here…
LECADE // Courtesy of Big Machine Records
Quick Facts:
Full Name – Cade Brinkley “LECADE”
Birthdate – 12/19/2002
Hometown – Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Current City – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical Influences – Koe Wetzel, Ernest, Riley Green
Label – Big Machine Records
Current Single – “Glass” (as of date of article 9/2/2024)
The Beginning:
Today’s spotlight shines on multi-faceted, singer-songwriter, Cade Brinkley. Brinkley creates music under the name LECADE. We chatted with LECADE about his journey, his record deal, his music, and everything in between. Keep reading to get to know the artist.
“I was born in Baton Rouge, I kinda grew up back and forth between there and a small-town in Mississippi, in the Hattiesburg area,” began LECADE. “I started making music freshman year of high school, when I was living in the Louisiana area. I had a buddy that was kind of doing rap music, and I thought it was really cool and I thought I could do it too, so I started to write that with him. Made a couple of songs with him, kind of kept doing that and on.”
Throughout high school, LECADE listened to many different genres of music. He recalls loving the pop-punk vibe like artist, like MGK, as well as, being enamored by rap music. The singer also shares that his parents introduced him to country music, a genre he always loved. “My parents were big Brad Paisley, Johnny Cash, George Strait people, and Tim McGraw, and that’s kind of what I grew up on.”
Music was always his calling. “I always wanted to do music, I just liked music, I don’t really have a specific genre that I think I listen to more than the other. I just knew I wanted to be in music,” he shared. Adding, “I was always able to just sit down in my bedroom and write, produce, and mix songs, and I felt like not everybody has that gift, I feel like I was suppose to do music to the best of my ability, and it’s really paid off.”
The Turning Point:
Upon graduating high school, LECADE decided to give himself another year of trying to make music his future. He used social media to try to garner a fanbase and to make the right connections in the industry. “I was kind of doing this pop-punk stuff at the time, kind of the MGK route. […] I kind of made half a country song forever ago and I liked country, so I thought, “let me put this on the internet and see how it does,” I threw it up on TikTok one night and I went to bed, and I woke up, and it had some traction and “I thought this is what I am meant to do.”
The song was inspired by his newfound love for the artist, Koe Wetzel. “One of my biggest influences especially for the kind of music that I’ve been writing recently and what kind of popped me off on socials was Koe Wetzel when I found him,” he shared.
That viral country song caught the attention of a prominent label in Nashville called Big Machine Records. LECADE made frequent trips back and forth to Nashville, honing his songwriting talent, and began to write a lot of country music. At the same time, Scott Borchetta and the people at Big Machine wanted him as an artist. “I got up to Nashville pretty late in 2022, and I met with the people at Big Machine, and I signed a deal over there, and now we’re doing the best we can right now, doing some shows, and some one-offs.”
Today:
With a record deal and a team to back him, LECADE is showing no signs of slowing down. The rising artist is working as hard as he can to crank out new music and to grow his fanbase. Most recently, the singer released a song called “Glass.”
“‘Glass’ is one of my favorite songs that I’ve come across recently. It was written by a close friend of mine who helped me write a lot of the early stuff that did really well for me. It’s kind of a different thing than what I’m used to, but the second I heard it, I knew I had to put the song out,” shared the singer.
According to LECADE even though he did not write the song, he knew upon first listen that he had to record it.
“I was like “I’ve got to put this song out.” And we played it a couple of times before we released it, and it went over well. We played our first live band show in my hometown, and I had some people text me after [about the song],” he shared. Adding, “I was really stoked on it, so I called management, and everybody got on board with it from there. It really spoke to me, and I feel like it speaks to a lot of fans too. That’s really all you can ask for is that fans receive it well.”
“Glass” is only just the beginning for LECADE, who promises more music to come before the end of 2024. Stay tuned, and checkout his show schedule here!
Connect:
Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements about future LECADE releases.
To keep up with LECADE, follow him on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.
LECADE’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.