Who Is Austin Snell? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Today’s spotlight artist truly has found his sound as a singer-songwriter. Austin Snell always loved music, but did not recognize it as a career path until later on in life. Growing up in a small town in Georgia, Snell recalls living that typical “small-town” lifestyle.

“As you can imagine, small-town life is pretty cliche,” he shared. “We grew up outside, playing in the woods, and before I could drive, I had a little golf cart I would drive around the town.” While growing up, Snell recalls taking trips with his dad, where listening to music was a part of the experience.

“Back when I was a kid, my dad had four CDs in the truck, and we would alternate through the four,” he began. “He had a 3 Doors Down CD, a Nickelback CD, a Creed CD, and an Alan Jackson CD and I think we added a Journey CD somewhere along the ride.” These artists were not only the soundtrack for his life then, but eventually would inspire him to write his own music. “It’s mainly rock music from that influence and it’s got that country lyric. […] When I was starting to write music, I was listening to everything. I was listening to rap music too.”

Upon graduating high school, Snell served in the Air Force, which was when music started to really take shape. “I was in South Carolina, I’ve always been kind of a night owl, and I was up really late, and I was watching videos of Ed Sheeran playing his little, loop pedal live show, and I thought that was really cool,” shared the singer. “I went and spent my last $400 on a Martin guitar, and I taught myself how to play covers and was just kind of doing it for myself.”

The Turning Point:

During his enlistment in the Air Force, Snell spent most of his free time learning to play covers on guitar, which eventually led him to write his own music.

“I wasn’t really planning on doing anything professionally at all, but my mom convinced me to start posting some of my covers online,” he shared. “It slowly grew into my hobby outside of work and it grew into me writing my own songs.”

Around that same time, TikTok became a big platform, and Snell noticed that people were consuming his content. “I’m definitely not the kind of center of attention kind of guy, but that’s how I get my emotions out, through my songwriting,” he shared.

Despite knowing that he was going to move to Nashville after his enlistment, Snell moved back home to Georgia for a year to spend time with his family first. After about a year, the singer had finally saved up enough money to move to Nashville and secured two roommates and a lease. He was about to move to Nashville, when something unexpected happened.

“A week to the day after I signed my lease […] I went to the doctor and they found a tumor in my spine, and so obviously I wasn’t going to move to Nashville as soon as I thought I was because I had to have surgery. […] Totally thought they were going to kick me off the lease […] They instead told me they would cover my side of the rent until I could make it out there,” shared the singer.

Snell went on to have surgery in February, 2022, and moved in May that year, where he quickly fell in with a buzzing crowd of songwriters and friends. “I  wasn’t really planning on putting any kind of music out, I was just planning on being in Nashville to learn the ropes of the industry, write, and find my sound.”

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Today:

Flash forward to today, Snell’s song “Excuse The Mess” is one of the most popular songs on TikTok. It went viral and allowed him to truly live out his dream as an artist. “We took an idea into the room. […] We wrote “Excuse The Mess” that day, and like always, I took it out of the room, and posted it on TIkTok to see what people thought of it, and it blew up.” As fate would have it, Snell worked hard and earned both a publishing deal and then a record deal because of the risk he took with that song.

Most recently, Snell shared his song, “Pray All The Way Home” with fans. The country-rock song is lyrically-impressive, allowing listeners to truly feel what Snell is feeling. The song is also catchy and heartfelt.

“We didn’t really know what it meant, but we sat there a little while, and I think I sang the first voice pretty fluently, after sitting there for 30 or so minutes,” shared Snell when reflecting on the writing process for the single. “The song hits super close to home. All of us can relate to expecting things to change when you continue to make the same mistakes.”

It is safe to say that this is only the beginning for Snell and his growing artistry. The singer has more songs coming down the pipeline soon, and fans can catch him playing gigs and the festival circuit all season long!

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