Who is Brinley Addington? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music
Who is Brinley Addington? The singer-songwriter joined us to chat about his journey to country music. Get to know the rising star here…
Brinley Addington
Quick Facts:
Full Name – Brinley Addington
Birthdate – September 6th
Hometown – Kingsport, Tennessee
Current City – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical Influences – Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, James Taylor
Label – Adding Tone Records
Current Single – “Belle Of The Bar” (as of date of article 6/24/24)
The Beginning:
The unsung heroes of country music are the songwriters. Today’s spotlight artist, Brinley Addington is a true songwriter through and through. While he did the artist thing for several years, his true talent lies in his belief in the song, the story, and the songwriting process. We caught up with Addington to chat all things music and everything in between.
“I’m originally from East Tennessee […] I have been in Nashville for fifteen years, so It definitely feels like home now,” began the singer-songwriter. “I grew up on what I heard in church and traditional sounding country music. Some of my big influences were Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, and even going back to Alabama.”
According to Addington, his love of country music stemmed from 90s country music, but he quickly went back in time, adding artists like Glen Campbell and Conway Twitty to his music collection. At just three years old, Addington recalls his first musical memory. “I’ve always loved country music. I always knew, since I was three years old, when my grandparents brought me to the Grand Ole Opry, that’s where I fell in love with it. I became obsessed with country music,” he shared. “The first memory I ever had was being at the Opry and the curtain coming up and that feeling of “what is this?” There’s something about the music that always spoke to me, just the stories and the songwriting, there’s just so much to it.”
For Addington, country music was always his dream.
The Turning Point:
Flash forward to 2008, the singer-songwriter finally made the quick move to Nashville, Tennessee. “I transferred to Belmont University in Nashville,” he shared. “When I moved to Nashville, it was always my intention to be a performer, be a star as they say, and be the guy out front, and I pushed really hard on that for really about 10 years.”
Early in his career, Addington honed his skills as a songwriter and as a performer, but eventually decided to pull back on the artist side of things. “I gave it all I had, I made all the contacts I had, I was writing songs the whole time, and right around 2018 I kind of took a break. I was feeling kind of burnt out and I backed up and really started working on my songwriting. I kind of stopped touring. I just wanted to be at home a little bit more,” he shared.
“I took a break and started focusing on writing songs. I put a few songs out in 2020 just for fun and because we were all stuck at home. During that time, I really fell in love with songwriting and it started to kind of love me back a little bit. I always loved it and it was always the songs for me that made me love country music, but during the time, it felt like this is finally starting to make sense for me.”
In 2021, Addington earned a big hit with Ryan Hurd and Maren Morris’ song, “Chasing After You.” “It gave me a lot of confidence and peace, and what God has for me moving forward.”
Today:
Flash forward to today, Addington just released his first-ever songwriter-focused project. The 12-song project is called, Nobody’s Favorite, featuring 10 songs written by the singer and two outside cuts. “This is my first ever truly songwriter project. These are songs that I’ve written, ten of the songs that I’ve written that are some of my favorites of all time that I feel like are my stories to tell. The outside cuts sat around and I just loved them in my heart, and couldn’t believe no one recorded these,” shared the singer-songwriter.
Each and every song on the project is as meaningful as they come; however, the tittle track is one of the most special on the project. “It’s a special album and all we put into it, and the album title is special to me. I had that title for years, since I think 2018. I thought of it as this underdog battle cry, I’ll show you, I’m nobody’s favorite, but I’ll show you, and it felt really negative at the time […] I felt misunderstood and discounted, but then I met my fiancé, and it became I was nobody’s favorite, until I was hers, and it made it a lot sweeter for me,” he shared. Adding, “These songs were nobody’s favorite, but mine really, so I was like, ‘ya know, this might be this battle cry for the underdog, but it’s also okay to like what you like, and things that are your favorites, don’t have to be anyone else’s favorite.’”
While putting a pause on his artist career was bittersweet, Addington seems to have found balance in his personal life and his career. You can catch the singer at writer’s rounds, as well as, anticipate more music to come. Until then, make sure you check out Nobody’s Favorite!
Connect:
Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements about future Brinley Addington releases.
To keep up with Brinley Addington follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Brinley Addington’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.
