Who Is Colby Acuff? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

Last month we introduced you to Colby Acuff’s music. Today, we are sharing more about Acuff’s rising stardom and spotlighting his journey so far. Growing up in Northern Idaho, the singer-songwriter was always drawn to music. “I grew up in the outdoors, a lot of hunting, a lot of fishing out there. The community out there is great, and I started playing music pretty young. I got into piano when I was about five.”

Acuff shares that he was exposed to a wide breadth of music throughout his upbringing. “A lot of the stuff that I grew up on was solely country music, but when I was a kid, I really got into 50s/60s, rock and roll and then my dad showed me really old bluegrass music,” he shared, adding later, “My mom influenced me by showing me some of my favorite artists as well like Elton John and The Eagles, really contemporary, top 40 stuff from the 70s.”

At just eleven years old, Acuff found himself fronting his first band as lead singer and drummer. “I played my first bar when I was twelve and from there, I’ve just kind of always done it,” he shared. With a little encouragement from his mom, the singer also learned how to play guitar and started writing his own music just a few years later. “Once I finally learned to play guitar and starting writing, I ended up really loving it. That’s what kept me in music. I think I would have quit music a long time ago if it wasn’t for writing.”

With the exception of a few breaks here and there, music remained a constant. “The only thing I knew is music, so I tried to see if there were other things, but there was never anything else,” shared Acuff. “It’s the only thing I can do at 120%. 

The Turning Point:

After graduating high school, Acuff continued to work on his music, writing and playing gigs, while working other jobs too. “I worked four jobs when I was a teenager, and the last time I had four jobs was when I was 25 which was about a year ago, so I feel like now, the only thing I do is music, but I feel like I work fifteen jobs by just doing this one thing that I love.” He added, “It’s super fulfilling and I can do it to my fullest ability. I feel like that’s really the main thing.”

Acuff continued to hone his talent, drawing inspiration from other artists to create a sound that is distinctly his own. “I kind of put all that together, and that’s kind of the sound you get from me. It’s like Elton John melody with bluegrass sound and the writing is kind of somewhere between Hank Williams and Bob Dylan.”

While working independently on his music, Acuff and his band dropped an incredible record called ‘If I Were The Devil’ that would go on to change things for him. “I remember telling the guys in the control room at the time, when we were cutting down the mixes, “’Man if this record could do 1 million streams that would be incredible.’ And the record ended up doing 50 million streams. That was a life changing record for us.”

A little less than two years later, Acuff got the call from Nashville and ultimately went on to ink a record deal with Sony Music Nashville. “This band I have and everything, we have been ready for this for so long. It’s such a crushing band. I have a lot of pride for my band,” he shared. “We wanted to go and grind and do it, and here we are.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Acuff just released his major label debut album, Western White Pines, featuring ten incredible songs that speak to his artistry. “I had probably about 30 songs written for the record, and when we got the producer, Eddie Spear, me and him sat down for a week during pre-production for the record and we worked out all of these songs and arranged them how we wanted to, and then picked them from there,” shared the singer-songwriter.

Each and every song on the record reflects Acuff’s journey thus far and who he is proudly becoming. Drawing from both his bluegrass and rock influences, Western White Pines is a special, one-of-a-kind record. “I love them all, and I go through phases of which songs I like, but honestly out of all the records, this one’s my favorite. This one is just the closest to me.”

When asked about his current favorite song, Acuff settled on “Outlaw in Me” as one of his favorites off the album. “We picked it as a focus track for a reason,” he shared, adding, “I think it’s really true to who I am. I think it paints a good picture of me at 26.”

Acuff and his band will continue to promote the music throughout the rest of the year on tour, and there is definitely more exciting things in the works too. Stay tuned!

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