Who Is Colin Stough? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music (2025)

Full name – Colin Stough
Birthdate – 07/28/2004
Hometown – Gattman, Mississippi
Current city – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical influences – Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Ray Vaughn, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Paycheck, Elvis Presley

Label – 19 Recordings/BMG Nashville
Current Project – “White Trash” (as of date of article: 6/23/2025)

This week we reconnected with singer-songwriter, Colin Stough to catch-up with him about the trajectory of his music career. We first chatted with the entertainer back in 2023, shortly after his stint on American Idol, where he placed third in the competition. Keep reading to check-in with the singer and learn more about his story!

“I grew up in a little town in Mississippi, Gattman, Mississippi. There’s about 73 people there,” began the singer. “Growing up, I got my first guitar when I was probably eight years old, and I bought it out of a pawn shop. I just kind of always played music, and I went through some rougher things in life in my teenage years, and I just kind of turned to [music] as a coping mechanism.”

Music became Stough’s solace during unpredictable times in his youth. “I had a very troubled, different childhood growing up. We had hard times, we had good time, and we had times that were plain-out fucked up to be honest with you. I just kind of learned to write about how I felt, and that’s where it all started. “

Stough looked up to artists who were great songwriters, as well as, legendary guitar players. “My number one influence is Lynyrd Skynyrd, and then Waylon Jennings, Guns N’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix, pretty much all of your main guitar players and all your great lyricists too. […] There’s a lot of Conway Twitty in there too because my grandma loved Conway Twitty too.”

Despite loving music, Stough never thought he’d end up where he is now. “I’ve always dreamed of doing this. It’s so surreal for me because I never thought I’d actually do it,” he shared. “I kind of bought that guitar with that little dream in my pocket and I never thought that it would kind of come true, but we’re here, and we’re rocking out.”

The Turning Point:

As Stough got older, he continued to rely on both his horses and music for comfort; however, his mother encouraged him to chase his dreams, ultimately signing him up for American Idol. “My mom signed me up for Idol, and I went on to do that. Stough impressed all three judges, during his audition, singing an emotive cover of the Lynyrd Skynryd song, “Simple Man.” His incredible vocal tone and heart proved his staying power from day one.

After American Idol, the singer-songwriter thought he was just going to go back home to work. “I was like well I guess I’m going back home to work. They called me two days after I got home, and they were like, we need you in Nashville,” he shared, adding, “I heard some rumors about a bunch of people wanting to sign me, so with American Idol, I got to go with BBR/BMG and 19 of course, and it’s just been amazing. We have a great team, and I finally just now, getting dialed in, where I’ll only write with certain people because you figure out something that starts working, you don’t break it, you don’t try to fix it.”

Ultimately, he signed his record deal shortly after and began working and dare I say, outworking many of his peers in Music City. “I had two big challenges whenever I moved to Nashville. When you go on a show like American Idol, you gain what they call “TV fame,” but when you get off that show, and you start doing music, you have to flip that, and you have to do it quickly to music fame. We’re still doing that. My second biggest challenge was I have a physical work ethic that is not matched. There’s not another person in this town that will out work me, and that’s just how I was raised. But you have to swap that physical work ethic for a mental one. […] It’s probably just now, in the last six months, I’ve been able to flip that.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Stough has found his signature sound in the industry, all while growing up.“We’re doing something that’s honestly in a different lane than everybody else, and I love that,” he shared, adding, “I’m putting my actual feelings in a song, and I tell everybody that’s what I do this day. I never write about a story that didn’t happen, and it’s just something that I love. That’s the reason that I do this. Music and writing have brought me closer to the good Lord, to my family, and  brought me closer to my own self.”

Most recently Stough released arguably his best single to date, “White Trash,” a song that truly shows his songwriting prowess. When he was young and he and his mother were called ‘White Trash,’ Stough stored it a way as a compliment. “I kind of took it as a compliment because that put me different than everybody else. I graduated and got a bunch of tattoos, and stuff like that. It was always something that I was proud. […] I knew there were other people in the world that was like that too.”

Eventually “White Trash” became a song. “I thought it would be a killer song title […]. One of my buddies was over here, and I kept saying that I was white trash, and I took that as a sign from the Lord to write that because it just kept popping in my head. I went in with Jamie Collazo and Kenny Whitmire and we sat with the song for probably an hour and a half, and we did a demo on it, and I thought it was one of those songs that was going to sit in a folder, but that’s not how it was at all.”

The song is an anthem for the misunderstood. Referred to as a “battle cry for the outcast” in a recent press release, the new song showcases Stough’s gritty and piercing vocals. “White Trash” unapologetically captures how the feeling of confidence; despite, what naysayers may say. It also firmly showcases Stough’s unique country-rock music.

“For a couple of months I was chasing the mainstream stuff and what was going to work, and I can do that, and I’d probably have a successful career, but at the end of the day, I just wasn’t happy when I’d get home from writing, and so now, we’re dialed in, and we put “White Trash” out, and all the songs that we are wanting to put out are really just me,” he shared, finally adding, “We’re staying as authentic as possible, as stripped-back as possible, and I’m just happier.”

Stay tuned for more music from Stough soon!

Connect:

To keep up with Colin Stough, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook.

Colin Stough’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.