Who Is Deerock? The Story Behind His Journey to Country EDM
Who is Deerock? The New York-native DJ joined us to chat about his journey as a pioneer in the country-EDM music scene. Get to know the rising star here…
Quick Facts:
Country music and EDM might seem like an unlikely pairing, but Deerock is proving otherwise. Derek Attardi, who goes by Deerock is an absolute force in the music industry right now. We chatted with Deerock all about his love for music, how he’s helped put country-EDM music on the map, and his new music.
As a Long Island, New York native, Deerock grew up surrounded by music. “My mom’s side of the family, she has four brothers, and she’s the oldest, and they’re all musicians. I was always around music. Then my brother and my sister who are older than me were always taking me to concerts,” he shared. Adding, “My first show I went to was in New York City at a club called Pacha, and I saw a guy named Audien. He was the guy who inspired me. I went to the show to see the headliner called Knife Party which was a dubstep act, and he was the guy that came on before him, and I loved his style of music. It was really cool to see that, and then this past year, I did a tour with him. We played at five or six different spots, and it was super full circle.”
Despite being a huge music fan, Deerock did not start truly dabbling in his own artistry until college. “I started with music probably around junior year of college. I bought a DJ board and then I started playing the local bars near James Madison University and the fraternities, so that’s kind of how I got into the space.”
The Turning Point:
Deerock continued to hone in on his DJ skills, while completing his MBA at JMU and working a corporate job. “I was working a corporate job, I was pursuing music, and it started to really pop off, when TikTok became a thing and COVID was ending. I was leveraging TikTok to get shows, and I was playing a lot in the college circuit,” he shared.
The rising star found himself playing more and more shows, including a ton in the southeast of the country. “I knew I was going more into a country music market. So when I would go to the schools, I would try to incorporate an original song of mine, I would take the vocal off and I would put a country vocal over it, and the kids loved it,” shared Deerock. “I saw so much traction towards that, and I thought that was what country/EDM is.”
“It started doing so well, that I had a mix series on Soundcloud called ‘Get Up It’s Game Day,’ which was kind of like play this before a sports match or you’re tailgating or you’re pregaming for a party. Then I made a mix series in 2021 called, ‘Get Up It’s Country EDM,’ which is the same as ‘Game Day,’ just country vocals over the top. It was 25 minute long mixes, where people could listen to it, and people loved it, and I got a lot of traction for it.”
Although he saw so much success in the country-EDM space that he was helping to cultivate, it wasn’t until 2025 that Deerock really went all in. “I had been doing country-EDM since 2021/2022, but I had always kept it on the back end, just feeding the beast, but starting this past November, I’ve been putting it on the front end,” he shared.
“The stuff that I’m making is keeping it as country authentic as possible, but just adding a dance beat to it. I’m not trying to take away the elements to the song. I guess the vision is I grew up listening to EDM in the 2014-2017-ish era, which I thought was beautiful because it was mostly a full verse, a chorus, and a bridge, and nowadays, a lot of the EDM is typical house music where there’s a repeated vocal. It’s allowed me to make music that I love and have vocals and lyrics and all these beautiful melodies that stand out.”
Today:
Flash forward to right now, Deerock is absolutely crushing it in the country-EDM music space. The DJ is playing all across the country, including at the ACM Awards this May, as well as, bringing his tour, Deerock’s Club Rodeo to a ton of different cities this summer. (New Yorkers, be ready this August!)
Most recently the singer collaborated with Kyle Clark on a reimagined version of Clark’s song, “Hot On.” According to Deerock, this collaboration was a long-time coming. “So I heard this song a while back, when he first released it, and I fell in love with the song. […] I really wanted to redefine what I think country-EDM is. This was a song I loved from Kyle, so I hit him up, and asked if he was interested in a reimagined, country-EDM version and re-releasing it. He was interested in it, and he sent me over the stems and all the tracks, and I took some of them out and added my own, and I sent it to him, and he loved it. I kept all of the original elements that made it such a good song, and I added my own little drum kick and my piano and my synths to it, and it sounded really good. Anyone who loved this song will still love his new one that has more of a dance beat to it.”
The new version is summer-ready and breathes new life into the already fun-loving song. Deerock’s talent and intellect is taking the country-EDM space to new heights and bringing new fans to both genres at the same time. We’re manifesting a collaboration with artists like Russell Dickerson and Mitchell Tenpenny in the future, and who knows what else!
Deerock is ready for stardom. “The whole country-EDM space, there’s so much real estate to take over and I’m excited to be a frontrunner. Avicii kinda started it and now Diplo is big, but I think the end goal is to get where Diplo is and he has a Diplo’s Honky Tonk at Stagecoach. I want to have a Deerock’s Club Rodeo at some of these country festivals and have a stage of my own.” Stay tuned for more!
Connect:
Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news about future Deerock releases.
To keep up with Deerock, follow him on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook.
Deerock’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.
