Who Is Griffen Palmer? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music

This week we are highlighting an artist that you may or may not know already, Griffen Palmer. The singer-songwriter made waves on the hit show, Songland and now is a signed artist at Big Loud Records. Learn his story below!

“I grew up in Pickering, Ontario,” begins Palmer. “My dad was always in bands when I was a kid, and he was always super supportive of me learning instruments, and jamming with him, and singing with him and stuff.”

The singer shared that he owes his early love for music to his father, who introduced him to artists like Journey and Def Leppard. “I was always listening to whatever my dad was listening to for the most part which was Top 40s, 80s vibes,” adding later, “It was all about those big, power anthem kind of music when I was really young.” He also recalls his sisters listening to powerful, female country artists like Shania Twain, which was his early introduction to the genre.

However, it was not until later that Palmer began to fall in love with the genre organically. “I got into country music when I was like fourteen or fifteen, in high school, I was a little late to the game, but it’s kind of fun being late to the game, because there’s so much stuff to dive into and discover all on your own.”

The Turning Point:

Despite a love for music, Palmer went to college in Ohio to play rugby. “I was always in cover bands in high school for fun, but when I moved to Ohio to play Rugby for college, I kind of started using music as a way to pay for my school, so I started booking gigs,” he shared. “By the time I moved to Ohio, it was like the perfect place to be, when you’re playing these shows, every request you get or every person you meet wants to hear country music.”

While college gave him a platform to play music, Palmer still did not have a plan once his visa expired. “I moved home from school when my visa expired […] I was trying to figure out how I could get back to Nashville to really chase this dream of mine, and I met this songwriter named Geoff Warburton at a house party.”

Palmer and Warburton, who penned hits for artists like Shawn Mendes, hit it off instantly, so much so that they began writing together. Warburton even connected Palmer to the Nashville music scene, ultimately helping him to land a publishing deal with Big Loud Records.

“Signing with Big Loud Publishing came at the end of 2018/beginning of 2019, and Songland wasn’t too far after that, maybe a year later, so I was still pretty new to the whole thing. I had just moved to Nashville and was figuring out my crew, and who I like to write with and stuff,” explained the singer.

Shortly after that, Palmer signed his record deal with Big Loud Records too.

Today:

Presently, Palmer is a newcomer in the country music scene, eager to get his music out there and to impress his growing fanbase. “I feel like when you’re an artist whose dreaming of releasing music, your whole dream is to have music out in the world to have people listen to it,” shared the singer.

As a thank you to fans and the perfect song to kick off his artist story, Palmer released the song he shared on Songland called “Second Guessing” as his major-label debut single.

“We kind of just had a sit down as a team and we were kind of just coming across what is the story we’re trying to tell here, what is the story of you and how you got here, and I felt like this song is so important,” he shared. “The initial following of people that started listening to my music was because of that song, and I had so many people every single week from when the show aired to now, people reaching out saying it’s going to be my first dance song or I really wish I had a full version of yours from the show. […] I kept telling people, maybe one day, so it was kind of a no-brainer to dream it up for how we would do it as a first dance song.”

Palmer has much more music coming down the pipeline soon, as well as, his first tour with label-mate, Lily Rose. He is certainly going to be one to look out for!

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