Who Is Jaxson Free? The Story Behind His Journey to Country Music
Who is Jaxson Free? The singer-songwriter joined us to chat about his journey to country music. Get to know the rising star here…
Jaxson Free
Quick Facts:
Birthdate – 12/14/1999
Hometown – Raleigh, North Carolina
Current city – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical influences – Justin Bieber, Rascal Flatts, Wayne Free (my dad), Cole, Eagles
Label – Goat Island
If you’re a fan of the swag that Justin Bieber has mixed with incredible songwriting skills, then you’ll love today’s artist. We chatted with Jaxson Free all about his unique talent, his songwriting accolades, and how he got started in music. Make sure you keep reading to learn more about this story.
“I was born in South Carolina. We moved to Charlotte then Raleigh, North Carolina when I was seven or eight, and I did all my growing up there,” began Free. “My Dad is a musician himself, and he plays for a couple of different bands. […] He played for the Embers, and that’s when I would go on the road with him a bunch and see how the road life was, and I honestly fell in love with that. Being around music all the time, I was always banging on the drums or picking up the guitar, just making noise with all that stuff. Me and my brother would fake put on concerts in the house and stuff.”
Free grew up enamored with music, knowing from an early age that music was going to be his livelihood. Throughout his childhood, he discovered all sorts of music and became a fan of different genres. “Songwriting influence, my dad would always write these songs and he would cut demos of them, and I would fall asleep to them at night. I would listen to them all the time. For a split second, I thought my dad was Justin Timberlake for real. […] Justin Timberlake’s album, the Justified Album is one of the best. Any Pharrell influence, I love,” he shared, adding, “My mom would always play Rascal Flatts in the car. Keith Urban, Sugarland, I would hear those songs all the time. […] I actually really loved that too.”
For Free, he connected to the storytelling of country music, the vibes of other genres, and the poetry in rap. “My dad in his band, played a bunch of beach songs and Motown songs, and I loved those too. I loved chords and melody. […] Then I found rapping with J. Cole and all the words, it felt like poetry, and I loved the emotion you get out of it.”
The Turning Point:
At just fifteen years old, the singer-songwriter wrote his first song, a rap song. “I was actually a rapper at first. I fell in love with J. Cole. […] I started out doing that, and then I did the independent artist thing strictly by myself from 2015 through 2020. I started getting buzz from different labels.”
Still an independent artist, Free continued to work on his career, posting online, and networking whenever he could. Eventually he connected with Goat Island’s Kos Weaver, who encouraged him to come out to Nashville to write. “In 2021, Kos was like “how would you feel about coming out to Nashville for a little while?” I didn’t even know that this whole scene was a thing. […] I came out here, and I just fell in love with it. I think we wrote twelve songs in five days,” he shared, adding, “I knew I wanted to move out here.”
He ended up making the move and shortly after earned his first cut as a songwriter with Kane Brown’s “Whiskey Sour.” Free went on to get two more cuts with Brown including, “Losing You” and his first number one at country radio, “Thank God.” The artist has become one of the most in-demand songwriters; penning hits for everyone from Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Lana Del Rey, Quavo and more.
Today:
Flash forward to today, Free is officially emerging as the artist he’s always been. He recently released a song called, “LET U GO” which showcased his honest and thoughtful storytelling, as well as, his ability to create a sonically-impressive song. “We originally wrote it for pitch because I was heavy in songwriting more when we wrote it. After we wrote it, I always thought in the back of mind that I would put this song out if no one takes it because it felt so cool and it felt so me,” he shared.
However, most recently Free shared another new song with fans called, “Don’t Come Lookin,” which is just as impressive. “We wrote it down in Costa Rica. We were down here on a writing retreat, and it was kind of a similar thing that we writing it for pitch down there, but we just all sat by the pool and grabbed a guitar, and we wanted to make a stripped down, just swaggy country song that’s about how you moved on from a toxic thing and came back,” he shared. “I knew I lived that so the whole spiel was talking to this person and telling them I hope you find what you’re looking for but you’re not going to find what you’re looking for here because I moved on. I think a lot of people can relate to it.”
The song releases mark just the beginning for Free as a signed artist. He is sure to release even more songs this year, including a feature that he has yet to share his partner on. “I got a ton of music coming,” shared Free. Stay tuned!
Connect:
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Jaxson Free’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.
