Who Is Peytan Porter? The Story Behind Her Journey to Country Music

In a special spotlight feature, we are introducing you to an incredible new singer-songwriter, Peytan Porter. The songstress is the type of artist who has a vocal range for days, but also creates songs with substance. We chatted with Porter all about her journey to where she is now and of course about her brand new EP, ‘In My Head’ out today.

Porter grew up in North Georgia with a family who loved basketball, a sport that she also played. “I’m the only person in even my extended family that ever picked up an instrument. I am definitely the weird, artsy one of the sports family,” shared the singer “When I started writing songs, it became a thing like, I want to skip practice and audition for The Voice. And my mom who was a coach, would make me ask my teammates if that was okay.”

Despite her family’s interest in sports rather than music, she recalls her family and her small town always encouraging her to pursue her passions. At the early age of eleven years old, Porter even started to write her own lyrics and music.

“I started writing songs when I was probably eleven or twelve,” began the singer. “My first concert was Rascal Flatts, and Taylor Swift was opening for them. It was the first time I saw someone close to my age being a country singer and she talked about how she wrote her own songs about her experiences.”

Despite secretly loving Swift, Porter still did not see a path for herself in country music. “There’s a lot of songs about loving your hometown and wanting to live there forever and that just wasn’t something that represented how I felt, so I wasn’t sure that I was going to be great at writing a country song, because I felt differently than them.”

Eventually Kacey Musgraves came out with her record Same Trailer Different Park, and Porter felt seen. “It was the first time I saw a different perspective of like “I love it here and I can care for the people and where I came from, but it doesn’t mean I fit in here.” That was the first time I really felt like I could have a voice in country music that didn’t have to be the same narrative that I kind of grew up around.”

The Turning Point:

Shortly there after, Porter knew her path was to head to Nashville, Tennessee. After graduating high school, she started college at Lipscomb University in music city. While in college, the singer honed in on her songwriting talent, writing music in her dorm room, and eventually beginning to co-write during her sophomore year at college.

Porter continued her education by landing herself an internship at a publishing company. “I just tried to be invisible and listen to all the songs that were being turned in and at the time the songs that were getting turned in were like HARDY’s “One Beer” and all of these songs before they came out,” shared the artist, adding later, “We had all of Chris Stapleton’s catalog there and I just got to study great songs.”

This led to her receiving her own publishing deal offers, just before her senior year of college. Despite wanting to pull the trigger, something kept Porter from signing. As fate would have it, then the pandemic hit, which sent the singer right back to Georgia.

“Spring semester senior year I had almost gotten a degree for something I didn’t want to do and said no to the job that I wanted, so my mom was like ‘you need to figure this out,'” shard Porter, “So I kept writing, kept taking meetings, and then by the fall of 2020, I had an offer from the company I am with now, Jody Williams Songs and Warner Chappell Music”

Today:

Now with a publishing deal, Porter’s focus was completely on writing music. However, after a viral TikTok moment occurred for her in February of 2021, it was evident that the singer needed to start releasing her own music to her growing fanbase. “I just tried to collect as many fans as I could. And started giving them unreleased music,” shared the singer. This led to her team helping her create her EP, In My Head, out today. Check out the brand new music and our full review of the project here.

“I never wanted my music to be red dirt, Georgia. I always wanted it to be more mountainy, Georgia. Those sound and feel very different, so I always wanted to be able to grab the breezy, mountain air feel from where I came from in my music.”

In My Head is certainly that! The record is filled with songs that speak to Porter’s experience so far. “This first one covers a lot of ground,” began the songstress. “I think it’s a big kind of introductory to all the different sides of my personality and kind if my perspective one the world. It covers the gamut of emotions. It’s got me at my worst and me at my probably better.”

Fans can certainly expect even more honesty, authenticity, and music from Porter very soon. According to the singer herself, “The only reason I want to be an artist is so that I can meet people and connect people and hopefully make a little girl in her bedroom feel seen in her small town who is not finding music that says exactly what she, or he, feels.” We think it’s safe to say, she has accomplished that!

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