Fusing hard-rocking sonic aggression with the deep-feeling confessions of a country troubadour, River House Artists/Warner Music Nashville’s Austin Snell is an emerging country talent for whom the rules have never really applied. A Georgia native and Air Force vet who grew up on a steady diet of Nickelback, Three Doors Down, Creed and Alan Jackson, the Nashville newcomer has bucked Nashville’s “10 year town” moniker, arriving in 2022 and quickly starting work to make “grunge country” a household name. With distorted, dark-energy guitars, thundering drums and a wounded vocal at the end of its emotional rope, his gritty debut single “Excuse the Mess,” co-written with Presley Aaron and Christian Yancey, leads the charge into Snell’s opening chapter. The rising star now counts a rare SiriusXM Highway Find accolade – the same one bestowed on now-superstars like Maren Morris and Luke Combs. He is also the second artist ever chosen for SiriusXM’s Artist Accelerator program, and with a growing touring footprint that has put him on the road with country’s brightest stars, he’s set to drop another handful of hard-core country rockers as 2023 goes on. Mixing blacked-out rock aggression with late-night country reflection, “Pray All the Way Home” (co-written by Snell, Andrew Baylis, Michael Whitworth, Cam Walker) points the way ahead for one of Nashville’s most exciting new talents, proving once and for all: Some rules are really more like suggestions.
