New To Top 20: Cole Swindell
You’ve been hearing his song “Chillin’ It” for the past few weeks on the Countdown, but now it’s made a big turn into our Top 20. He also wrote “Outta My Head,” the Top 15 hit by Craig Campbell. In addition, a lot of Lon’s co-hosts are talking about him. Folks like Luke Bryan, Chris Young, and Florida Georgia Line. So who is Cole Swindell? Country Countdown USA caught up with the Georgia native at a pre-CMA Awards party.
Cole Swindell is originally from Bronwood Georgia, and went to Georgia Southern University. That’s where he met Luke Bryan. When things took off for Luke, Cole joined him on the road, selling merchandise. In fact, the guy who sold you that Luke Bryan t-shirt just MAY have been Cole Swindell! At the same time, another young Georgian, Craig Campbell, was playing piano in Luke’s band. That’s how Cole met Craig. Cole was writing songs with Luke’s guitar player Michael Carter and Brandon Kenny. One of those songs was “Outta My Head.”
Through it all, Cole knew he wanted to do his own thing, be an artist himself, and sing his own songs. Cole continued writing songs with some of the top writers in Nashville. He wrote “Chillin’ It” with Shane Minor, best known for “International Harvester” by Craig Morgan and “Live A Little” for Kenny Chesney. The song was enough to get him a recording contract with Warner Brothers.
Now that Cole has a record deal, his friends haven’t forgotten him. Luke Bryan asked Cole to open his Nashville show a couple weeks ago. Cole told us he was thrilled to make his big stage debut at Nashville’s arena: “Man, to be in Nashville, any arena would have been cool to play in, but the fact that this is Music City where I moved to chase a dream, to play across the street from the honky tonks, that was the coolest thing, the crowd was so receptive, stood up as soon as I walked out, it was as good as I could ever have dreamed it up.”
The power of “Chillin’ It” got him signed to a record contract, and now it’s in our Top 20. Cole says it’s great to experience the power of a hit song: “Another thing that keeps happening to me, I can’t explain it, I’ve got a great team around me, this was the song we thought would be good to introduce me to the country fans, it’s kind of a laid back deal, kind of like I am, just a laid back guy from Georgia, so it seems like it’s catching on, the fact that it’s Top 20 is incredible, I’ll take it all day long.”
This week’s co-host Chris Young had this to say about Cole: “He’s written songs for a lot of people, in fact he’s got a song on my new album, a song called “Nothin’ But The Cooler Left” that I really love. He’s one of those guys who works hard, keeps his nose down, and now he’s breaking through, and totally deserves it. I’ve hung out with him, and he’s low-key, he’s just a normal super nice guy that happens to like music. That’s why it’s so fun to see it break for him, because anybody who’s like that, it’s nice to see them break out.”
Look for Cole Swindell on Luke Bryan’s That’s My Kind Of Night Tour (along with Lee Brice) starting in January.
Category: New Artist
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