Home Sweet Hell Austin Snell

• 1 Home Sweet Hell 03:35
• 2 Stuck In The Sticks 02:56
• 3 Miles 02:14
• 4 Heavy Metal 02:34
• 5 Drunk 02:41
• 6 I Mean It 03:07
• 7 Family Tree 03:44
• Total Runtime 20:51

Info zu Home Sweet Hell

Austin Snell releases his new EP, "Home Sweet Hell,".

Produced by Andrew Baylis (Brantley Gilbert, Jelly Roll), the EP finds the Nashville-based singer-songwriter examining an upbringing steeped in hard lessons. Snell also put out the new single "Family Tree," a ballad that delves into the past to grow beyond one's mistakes.

Snell said, "'Family Tree' for me encompasses the realization that we are not all dealt the same hand of cards. But it is up to you to play the ones you got the best way you can. There is so much growth in this project. I'm still learning about myself every day, and this music is a reflection of a lot of that."

The seven-track EP includes the previously released twang-metal bangers "Drunk," "Miles," "I Mean It" and "Heavy Metal."

Featuring co-writes with first-rate songwriters like Nicolette Hayford (Lainey Wilson), Riley Thomas (The Struts), Conor Matthews (Megan Moroney) and more, Home Sweet Hell is a result of what happens when one fights the nostalgia of the past to find their truth, without pulling any punches along the way. Known for pushing the country envelope with a ferocious injection of sonic fury, Austin is no stranger to this raw honesty. The seven-track EP includes the previously released twang-metal bangers “Drunk,” “Miles,” “I Mean It,” and “Heavy Metal,” all of which have garnered support from CMT, Holler and All Country News who said, “If you haven’t been paying attention to Austin Snell yet, now’s the time to start.”

Home Sweet Hell follows Austin’s 2024 full-length debut album Still Bleeding, which had The Tennessean calling him “an artist worth watching.” From cultural institutions like the Grand Ole Opry (where he recently invited fellow riser Hudson Westbrook to make his Opry debut) to major festivals like CMA Fest, Stagecoach and more, he’s been lighting crowds on fire while continuing to earn respect for his blazing vocal rasp.

Fusing hard-hitting aggression with the deep-feeling confessions of a country troubadour, Austin has spent the last two years turning social-media stardom into brash-and-broken hits like “Excuse the Mess” and “Pray All the Way Home,” racking up 383 million global career streams to date and a fanatical fanbase. Born in Georgia and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he was raised on everything from Alan Jackson to Nirvana and Nickelback, a contrast which constantly shows in his original “grunge country” style.

Austin Snell

Austin Snell
Nashville might be known as a 10-year town, a place where it takes a decade or more to get noticed. But for River House Artists/Warner Music Nashville’s Austin Snell, the rules have never really applied. You’re not supposed to fuse hard-rocking sonic aggression with the deep-feeling confessions of a country troubadour. You’re not supposed to just drift into Nashville with a battered old guitar and write a career-launching hit, either. But Snell has done both. And now, just one year into his Music City tenure, he’s well on his way to making “grunge country” as familiar a term as “honky tonk.”

After his gritty “Excuse the Mess” gathered 1 million streams in its first week of independent release, Snell has gone on to drop a handful of hard-core country rockers, with momentum building behind the sound. A quarter of a million TikTok followers and over 50 million total streams. Big time playlist placements on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and more. A rare SiriusXM Highway Find accolade – the same one bestowed on now-superstars like Maren Morris and Luke Combs. And distincA native of small-town Dudley, Georgia, Snell grew up with a modern rock-loving father and a mother drawn to country radio – a fact reinforced by the family’s collection of four total CDs, ones by Nickelback, Three Doors Down, Creed, and Alan Jackson. Traveling the South to race go-karts on weekends, Snell ended up internalizing every note of those records, and feeling at home whenever they were playing, no matter where he was at the time. But it wasn’t until joining the Air Force that music became a passion. Nineteen years old, 1,000 miles from home, and alone for the first time, he passed the long evenings with a cheap acoustic guitar, belting out the same tunes he grew up on with a few clumsy chords. But you can only pretend to be Chad Kroeger for so long. Already obsessed and unable to visit home due to COVID-19, Snell dove into writing songs like he heard on country radio – heartfelt, melodic, and filled with clever hooks. Then his mom did what moms do.

It all points to that rare sort of star who has found his mark early – and there’s more on the way. But if you ask the humble hitmaker, he’s no visionary genius. Just a guy who loves hard rock and country in equal measure, with a deep understanding of struggle … and a voice that sheds light in the dark. “It seems to keep clicking, and I don't really know why,” the emerging star admits. But that modesty belies a wild ride.

“I let my mom talk me into posting my stuff on Facebook for our friends,” he says with a chuckle. “People ended up liking it, so that's what I did in my free time. I would write songs and just post them, to see what people though

Unsurprisingly, his audience soon grew, and the wild ride got wilder. After returning home and deciding he’d rather write songs than work a shift, Snell made up his mind to try Nashville. But after doctors found a benign tumor in his back, it was the spring of 2022 before he finally arrived.

At first, Snell just went with the flow, learning the ropes of Nashville’s well-established co-writing scene. But at 24 years old, and only 5 years after first picking up a guitar, things were about to change.

“I moved with the plan of not putting anything out until I found something different, something nobody else was doing that felt authentic for me,” Snell explains. “I didn't know how long that was gonna take, but then we wrote ‘Excuse the Mess,’ and it just opened my world.”

Co-written with Presley Aaron and Christian Yancey, the low-down power ballad was the first track Snell wrote with a hard-rock edge – and it was definitely different. With distorted, dark-energy guitars, thundering drums, and a wounded vocal at the end of its emotional rope, it mixed metal toughness with the gritty imagery of a classic country depression ballad, soaked in booze and strung out on love – and like all the best Nashville tunes, it was true. Feeling alone and overwhelmed during a rough patch in his Air Force days, Snell sent up a prayer and signed off with the eventual hook, “excuse the mess.”

“I don't express myself a whole lot, so these songs are kind of my way to do it,” he says. “I posted that one online the same day we wrote it, and by the next day, it had over 600,000 views."

After that, the rising star released two more hard-charging, left-of-center anthems (an unexpected cover of Cassadee Pope’s “Wasting All These Tears” and “Get There First”), signed publishing and record deals, and has now begun the next chapter.

Tunes like “Send You the Bill” follow in the footsteps of “Excuse the Mess,” another shadowy example of soul-crushing pain wrapped in a grungy exterior – like a brokenhearted cowboy ballad for the modern age. Likewise, “Cold” stands as a slow-burning rocker with an icy message to a former flame, a somber steel guitar adding some desolate country desperation. But it’s the heavy-hearted power ballad “Pray All the Way Home” where Snell solidifies his sound.

Co-written with Andrew Baylis, Michael Whitworth, and Cam Walker, it’s a track about living fast and running hard – and knowing without a doubt, your mistakes will catch up eventually. Mixing blacked-out rock aggression with inward-facing, late-night country reflection – plus a bit of an electronic buzz – it points the way forward for one of Nashville’s most exciting new talents, proving some rules are really more like suggestions.

It’s only been a year so far. Imagine what 10 will bring.

“I grew up on both sides of this music, so I just hope people know it’s real to me,” Snell explains. “I think that's my main goal, to make my own sound and let everyone know I’m not trying to copy anybody else. I’m going to pave my own way.”

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet