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 forwhom the rules have never really applied. A Georgia native and Air Force vet who grew up on asteady diet of Nickelback, Three Doors Down, Creed and Alan Jackson, the Nashville newcomerhas bucked Nashville’s“10-year town”moniker, arriving in 2022 and quickly starting work tomake“grunge country”a household name. Withdistorted, dark-energy guitars, thunderingdrums, and a wounded vocal at the end of its emotional rope, his gritty debut single“Excuse theMess”has now racked up more than 10 million streams and landed elite playlist placementsacross Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more, as the track co-written with Presley Aaron andChristian Yancey leads the charge into Snell’s opening chapter. The rising star now counts 36million total streams and over 250,000 active users on TikTok to his credit, plus a rare SiriusXMHighway Find accolade–the same one bestowed on now-superstars like Maren Morris and LukeCombs. He is also the second artist ever chosen for SiriusXM’s Artist Accelerator program, andwith a growing touring footprint that has put him on the road withcountry’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–plus a bit of an electronic buzz–“PrayAll the Way Home”(co-written by Snell, Andrew Baylis, Michael Whitworth, Cam Walker) pointsthe way ahead for one of Nashville’s most exciting new talents, proving once and for all: Somerules are really more like suggestions. More information at austinsnell.com