Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rylee Austin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Rylee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I first realized around 8 or 9 years old that I wanted to be a musician after learning how to play guitar and taking lessons from Robbin McCombs who I lovingly refer to as “Pops”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up in Greenville, AL. I have always had a love for music. I grew up listening to all of the country music greats with my Daddy such as George Jones, Conway Twitty, John Anderson, and Alan Jackson. I began taking guitar lessons around the age of 9 from Robbin McCombs who I lovingly refer to as Pops. I had always loved to sing but I had horrible stage fright so one day Pops had set up his band in the living room before our lesson. He had told me that it was just us and I had nothing to be scared of or nervous about so I had started to sing “Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline. I got through the first few lines and all of a sudden the front door opens and friends and family start walking in to watch. I was so nervous and wanted to stop singing but Pops looked at me and shook his head and said “You keep going. You don’t stop.” and so I did and once the performance was over everyone cheered, It was definitely a huge step out of my comfort zone but I knew some way some how I wanted to be involved in music from then on.

I have been writing songs since I was around 18. My first song I had written was titled “Backseat To The Bottle”. Songwriting has always been a form of therapy for me. I signed with Grace Records Nashville in 2023 and I cut my first album titled “My Side”. I released my first single “My Side” in April and it reached #9 on the Cashbox Independent Country Top 100 Charts. I am very proud of that album as most of the songs I had written by myself and I co-wrote “What What Happens” with Corey Lee Barker, Debbie Bennett, and Anthony Caruso. I am currently a finalist for “Album of the year” and “Single of the year” for the ISSA awards to be held in Atlanta in August.

Someone once said “I don’t write songs I tell stories” and I like to believe that I do the same. Each song I have written has a story behind it. I’ve written songs about co-parenting, child support, divorce, drinking, and so on. If you name it more than likely I have written or could write a song about it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect is when someone tells me that one of my songs touched them in some way or had some type of impact on their life. One of the most heart warming stories to me thus far is when a woman told me that my song “I Love Her More” made her reconsider how she looked at and went about her co-parenting relationship with her child’s father. She said to hear “I Love Her More than I Hate Him” made her look at things in a different way and go about things a little better and that it had helped their co-parenting relationship tremendously in turn making things better for everyone involved in the long run. It’s things like that to me that make my job worth it at the end of the day.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I used to have a lot of people tell me that “Singing isn’t a real job” or I needed to “Stop chasing a dream that very rarely comes true for people” but I have always come back to music. I may have stopped along the way and taken a break here and there. I’ve tried other careers such as bail bondsman (or bonds lady lol), corrections officer/law enforcement, even bounty hunter but each and every time it never fails I come back to music. Honestly, I believe you don’t choose music music chooses you. I also have two babies aged 7 and 11 that are very proud of me and very proud of what I do so as long as my babies are proud and happy that means the world to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ryleeaustinmusic.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ryleeaustinmusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ryleeaustinofficial

Image Credits
Cheyenne Kendrick – Kendrick Photography