Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...

singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell,

Thomas Rhett Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Scotty McCreery Scott Cooke McCreery (born October 9, 1993) is an American country music singer. He rose to fame after winning the tenth season of ''American Idol'' on May 25, 2011. His debut studio album, ''Clear as Day'', was released in October 2011 and w ...

, and

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country singer, songwriter, and television personality. He began his music career writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington before signing with Capitol Nashville in 2007. ...

, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville. He has released thirteen singles, eight of which have reached number one on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

and/or

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

charts. Three more singles have reached the Top 10.

Early life

Swindell was born on June 30, 1983 to William Keith Swindell and Betty Carol Rainey. His father died on September 2, 2013, at 65. His mother died in September 2021. He grew up in

Bronwood, Georgia Bronwood is a town in Terrell County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 334. It is part of the Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Bronwood was originally called "Brown's Station" in ...

, and has two brothers and a stepbrother. Swindell attended

Terrell Academy Terrell Academy is a private K3-12 school in Dawson, Georgia, seat of Terrell County. It serves 380 students. The school has a controversial history as a segregation academy. History Terrel was founded in 1970 as a segregation academy. In the s ...

Dawson, Georgia Dawson is a city in and the county seat of Terrell County, Georgia, United States. The population was 4,414 at the 2020 census. Incorporated on December 22, 1857, the city is named for Senator William Crosby Dawson. Dawson is part of ...

. Swindell attended

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in H ...

, where he majored in marketing. He met

, who attended the same university some years earlier and was also a fellow

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...

member, at the fraternity house when Bryan came back to

Statesboro Statesboro is the largest city and county seat of Bulloch County, Georgia, United States, located in the southeastern part of the state. Statesboro is home to the flagship campus of Georgia Southern University and is part of the Savannah–Hin ...

to do a show. They kept in touch, and after Swindell left college in 2007 and moved to Nashville, he sold merchandise for Bryan for three years, and wrote songs on the road.

Music career

Songwriting

In 2010, Swindell signed a publishing deal with

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

. Swindell wrote Craig Campbell's " Outta My Head",

's "Just a Sip", "Beer in the Headlights", "

Roller Coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...

", "Out Like That", "I'm Hungover", "In Love with the Girl", "Lone]'s "

This Is How We Roll "This Is How We Roll" is a song recorded by American country music duo Florida Georgia Line with fellow country music singer Luke Bryan. It is the fifth and final single from Florida Georgia Line's debut studio album, ''Here's to the Good Times' ...

" with Bryan, who was featured on the song. Chris Young also had a song on his '' A.M.'' album co-written by Swindell, "Nothin' but the Cooler Left

2013–2015: ''Cole Swindell''

In 2013, Swindell's independently released debut single " Chillin' It", buoyed by heavy airplay on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sa ...

satellite radio channel "The Highway", became a hit and Swindell signed a record deal with

Warner Music Nashville Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum Rec ...

. The demo of "Chillin' It" was sent to radio before it had been

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

. Swindell released his self-titled debut album on February 18, 2014. Luke Bryan's guitarist, Michael Carter, produced the rest of the album. Along with

Lee Brice Kenneth Mobley Brice Jr. (born June 10, 1979), known professionally as Lee Brice, is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Curb Records. Brice has released five albums with the label: '' Love Like Crazy'', '' Hard to Love'', ...

, Swindell opened Bryan's 2014

That's My Kind of Night Tour The That's My Kind of Night Tour was the second headlining concert tour by American country music artist Luke Bryan, in support of his fourth studio album ''Crash My Party'' (2013). It began on January 8, 2014 in Columbus, Ohio and finished on ...

. "Chillin' It" became a top-five hit on

and number 1 single on

. The album's second single is " Hope You Get Lonely Tonight", which Swindell co-wrote with both members of

Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line is an American country music duo founded in 2010 by Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. Their 2012 debut single "Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was d ...

. The album's third single, " Ain't Worth the Whiskey", was released to country radio on November 3, 2014. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in April 2015. The album's fourth single, " Let Me See Ya Girl", was released to country radio on April 20, 2015. It reached number two on the Country Airplay chart in November 2015. On November 17, 2014, Swindell released a five-song digital EP, '' The Down Home Sessions''. The release coincided with his headlining tour of the same name. Swindell won the ACM New Artist of the Year Award in April 2015.

2015–2018: ''You Should Be Here''

The album's first single, " You Should Be Here" was released to country radio on December 14, 2015. It was written with

Ashley Gorley Ashley Glenn Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 60 number 1 songs and has over 300 songs recorded by artists including ...

. It reached at number one on the Country Airplay and Hot Country Songs charts in April 2016. The album's second single, " Middle of a Memory" released to country radio on May 2, 2016. It reached at number one on the Country Airplay in November 2016. The album's third single, " Flatliner" (featuring

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to Capitol Nashville and released his eponymous debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's '' Modern Day Drifter'', a ...

) released to country radio on January 23, 2017. It reached at number two on the Country Airplay in August 2017. The album's fourth single, "Stay Downtown" released to country radio on September 5, 2017. "You Should Be Here", "Middle of a Memory" and "Flatliner" all hit No.1 on

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

country radio singles chart. Swindell also released a music video for the song which featured a video of him telling his father he received a record contract and subsequent montages of Cole and his brothers grieving outside of the family home and at their father's grave. The video also shows images of Swindell's rising popularity while clearly conveying that he wanted to be able to see his father and share this fame experience with him.

2018–present: ''All of It'' and ''Stereotype''

Swindell released " Break Up in the End", the lead single from his third album, on February 23, 2018. Swindell's third album, '' All of It'', was released on August 17, 2018. After the album became available for pre-order in July 2018, Swindell released the number-one track " Love You Too Late" as a promotional single. "Love You Too Late" was announced as the album's official second single, being released to radio on November 19, 2018. The lead single from Swindell's fourth studio album, " Single Saturday Night", was released on May 22, 2020. It was followed by " Never Say Never", a duet with

Lainey Wilson Lainey Denay Wilson (born May 19, 1992) is an American country music singer–songwriter and actress. Wilson performed from an early age, before going to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career as a country performer. In 2014, she released her ...

, on November 19, 2021. Swindell released his fourth album ''

Stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

'' on April 8, 2022. Swindell followed the album up with its third single, " She Had Me at Heads Carolina", a remake of

Jo Dee Messina Jo Dee Marie Messina (born August 25, 1970) is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the '' Billboard'' country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Countr ...

's 1996 single "

Heads Carolina, Tails California "Heads Carolina, Tails California" is a song written by Tim Nichols and Mark D. Sanders and recorded by American country music artist Jo Dee Messina. The song was released in January 1996 as her debut single and served as the lead-off single for ...

". This single has gone on to become the biggest single of Swindell's career so far, having spent four weeks at number one on the

chart, as well as becoming his first Top 20 single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Cole releases “drinkaby” 1-27-23.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

Cole Swindell Colden Rainey Swindell (born June 30, 1983) is an American rock music singer and songwriter. He has written singles for Craig Campbell, Thomas Rhett, Scotty McCreery, and Luke Bryan, and has released four albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashvill ...

'' (2014) * '' You Should Be Here'' (2016) * '' All of It'' (2018) * ''

'' (2022)

Tours

Headlining *Reason to Drink Tour (2018) *The Down to Earth Tour (2020) Supporting *

Burn It Down Tour The Burn It Down Tour was a headlining concert tour by American country music singer Jason Aldean held in the United States between May 2014 and August 2015. It began on May 1, 2014 in Roanoke, Virginia. Venues included four Major League Basebal ...

with

Jason Aldean Jason Aldean (born Jason Aldine Williams; February 28, 1977) is an American country music singer. Since 2005, he has been signed to Broken Bow Records, a record label for which he has released ten albums and 40 singles. His 2010 album, '' My Ki ...

(2015) * The Big Revival Tour with

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs and Country ...

(2015) * Dig Your Roots Tour with

(2016) *What the Hell Tour with

(2017) *Sunset Repeat Tour with

(2019) *

Center Point Road Tour Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

with

(2021)

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swindell, Cole American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Country pop musicians 1983 births Georgia Southern University alumni Living people Warner Records artists People from Terrell County, Georgia People from Glennville, Georgia 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)