Shenandoah

Born on 30 June 1983 in Glenville, Georgia and grew up in Bronwood, Georgia and graduted from Georgia Southern University in 2007. After graduating he worked selling merchandise for fellow fraternity brother Luke Bryan and in 2010 he signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He helped write some of Bryan’s album, “Spring Break…Here To Party” and also helped contribute to Scott McCreery, Chris Young, and Florida Georgia Line.

The success of his publishing deal and consequently his song writing, led to his chance to establish himself as a performer. In 2013 he self-released his first single “Chillin’ It” which began to climb the country charts. The success of “Chillin’ It” garnered the attention of Warner Nashville who signed a contract with him that same year. The label re-released his single, followed by his first self-titled debut album on 18 February 2014. The album became a Top 5 hit on the country music airways, and sold over 250,000 copies. The “Chillin It” single peaked at number one on the Hot Country Songs, followed by “Hope You Get Lonely Tonight” which peaked at number seven; both of which reached gold status. Swindell set out on tour as the opening act for Luke Bryan’s That’s My Kind of Night Tour in 2014.

In a move that's more common in the American country music scene than just about anywhere else in mainstream music, Phil Vassar broke into the music scene as a songwriter, working behind the scenes until his skill proved to be so great that it had to be shared with the world. However, Vassar did originally move to Nashville, Tennessee in his early 20's to pursue a career as a solo artist, but although he was able to secure a publishing deal, no solo hits were forthcoming. However, many other artists were impressed with his songwriting, and by the late 90's, artists like Neal McCoy, Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina were covering songs of his to massive critical and commercial acclaim. As a result of this, Vassar signed a record deal with Arista Nashville in late 1999, and began work on his debut studio album.

Vassar's debut efforts as a solo artist did not disappoint, and while his first single, October 1999's “Carlene” was a top five hit on the Billboard country charts, its follow up “Just Another Day In Paradise”, released after the his self-titled debut album dropped, went five better and topped the same chart a year later in November 2000. Thanks to the success of its singles, his debut album was later certified Gold for shipping half a million copies, and in the space of a little under two years, Phil Vassar had gone from a respected behind the scenes guy, to one of the hottest acts in American country music. Ever since then, Vassar has remained one of the most popular country acts of the modern age, even breaking the top ten of the Billboard 200 with his 2008 fourth album “Prayer Of A Common Man”. He may be something of a late bloomer by today's standards, but Vassar still comes highly recommended.