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 and ...

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 ...

, Scotty McCreery, 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 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, 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 ...

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 Hine ...

, 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 tha ...

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–Hines ...

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 ar ...

", "Out Like That", "I'm Hungover", "In Love with the Girl", "Lone]'s " This Is How We Roll" 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 Sat ...

satellite radio channel "The Highway", became a hit and Swindell signed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville. The demo of "Chillin' It" was sent to radio before it had been mastered. 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, Swindell opened Bryan's 2014 That's My Kind of Night Tour. "Chillin' It" became a top-five hit on

and number 1 single on Hot Country Songs. The album's second single is "

Hope You Get Lonely Tonight "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. It was released on March 24, 2014 by Warner Bros. Nashville as the second single from Swindell's self-titled debut album. Swindell w ...

", 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 ...

. The album's third single, "

Ain't Worth the Whiskey "Ain't Worth the Whiskey" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. It was released to country radio in November 2014 as the third single from his self-titled debut album. The song was written by Swindell, J ...

", 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 "Let Me See Ya Girl" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. It was released to country radio in April 2015 as the fourth and final single from his self-titled debut album. "Let Me See Ya Girl" reached n ...

", 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. 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 "Middle of a Memory" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Cole Swindell. The song was released to radio on May 2, 2016 as the second single to his second studio album '' You Should Be Here'' (2016). The song was writt ...

" 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 analyti ...

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 "Break Up in the End" is a song written by Jon Nite, Chase McGill, and Jessie Jo Dillon, and recorded by American country music singer Cole Swindell. It was released in February 2018 as the lead single from his third album ''All of It''. The song f ...

", the lead single from his third album, on February 23, 2018. Swindell's third album, ''

All of It ''All of It'' is the third studio album by American country music singer Cole Swindell. It was released on August 17, 2018 via Warner Bros. Records Nashville. The album includes the singles "Break Up in the End" and " Love You Too Late" as well ...

'', 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 "Love You Too Late" is a song recorded by American country music singer Cole Swindell. It is the second single from his third studio album, 2018's '' All of It''. Swindell wrote the song with Brandon Kinney and Michael Carter, the latter of whom ...

" 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 "Single Saturday Night" is a song recorded by American country music singer Cole Swindell. It was released on May 22, 2020 as the lead single from his fourth studio album ''Stereotype''. The song was written by Swindell, Mark Holman, Ashley Gorl ...

", was released on May 22, 2020. It was followed by " Never Say Never", a duet with Lainey Wilson, 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's 1996 single " Heads Carolina, Tails California". 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'' (2014) * '' You Should Be Here'' (2016) * ''

'' (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 Baseb ...

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 Kind ...

(2015) *

The Big Revival Tour The Big Revival Tour presented by Corona Light was the fourteenth headlining concert tour by American country music artist Kenny Chesney, in support of his sixteenth studio album ''The Big Revival'' (2014). Ten of the shows were merged with Jaso ...

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 The Dig Your Roots Tour was the third headlining concert tour by American country music duo Florida Georgia Line. The tour is in support of their third studio album ''Dig Your Roots'' (2016), it began on May 12, 2016, in Tupelo, Mississippi and f ...

with

(2016) *What the Hell Tour with

(2017) *Sunset Repeat Tour with

(2019) * Center Point Road Tour 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)