Nate Barnes is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer and songwriter.

Early life

Barnes was born as Nathan Mielke in

South Haven, Michigan South Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city is in Van Buren County, Michigan, Van Buren County, although a small portion extends into Allegan County, Michigan, Allegan County. The population was 3,964 at the 2020 United ...

. Growing up, he worked at a blueberry farm and a nuclear power plant.

Musical career

In 2020, Barnes took a vacation in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

where a friend introduced him to songwriter

Jason Sellers Jason Dale Sellers (born March 4, 1971) is an American country music artist. After several years of touring the United States in his family's band, Sellers joined the road band of Ricky Skaggs. By 1997, he was signed to a recording contract with B ...

and record label executive Benny Brown, who was formerly the president of

BBR Music Group BBR Music Group (formerly Broken Bow Records) is an American record label based in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. Founded in July 1999 by Benny Brown, the label specializes in country music. The label's executive vice president is Jon Loba. C ...

. After Barnes played songs for the two of them, Brown signed him to Quartz Hill Records, a record label that he had just founded. Barnes then wrote his first single, "You Ain't Pretty", with Sellers and

Jimmy Yeary James Earl Yeary (born in Hillsboro, Ohio) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In 1994, Yeary moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to begin a career as a recording artist. Although he was signed to Atlantic Records, a change in label p ...

. The song was then released on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, where it went on to gain over 12 million views after its 2021 release. Following this, he began working on his debut album with producers

Mickey Jack Cones Mickey Jack Cones (born in San Antonio, TX) is an American record producer, engineer, session musician, singer and songwriter. Raised in a musical family, he is the grandson of Glenn Gray Orchestra singer Jane Cones and son of Jackie Cones of The ...

and

Derek George Derek George (born in Philadelphia, Mississippi) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist currently signed to Spirit Music Group. He is known for his work in Pearl River and Williams Riley, and his frequent collaborations ...

. In addition to its release to radio, the song was made into a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, which has aired on CMT. By October 2021, "You Ain't Pretty" had reached number 47 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

charts.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Nate American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Michigan Living people People from Van Buren County, Michigan Year of birth missing (living people) American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Michigan