Rayland Baxter (stylized as rayLand baxter) is an American
alternative country
Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...
musician from
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
,
Tennessee. He is currently signed to
ATO Records. Baxter is the son of musician
Bucky Baxter. He is 6-feet 5-inches tall.
Early life
Baxter excelled as a lacrosse player in high school as a midfielder. He attended the
Severn School in Maryland and later
Suffield Academy
Suffield Academy is a private preparatory school located in Suffield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1833 to train young men for ministry in the Baptist Church. The tuition fees for students are currently $65,000 for boarders and $38,700 for day s ...
in Connecticut. He played Division I Lacrosse at
Loyola University in Maryland before a knee injury ended his playing career. He was expelled from Loyola his sophomore year for getting in a fight on campus. In Baltimore, Baxter worked as a bartender at Jerry's Belvedere before moving to Colorado to work as a snowboard instructor in
Breckenridge. There he began playing open mics at Gold Pan Saloon, starting his music career before eventually moving back to his hometown of Nashville to pursue music full time.
Career
Baxter began performing in 2010, when he was featured on the song Shanghai Cigarettes by country musician
Caitlin Rose. In 2012, Baxter released his debut full-length album, titled Feathers & Fishhooks (stylized as feathers & fishHooks), via
ATO Records. In 2013, Baxter released his first extended play, titled Ashkelon (stylized as ashkeLON) also via
ATO Records. The title is named after the town
Ashkelon in Israel. On August 14, 2015, Baxter released his second studio album titled ''Imaginary Man''. In 2018, Baxter released his third full-length album titled ''Wide Awake''.
In 2019, Baxter released ''Good Mmornin,'' an album of seven Mac Miller cover songs. The record was released the day before he played the
Newport Folk Fest where he debuted several of the songs live for the first time.
References
Living people
American country singer-songwriters
People from Nashville, Tennessee
Year of birth missing (living people)
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
21st-century American singers
Country musicians from Tennessee
ATO Records artists
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