‘Catch of the Day’ – Cole Swindell – “Stay Downtown” [AUDIO]

Today we turn our attention to another one of those Georgia boys making it big in country music. An artist who was quite a successful songwriter when he first came to Nashville, writing hit singles for Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett and many others.

Cole Swindell grew up in Bronwood, GA, a little town about 200 miles south of Atlanta. After high school, Swindell enrolled in Georgia Southern University, where he majored in marketing. While at GSU, he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, where he met a fellow Sigma Chi member, who had graduated from GSU a few years earlier with a degree in marketing. That fraternity brother was Luke Bryan. They met when Bryan returned Statesboro, GA for a concert, and kept in touch after that.

Swindell graduated from Georgia Southern in 2007, and immediately headed to Nashville, where he contacted Bryan, who hired him to sell merchandise at concerts. All the time they were on the road, Swindell honed his song writing skills, and eventually landed 10 tracks on Bryan's albums, including the #1 hit "Roller Coaster". The Georgia Southern boys teamed up to right another #1 hit, Florida Georgia Line's "This Is How We Roll", which featured Bryan. Swindell's third #1 single as a writer came with Thomas Rhett's hit "Get Me Some of That". During this time, he also had tracks recorded by Craig Campbell and Chris Young.

Swindell signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2010, and in 2013 he signed a recording contract with Warner Music Nashville. At the time of signing with Warner Nashville, the singer had already released his debut single, "Chillin' It" independently and was getting a lot of airplay on satellite radio. The released version was basically Swindell on vocals with producer Jody Stevens playing all the instruments. The song wasn't even mastered when it made its way to radio, but that didn't stop it from skyrocketing up the country charts. The single, the lead for Swindell's self-titled debut album, hit #1, and became the first of five chart toppers for Cole; his other 2 singles have peaked at #2 on the charts and received gold certification. Both of his albums have also gone gold or better.

Today we have the latest from Swindell's 2016 album You Should Be Here, in our spotlight. Brought to you by All American Super Car Wash of Lawton, the album's fourth single, "Stay Downtown" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.

Text today’s key word to 580 353-1013, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card from All American Super Car Wash of Lawton, presenting the Catch of the Day on Oklahoma’s Best Country KLAW101.

Today’s Key Word: “STAY”