Bradley Curry – Raised Rowdy Contributor
In recent years, Alabama has produced a slew of country artists and that long list is continuing to grow, as Austin Bishop is quickly becoming the newest rising star out of the Cotton State. His new EP That’s What Made Us tells a personal story of good times as well as hard ship, making it a relatable project that any country music fan.
There’s no doubt that both country music and football are king in Alabama and Bishop has had success in both, spending his mornings and afternoons as a football player and his evenings discovering his new musical talent at the University of West Alabama. As a junior in college, Bishop picked up a guitar and eventually started playing with his friends. “We were just hanging out one night, sitting next to the river and I started playing some stuff and after about the third or fourth song, one of my buddies came up to me and told me that I really needed to try to do something with this.”
At the time, he was simply making ends meet by working in a grocery store, making a few hundred bucks every couple weeks, but after making between $800-$900 following his first gig at Livingston’s Brass Monkey, he knew he had to pursue this dream.
Since his days at the grocery store, Bishop has made quite the name for himself, writing with fellow artist and songwriter Tyler Reeve and most recently Erik Dylan, who has written for Kip Moore, Justin Moore and of course Luke Combs.
He plans on taking it to the next level with the release of this EP. “I just want people to hear my story. The more people that listen to it, the better. I want someone who is maybe living a similar story to mine to be able to get something out of my songs when they hear it and hopefully get something out of it when they’re going through a rough time or maybe they grew up in a small town like I did and they can relate to one of my songs that way.”
If you like good, relatable country music that has heartfelt lyrics, then Austin Bishop is the one for you. Catch Bishop on the road as he makes stops in Georgia, Florida, and his home state of Alabama in the coming days. That’s What Made Us is available on streaming sites everywhere. Yu can also follow Bishop and his journey, via his Instagram and Twitter @abishopmusic, or visit his website www.austinbishopmusic.com.