Introducing Austin Snell and ‘Excuse the Mess’

Born and raised in Dudley, Georgia, Austin Snell is a name that might be new to many, but we have been big fans of Austin since way before he made his way to Nashville (see our article from 2020 HERE talking about him).

After enlisting in the Air Force right out of high school, Austin spent his last $400 on a guitar and began to express himself through it. Soon playing covers and familiar terms weren’t cutting it. He began his journey into songwriting and trying to figure out not just what he wanted to say, but also how to say it in a way that meant something to himself and others.

Austin knew after the military he had to get to Nashville (after all, that is where so many of his favorite songs and writers were) but the timing was never right. It never really is if you think about it, so sometimes you have to jump – and jump Austin did. The 24 year old moved to Nashville only a few months ago, but has hit the ground running in a big way. He took some of the relationships he had built prior to making it to town and established a lot more to get a crew of like-minded artists and writers to help make the journey into music not only more fun, but also more meaningful.

It was like any other day in Nashville when he sat down to write “Excuse the Mess” with Presley Aaron and Christian Yancey. Austin had the title “Excuse the Mess” and each writer brought in parts of their story to help craft the track. After they wrote it Austin, as he often did, took to TikTok to see what the folks there thought. That is when the song took on a life of its own.

The song hit home to so many dealing with a mess, whatever that mess looks like for that person.  It’s a brooding tale of lost love and the emotion that came from that: bloody knuckles and running from the reminders of that person via a burn pile filled with ashes of things that remind you of them. Running from demons isn’t always easy and Austin and his production team caught the stark emotion and violent sentiment in this release.

Hits you in the chest, doesn’t it?

“Excuse the Mess” is a lot different from the first songs we heard Austin pen and play online. It’s heavy – and not just musically. You can hear growth in the song. There are lyrics to match the tone and simple expressions that say so much. It’s a fusion of what is going on in today’s rock music world with some country songwriting. We dig it and we hope you do too.

Remember the name Austin Snell. He’s just getting started, and what a start it is.

 

Austin’s Tik Tok

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