Nashville might be known as a 10 year town, a place where it takes a decade or more to get noticed. But for River House Artists/Warner Music Nashville’s Austin Snell, the rules have never really applied.

You’re not supposed to fuse hard-rocking sonic aggression with the deep-feeling confessions of a country troubadour. You’re not supposed to just drift into Nashville with a battered old guitar and write a career-launching hit, either. But Snell has done both. And now, just one year into his Music City tenure, he’s well on his way to making “grunge country” as familiar a term as “honky tonk.”

After his gritty “Excuse the Mess” gathered 1 million streams in its first week of independent release, Snell has gone on to drop a handful of hard-core country rockers, with momentum building behind the sound. A quarter of a million TikTok followers over 36 million total streams. Big time playlist placements on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more. A rare SiriusXM Highway Find accolade – the same one bestowed on now-superstars like Maren Morris and Luke Combs. And distinction as just the second artist ever chosen for SiriusXM’s Artist Accelerator program.

It all points to that rare sort of star who has found his mark early – and there’s more on the way. But if you ask the humble hit maker, he’s no visionary genius. Just a guy who loves hard rock and country in equal measure, with a deep understanding of struggle … and a voice that sheds light in the dark.