Austin Jenckes releases new single from debut album and announces UK appearance

Rolling Stone Country-acclaimed, singer-songwriter Austin Jenckes is releasing his new single ‘Fat Kid’ (featuring Lori McKenna) today 8 March. The single is taken from Austin’s debut album ‘If You Grew Up Like I Did’ (to be released on 31 May, via Red Dot).
Austin Jenckes will also be visiting the UK in May to play the Nashville Meets London residency.
Although Jenckes wrote or co-wrote every other song on ‘If You Grew Up Like I Did’ – and even took his debut album’s title from ‘Fat Kid’s lyrics – he himself didn’t write ‘Fat Kid’. This song was the work of award-winning artist Lori McKenna and her co-writers Neil Mason (The Cadillac Three) and the late Andrew Dorff.  Lori herself does perform on Austin’s take on the track.
Austin was the first person to hear ‘Fat Kid’ and connected with it straightaway, as he explained, “’Fat Kid’ represents all the versions that I see of myself growing up and I felt like I could be every person in the song. There’s a difference between writing a song about the world around you and then seeing a song that is about you.
“I’ve always been the kind of person that feels compelled to say what I want to say and write songs that I want to write. As soon as I heard the song, I was just like, ‘Man, it just sums up everything that I feel like I’ve been through in my life.’ And it was the first time that I had heard my story right in front of me so clearly.”
Lori McKenna herself is delighted: “I am thrilled this song is making its way out in the world through this amazing artist. This one is close to my heart for 100 reasons but mostly because I got to write it with Neil Mason and our beloved pal Andrew Dorff.”
The official video for ‘Fat Kid’ was recently shot in Nashville (featuring McKenna) and will debut later this month on CMT.
Growing up in Duvall, Washington (a suburb of Seattle), Jenckes moved to Nashville six years ago to focus on being an artist and his songwriting. Austin Jenckes is known for his emotionally-intense vocals and his innately strong lyrical and melodic sense. His lyrics are simple yet powerful, written from his true-to-life perspective: values woven throughout his debut album.  Rolling Stone Country listed Austin Jenckes as an  ‘Artist You Need To Know’ and Jenckes has performed alongside the likes of Brothers Osborne, Lee Brice, The Cadillac Three and Ashley McBryde; also recently performing the National Anthem at his hometown Seattle Seahawks Stadium in front of 65,000 people.
In December, Austin Jenckes was awarded The ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award in Country: an honour given to those who have demonstrated talent, musical intelligence and a dedication to future generations.
Austin Jenckes will be bringing his music to the UK in the near future. First, via Nashville Meets London. Launched in March 2018, Nashville Meets London Presents is a residency that takes place the last Wednesday of every month at the Pizza Express Live at 99 High Holborn in London: one of city’s newest live music venues. Austin will play there on 29 May.