Austin Burke has been in Nashville for 12 years living his dream of being a singer-songwriter. Music City is known for its immense talent in country music. From artists, to songwriters, producers, to musicians, you name it... Nashville has some of the best in the world. While some creatives in the music industry can get burned out, or lose their passion for music and give up on their dreams, others like Austin never give up, and stay consistent every day with creativity and work ethic, and they continue to build their career brick by brick. In 12 years, Austin has found massive success independently and has become a well known name around Nashville and country music. The Arizona native has shown his tenacity by building a passionate fan base, as he currently has over 269,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, 150K followers on Instagram, and 972.9K followers on Tik Tok. He has also accomplished one of the most prestigious achievements in country music… playing the Grand Ole Opry. Through his music, Austin has also had memorable moments like getting to propose to his wife on stage with Dierks Bentley.
When I first heard Austin had created this incredible live podcast and platform for up-and-coming artists, I was so energized to hear about the building blocks and foundation to this game changer for the music industry, and you should be too. Austin Burke is one of the most genuine people in town and is a champion for not only independent artists, but anyone who is just getting started in the music industry, which is extremely rare in Music City. I couldn't be more excited to see what a massive success Playlisted will become. Playlisted is live every Monday 7PM at The Green Light Bar (833 Hawkins St, Nashville, TN).
I sat down with Austin Burke, the creator of Playlisted, and talked about how a rut in his music career helped him revive his love for music by creating something out of left field that put other artists at the forefront. We dove into the format for Playlisted, what the future holds and how as an artist you can get involved.
What is Playlisted?
"This is a way to get deeper than just the song. I love writer's rounds. I love Whiskey Jam. I love showcases. I love all of it. I think they all have a purpose. One thing as an artist that I found was "I'm playing all these songs, but nobody knows who I am... this is a story of my parents’ divorce, but nobody asks me how I feel about it." What I do in the show is have 6 artists, 3 hosts - myself and 2 guest hosts. The artists come up and they play a song and try to impress us. A lot of times they get feedback on their performance, if it was great we tell them it was great, if it wasn't so great we tell them ways they could fix it, but in an encouraging way. That's where I want to be different from Kill Tony. It’s hilarious, but they are comedians and they can do it. These are artists, this is their song and it means a lot to them. I'm empathetic to that side of things because I'm an artist too. So, the artist goes up and sings their song and then it flips and it becomes an interview. It's a podcast and you're a podcast guest. It's a live show too so there's a live audience as well. I've had people say, "I went and followed everyone that was on your podcast today. And now that we are a few shows in, we are getting regulars. We have two regulars now that come on every week, every other week which is very similar to Kill Tony. The end goal is I have a playlist called "The A List" (Austin's List) and very few people from the show make that list - there's only like 6 songs on there right now, but I want the show to grow and the following to grow where that playlist can change someone's life monetarily the way my life changed when I got put on a playlist.
That was how I came up with the name because I was playlisted. I was put on Spotify's "Hot Country" playlist back in 2017. I was working at a restaurant as a food runner and I got put on that playlist and my life changed forever. Doing this live podcast is also a way to give back for what's been done to me if that makes sense.
Pickr has hopped on as my first sponsor for the show. They are a new app that is like air bnb for musicians and artists. But more than that they’re all about building a community. We’ve seen the Playlisted and Pickr community grow together and it’s been really awesome to watch."
How was Playlisted created and how did you come up with the idea?
"I had been in the worst rut I have ever been in my entire life. I had my kid last year, and my personal life is 10/10 and my music career has been a 3/10. With music, I took my foot off the gas a little bit and it's like I'm forgotten. It's okay, but it's one of those things where you look around and see who's still here and now what? Back in October I was on LinkedIn looking for a new job and I was over it. I was about to move back to Arizona. I went to Arizona for 3 months trying to get my head right. I was in the head space of "nobody cares about my music anymore, poor me... poor me." And I went down this rut, just negative, bullshit and you could probably even see it in my content. I just wasn't happy, I was doing it and going through the motions. As I mentioned, I was ready to get a job, because I was sitting around and not doing anything and essentially being a stay at home dad. I was feeling sorry for myself and then all of a sudden I watched Kill Tony and I was like "Oh my god, this is awesome what Tony (Hinchcliffe) does for comedians.
It didn't hit me right away, but a few episodes in, I'm like "Hold on a second, is there anything like this for music?" So I did some research, and was looking up if there was already something like this in music. I looked up different writers rounds, different live podcasts, because I didn't want to copy anybody. My music career was the shittiest it could ever be. I needed to do something that got me excited, and for the last two or three months from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, my vision for Playlisted is so clear. I've had to learn how to edit on the computer, everything I've had to learn how to do... the videos, the sound, reaching out to artists, booking the calendar, booking the guest hosts, it's all been so fun to me. It's been nice to not have to think about music for the first time in 7 to 8 years."
Recap the first few episodes. What should fans expect?
"The first few episodes I've had my wife, Lexy Burke (Entrepreneur - Ranch Hands Cowboylesque + White Velvet Chapel), and my brother in law. I've had Spencer Crandall (country music artist), and Scott Porter (country music artist). John Marks (formerly with SiriusXM The Highway, Spotify), which was a huge one, because he's the guy that put me on the playlist. That episode was a full circle moment for me. I had Tyler Reeve (songwriter - “In Case You Didn’t Know” by Brett Young, “Does To Me” by Luke Combs and Eric Church) and Cole Taylor (songwriter - “Sippin’ On Fire”- FGL, “You, Me and Whiskey” by Justin Moore and Priscilla Block) on, Mac Hereford (Influencer and National Champion at Alabama) and Will Levis (Tennessee Titans QB). We have athletes, comedians, we get songwriters, artists, all walks of life really.
The first episode we had a kid named Chace Saunders, look him up. He's going to be the next big thing out of Kentucky. A freaking unbelievable voice. He's like a Kentucky bluebird. God, he's so so so talented. He's the first regular. The second regular is Chandler James. He was on week 3. Both super different, but it's one of those things where you hear somebody and are like "Holy crap... how does nobody know who they are? These guys are the next big thing." The way that I'm trying to be different is I really want to mold these kids. I don't want anything from them, I want them to be on the show and give them a platform and give them knowledge that I've learned through the years and challenge them to have a different song every week. It could be the song they wrote today - I want them to come on and perform it in front of a live crowd. These two guys I'm super excited about. There are also people that get asked back. I want raw talent, the people that think they have a good song.
As an independent artist it's so expensive to perform live. You have to do a band rehearsal, you have to hire a band and pay them for the show. They don't have to have a whole library, just one freaking song that they are proud of, I want them to come on, perform it and impress us! It's not just country artists either, it's all genres. I've had a rapper on, I've had an R&B artist on. It's all genres, all music, if you have a song you have a spot on the show."
What does the future hold for Playlisted? What are your goals?
"Big goal is to create a playlist where their lives are changed by being on it. I also want to take the show on the road. My goal is to be at Coachella and have random people from the crowd who think they are country stars come up and play a song. I think just like Kill Tony, everyone thinks they can play and people don't know how hard it is. Right now we have legit artists, but eventually we want to open it up to an open mic style every week, where we have submissions and draw from a hat.
I really want to nurture and build these young artists. I want to give them a platform. I feel like it's so hard to get your new music heard, it's so hard for an independent artist to have a shot right now. I'm an established artist, I have around 270,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and I make a good living from my music. But it's still harder than ever for me to get my music heard.
Two things I've learned from this is it's incredibly hard to get your music heard for these new artists, they don't even know where to start and that's where I can come in and can give them a platform to be seen. The other thing I've learned is the talent is better than it's ever been in this town. EVER. In the history of Nashville. It's exciting, and as an older artist (I can say that now), I'm rejuvenated, I'm overwhelmed. I'm like "Dude, I need to retire because these guys are so good and talented." I'm so excited. I have a breath of fresh air, I'm excited for the world to see how talented these people are. It's not the people with the biggest social media following, it's not the one with daddy's money. It's the guys and girls that are cutting their teeth in these bars and making their way up. I'm so honored to have them on the show."
If I'm an artist and want to sign-up and get involved, what do I have to do?
"You can email AB@playlistedpod.com and I'll respond to you and basically reply with, "Send me your song and if you want to be on, spots are filling up pretty quick. I look at every submission. My managers are starting to look at them and help me out. We are filling in spots and booking into April. If you have a song and got what it takes just email me and we will get you on. You can DM me too, but it's really that simple."
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