Drew Baldridge - Dirt on Us (2016)

A contemporary country artist whose polished, upbeat music embraces elements of pop and R&B as well as more traditional flavors, Drew Baldridge was born in Patoka, Illinois in 1992. From a young age, Baldridge was singing in church alongside his father, and when he was in kindergarten, the youngster began taking piano lessons, though in his teens he switched over to guitar. Early on, Baldridge was a fan of both country and pop, enjoying Brooks & Dunn and Eric Church as well as Michael Jackson and the Backstreet Boys, and he quickly became a fixture at talent shows in and around his small hometown. In high school, Baldridge was interested in both music and athletics, playing on the basketball and baseball teams as well as singing the National Anthem at most of their games, and after seeing Josh Turner when he was 18, Baldridge made the decision to make a career out of country music. Turning down an athletic scholarship to college, Baldridge moved to Nashville and honed his skills as a performer and songwriter. In 2013, Baldridge signed recording and publishing deals with THiS Music, releasing his first single, "B.Y.O.B.," in late 2013. Two more singles followed, "All Good" in November 2013 and "She's Taken" in April 2014, before he released his first EP, the four-song Crossing Country Lines, in December 2014. A second EP, Crossing Country Lines, Vol. 2, came out in April 2015, and featured two songs that soon became fan favorites, "Dance with Ya" and "God's Front Porch." "Dance with Ya" developed enough traction that the track was issued as a single in May 2015; in November 2015 Baldridge signed a new record deal with Cold River Records, and his first release for the label was the Dance with Ya EP, which featured the title song along with four new numbers. ~ Mark Deming