As Cole Swindell prepares to wrap his third annual sold-out headlining Down Home Tour this weekend, he also looks back on a year of accomplishments including his sixth consecutive No. 1 single (“Middle of a Memory”), being named the NSAI Songwriter/Artist of the Year and celebrating the biggest song of his career so far with the title track of his sophomore album released in May, “You Should Be Here.” The track was certified Platinum and has more than 70 million streams, 1.3 million tracks sold, and nearly 35 million YouTube views.
He toured with Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots tour, and will tour with Dierks Bentley’s What The Hell tour in 2017.
“I look back on this year and am just overwhelmed with emotion,” said Swindell. “I knew that music was powerful but I never ever could have imagined what impact my music could truly have on other people and more importantly in turn what it has done for me. I wrote a song as a way to help myself through the grief of losing my Dad. But it quickly became bigger than me as people began writing to me with the most incredible stories about how the song helped them through extraordinary life events. I knew then it wasn’t about me anymore. I hope my fans know they have helped ME with every story, every ticket they have bought this year, every call to radio, and just showing up at my shows. ‘You Should Be Here’ has truly changed my life. I am truly truly blessed with a great team around me, great friends, great songwriting buddies, encouraging support from my friends at radio and media and most importantly blessed with the greatest fans in the world. 2016 was pretty amazing and it’s going to be really hard to top … but I’m up for the challenge!”
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Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.View Author Profile