For Country artist George Birge and his wife Kara, when it came to choosing a spot to raise their young boys, ages 3 and 6, Mount Juliet was the picture-perfect choice.
While it may have been George’s songwriting buddies that convinced the Birges to plant their roots in Mount Juliet, Kara— who is a real estate agent in the area—knew it was an ideal place for their young family.
“We’ve kind of lived all over. We were in Nashville and then Franklin. We landed in Mount Juliet, I hate to admit it, mostly because of him,” Kara says of her husband. “We had a lot of friends in this area, a lot of songwriters that we knew…we were looking to build a house and kind of just fell in love with this community…It’s just been the best decision for us.”
In the three years since moving to Mt. Juliet, the Birges have celebrated a lot of milestones. They had lots to be thankful for this past Thanksgiving as George made his Grand Ole Opry debut. “In a sense, it’s the ‘you made it moment’ in Country music. When you think about it, it’s a lifetime of work and dreaming and falling on your face and getting back up and keeping trying of work to get into that Circle,” he said of the milestone he got to share with his extended family who came to celebrate from Texas. “…It was one of the most special days of my life just to have the boys backstage and [for them to] finally be old enough to kind of have an awareness of what dad does…,” shares George. “Our Christmas card this year was our family standing in the Circle at the Opry, so that was kind of a pinch-me moment for our whole family.”
The Country artist doesn’t take one moment of his career as an artist for granted, as he’s grateful for the path that led him here. In 2020, he almost gave up on going the artist route, as he thought he’d make his living as a songwriter penning songs for other artists to record, but one of his Country music heroes, Clay Walker, encouraged him to give it one more try. “Clay Walker was one of the first big artists to take me under his wing,” he explains. While writing for Walker’s album—which includes their co-written song “Catching Up With An Ol’ Memory” — in their home state of Texas, Walker encouraged him to put his music on TikTok. “…I found instant success there,” remembers George. “People connected with the songwriting and my music and blew it up in a pretty massive way, and it gave me the opportunity to sign a record deal and go and start recording my first album….”
After one of his songs, “Beer Beer, Truck Truck,”—received 3 million views in 24 hours, his popularity on social media started to spread, gaining him attention from the likes of Gary Allan and radio personality Bobby Bones. After seeing a cover song on Instagram, Bones invited him to his radio show. “He’s just been such a supporter, playing my song on the radio,” says Birge of Bones. “Since then, everything has elevated in such a massive way. My song ‘Mind On You’, he was the first to play on national radio, ended up being the most added [Country] song in America at radio, and he was a big part of that story….”
The song was written when he thought he would pursue a path of writing for other artists. He didn’t have a record deal and pitched the song to one of his musical idols Jason Aldean, who, within 24 hours, asked him not to play it for anyone else because he wanted to record it. As his music began to spread on social media, George found himself signing a record deal and thinking that the song he gave away might be the one that could catapult his career if he recorded it himself. So while he knew Aldean cutting the song would be a monumental career moment, he made the risky move to ask for it back to record himself .“It’s just absolutely changed my life in the best way. I’m very grateful they gave me my song back...” he says of “Mind On You.”
The rising artist has quite the year of firsts ahead of him and is excitingly anticipating everything 2023 holds. With his name appearing on many of the most sought-after festival lineups, including Tortuga, Faster Horses, Watershed, TidalWave, and more, George Birge is looking forward to playing for new audiences on the road. However, before hitting the summer festival circuit, he’s heading across the pond to play C2C Country To Country festival in the UK. “…It’s something that’s been bucket list for me for a long time,” he says of playing the well-known international festival. “She’s a huge Downton Abbey and The Crown fan and everything, so she’s mapping out everything for me,” he says of his wife with a laugh. In addition to touring and playing festivals, Birge—who recently put out his single “Cowboys Talkin’” —plans to release a new song every two months throughout the end of the year, with a debut album slated for the end of the year. George Birge and his family are ready for the whirlwind of a year that’s ahead of them, but on the days they can rest, they are always thankful to have their home base of Mount Juliet to recharge, enjoy community, and make memories.
PULL QUOTE:
“In a sense, it’s the ‘you made it moment’ in Country music. When you think about it, it’s a lifetime of work and dreaming and falling on your face and getting back up and keeping trying, kind of work to get into that Circle...our Christmas card this year was our family standing in the Circle at the Opry, so that was kind of a pinch-me moment for our whole family.” - George says of his Opry Debut