While he may be a Country artist and songwriter in Nashville now, Drew Green’s roots stem from McMinnville, TN, where he grew up working on his family’s tree farm. His father started Faron Green Nursery when Drew was three years old, so the farm life is the only life he has ever known.
"At the time, I hated it, because they’d put me to work every day,” he says of his parents with a laugh. “But now looking back, I think it’s made me have a pretty good work ethic. I’m thankful for it now, for sure. I was the first child. My brother is five years younger than me. I feel like I had to do a lot more than he did I guess growing up, which makes sense, it was a new business. So, I would come home from school and go to work every day.”
While Green ultimately ended up chasing his music dreams to Nashville, he has immense pride and respect for the family business, which has expanded to three farms on over 500 acres where they grow 100 varieties of plants including everything from maple trees to dogwoods, green giant Christmas trees to burning bush and more.
“I would’ve definitely stayed in the business if it wasn’t for my brother,” shares Green. “My brother was die-hard wanting to do it. So, if he had wanted to do something else, I would’ve stayed. I wouldn’t have let it go to waste because it was the family business…”
The years of farm life taught him the importance of hard work early on, which he greatly values as he has used that same work ethic and determination to build his music career. “I’m thankful for the work that it gave me. I’m thankful that it led me to Country music. I’m thankful that it kind of showed me how to raise my kids in the right way. I plan on sending my kids down to the farm for some hazing, put them to work” he jokes.
He acknowledges the importance of farms and farmers in the United States and how they play an integral role across the country. “I think that’s what makes the tiny towns go round,” he says.
Green’s country upbringing has provided unlimited inspiration and authenticity that can be seen in his songwriting and music, which he describes as “a blend of Rap, Rock, and Country.” With song titles including “Dirt Boy”—a term he says kids used in his hometown for those raised on farms—and “Money Grows on Trees”, it’s not hard to see that Green writes about what he knows: living life on a farm.
“I always tell my songwriter buddies, ‘If you’ve got a song that’s got a tractor in it, hit me up because I’m probably going to want to be on it,’ because that’s where I fell in love with Country music was sitting on one,” he says. “I guess in my songs, I portray myself as a farmer still.”
However, when he first left the farm to attend Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, a career in Country music wasn’t the initial plan for Green. Rather, he majored in finance with a dream of working in the stock market, “I loved the suit and tie aspect of banking, but I never got to do that,” he explains. He grew up as a sports guy, always playing on a team, but started to gravitate toward music in high school, playing backup guitar in a rock band with his best friends his junior year. It was his college years that really exposed him to playing live and the idea that maybe his love of music could turn into a career.
“I got the opportunity to get onstage and play one day and it turned into me getting a gig at that bar…” he shares of his college years. “I started getting a really big following at Tech really fast, like pretty rapidly to make me think that ‘Maybe I could do this for a living.’”
With determination and a dream, he made the move to Nashville, playing the 10 PM – 3 AM slot at Tootsie’s World Famous Orchid Lounge on Broadway four days a week for four years. Two of those years he was pulling double-duty, grinding it out in the corporate world as well as working at a bank, in addition to writing songs. His upbringing of hard work and long hours on the farm prepared him for his early years of paying his dues in the music industry as he worked to build his career in Nashville. He gives well-deserved credit and gratefulness to his wife, Bethany, who works as a nurse practitioner, crediting her job for supporting them in their early Nashville days, while he put his income toward recording demos and pursuing his music dream.
Green has now been in Nashville for 10 years and signed his record deal a week before the world shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Since then, he’s been hard at work writing songs for his debut album, which he is getting close to finishing with hopes to release it by early next year. He’s had an exciting year on tour, opening for big-name artists including Alabama, Sam Hunt, and Darius Rucker, playing his music including songs “Best Ex I Ever Had” and “Good Ol’ Boy”. “This [past] summer has been like the biggest blessing ever…It’s been pretty surreal,” says Green. While he loves playing music across the country, the father of two—a six-year-old son and two-year-old daughter—acknowledges that it is hard to be away from his family when he’s on the road. He says he’s most thankful for his wife and kids this year, as well as his team and the shows that he’s been able to play this year.
To stay up to date on new music from Drew Green visit DrewGreen.com and follow him on Instagram and TikTok @DrewGreen.
I’m thankful for the work that it gave me. I’m thankful that it led me to Country music.
This [past] summer has been like the biggest blessing ever…It’s been pretty surreal.