Maddox Batson

Maddox Batson was born in Hermitage, Tennessee, and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama. A diagnosis of Osgood-Schlatter disease as a boy kept him off the sports field, so he started playing music with his father instead and posting clips online. A TikTok cover of "Dancing in the Sky" went viral, drawing the attention of managers Eddie Franzoni and Nick Barr.

He played his first concerts in 2023 and moved to homeschooling as the work picked up. He later signed to Warner Records in partnership with Prosper Entertainment, becoming one of the youngest artists on the label's roster, and followed the deal with a headlining tour across the United States that sold out.

His debut single, "Tears in the River," reached the top twenty of Spotify's US Viral 50 chart and had logged around twelve million global streams by the end of 2024. "I Wanna Know" climbed to number 19 on YouTube's Trending page, and "X's" became his most streamed song yet, passing sixteen million plays.

Batson co-wrote "Tough" for Lana Del Rey and Quavo, a song inspired by his late grandfather and his father that reached the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100. A two-hour writing session with Ashley Gorley produced "I Don't Like You Anymore," released in February 2025, and his first EP, First Dance, followed the next month, around the same time he made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.

Despite the polish of his own recordings, Batson names a wide range of influences: Morgan Wallen and George Strait alongside Michael Bublé, Garth Brooks, Playboi Carti and Frank Sinatra.