Need a fun summer song ASAP? Try Katie Austin’s “Got Me Like,” which BTW is from her EP, Wild Child.
Austin filmed the video in Nashville at Winky Lux and Inglewood Lounge, although your GPS is more likely to find her in songwriting rounds in Nashville and stages around the South.
“I wrote ‘Got Me Like’ with my good friend Lainey Wilson,” she tells CMT by email. “It was a perfect day outside so we decided to sit by her pool and write songs! The weather reminded me of the kind of day you roll your windows down and blare the radio to! We wanted to write a feel good song and nothing feels better than the first moment you light a spark with a crush! ‘Got Me Like celebrates that very first ‘ooh la la’ second where you know you’re about to fall in love!”
Austin’s hometown is Ponchatoula, Lousiana, although she found a sizable following performing in the Lone Star State.
“The venues that changed everything for me would have to be the Cowboy’s Dance Hall venues in Texas,” she says. “We played for 2,000 to 3,000 people a night for two years! It was the venue that I realized I could really ‘do this thing.’ I learned what it meant to front a band, to hold the attention of an audience, to make mistakes, to explore stage presence!”
When she moved to Nashville, she continued to pursue her dreams in a couple of innovative ways. “My first Nashville gig was performing at Wanna B’s Karaoke bar as a karaoke host!! LOL. I would perform when the bar was slow and in between performers.”
She adds, “My most interesting side hustle would have to be being a kickboxing instructor! haha. I may be nice, but I can throw a punch or two! ?”
One KO opportunity included a conversation with John Rich, which turned out far more than OK.
“The first artist to believe in me and change my life forever would have to be John Rich,” she says. “I was opening up a show for him in Texas and after the show he wanted to chat. In a nutshell, he asked me why in the world I wasn’t in Nashville. I knew playing in Texas was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life, but John Rich reminded me it was time to return to Nashville and hone my craft of writing!”
She describes an A+ day this way: “The perfect day for me would be starting off with a workout, followed by a songwriting session, recording session or LIVE show! And of course some hang time with loved ones!”
And instead of staying on the DL, she’s willing to share a collection of the best advice she’s ever received: “I’ve been reminded that I’ve got to have my fishing pole in the water to catch a fish. That this business can be hard, but what business is easy? And most importantly to focus on the song(s). If I don’t focus on the song(s) and write things I’m really proud of then nothing else matters. It starts with the song(s).”
PS: Katie, are there any venues on your bucket list?
“All of them! LOL!”