"A dream in the back of my mind": Max McNown on turning a 'pipe dream' into country success

One of the latest young country music stars is headed for our shores. 

25-year-old Max McNown has had a meteoric rise, having got his break only a couple of years ago. 

He left his home of Oregon at 21 to move to California, and at the time, becoming a musician was barely a pipe dream. 

"I wasn't planning on pursuing music at all," he told Hosking. 

"I always kind of wanted to be a singer ... but yeah, it was just kind of a dream in the back of my mind that I never thought I'd chase." 

But a friend encouraged him to give performing a try, and one thing led to another. 

Over the following years, he signed a record deal, released an EP and a couple of albums, and moved to Nashville – the home of country music. 

"The community, it feels like people really do want to lift each other up – especially in the songwriting and production company," he explained. 

"When I came here, it just felt like Nashville fit – I fit in Nashville." 

"It felt like people were super kind and welcoming, and it just felt like my place, and so it's kind of been off to the races ever since." 

And so four years after picking up the guitar, McNown has over a billion streams and a sold-out headline tour under his belt, and now, he's coming to New Zealand next year as part of 'The Slow Down, Down Under' tour.  

LISTEN ABOVE