Rising country star Austin Dixon returns to Whiskey Jack’s Friday, March 10
by Lorne Chambers | editor
The music industry has changed quite a bit over the years. One of the biggest factors has been the rise in social media as a way for unsigned artists to reach the masses. One person who has harnessed the power of social media is rising country star Austin Dixon. The Oklahoma native has nearly 120,000 followers on Tik Tok, which have helped propel his career with hundreds of thousands of views of videos of Dixon performing everything from old-school country tunes to original songs.
Dixon, who returns to Charleston on Friday, March 10 to play a solo show at Whiskey Jack’s in West Ashley, has a new EP coming out soon. West Of Free Press had a chance to catch up with singer/songwriter recently and talk to him about everything from the state of country music to his other life as a meteorologist. When he’s not recording music or touring, Dixon is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma with a minor in Mathematics and has a Master’s in Atmospheric Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His current research involves using high-resolution simulations of supercell thunderstorms and tornadoes to improve numerical weather prediction and operational forecasts of tornadoes.
But make no mistake, music is not just a hobby. Dixon makes it clear that he is going all in on making music his career. But in the meanwhile, he’s able to make a living as a meteorologist while he chases his dream of being a professional musician. When asked if he had to choose one: weather or music, he doesn’t hesitate. “Music all day. There’s no contest,” says Dixon. “I hate to say it, but being a musician is way cooler than my day-to-day as a meteorologist.”
Here is part of he conversation we had with the multi-talented Austin Dixon.
West Of Free Press: Nashville and the county music machine are notoriously vicious to young singer/songwriters. But you have sort of bypassed all of this with your popularity on social media. Was this always your plan or was this born out of frustration from pursuing traditional routes?
Austin Dixon: To be honest, I didn’t have a plan. I always wanted to pursue music, but it seemed unnecessary in the modern era to drop everything in my life and hit the road trying to make a name for myself while being completely broke in the process. I guess people are still doing that, and that’s awesome, but that’s not the path I wanted to take. I sort of got lucky on social media, I think. You never know what videos are going to do well and which ones aren’t. I stumbled on to a formula that seems to work well at least part of the time, and that has done wonders for opening up at least a few small doors for me.
WOFP: Because of this, I often see you described as “Tik Tok Country Star.” How have you managed to parlay your online popularity into real world success?
AD: Yeah I’ve seen that too, and while it’s super cool to be described in that way, I would like to get to a point where they leave the words “Tik Tok” off of that phrase you know what I mean? The main thing social media success has done for me is build an audience for my current and future music. When new stuff comes out, I’ll already have a fan base built up that I can push it to. It’s also helped me get into venues outside of my local area. Whiskey Jack’s in Charleston was a very early example of that, and that’s one of the main reasons I’ll keep coming back to see those guys! Those are two areas I feel I’ve sort of circumvented at least part of the grind that newer artists go through. That being said, I’m a long way from what I consider success. The dream goes well beyond a couple hundred thousand followers on social media!
WOFP: Within the country music world, there seems to be all these arbitrary classifications — Outlaw Country, Pop Country, Americana, Bro Country, Hick-Hop, etc. It seems like that only matters to radio program directors and maybe record execs. Where would you say your style of music fits (if at all) on this spectrum?
AD: That’s a great question. I’m interested to see how they classify my latest project when it comes out. I’ve always been blessed and cursed by being a multi-faceted person with a lot of different interests and I think that’s reflected in this EP. It has layered acoustic guitars that on their own sound like something Jimmy Page would have put together. It has some twangy electric guitar that sounds more like the red dirt country music that comes out of this part of the world (Oklahoma/Texas). But it also has some really high-energy, more rock-influenced songs like you might hear on a Luke Combs record. To me, the project sounds unique but relevant, and I couldn’t be more antsy to get it out there to the world!
WOFP: You’ve been to Charleston at least a couple times now. Is this an area that you have personal ties to or do you just like coming here?
AD: I had never been here prior to my first visit to Whiskey Jack’s. It’s an incredible area that I would like to explore more at some point. My wife and I may plan a vacation here in the future so we can have some more downtime to check things out! Outside of that, the fans here have been great. We packed the place the first time I ever came here and I made them a promise that I would come back. I’m a man of my word!
WOFP: What else is new in the music world for you?
AD: I’ve got a new EP coming out soon. It’ll be called O-Town, which is a nickname for the small town of Oilton, OK. I grew up about 30 minutes down the road from there, but a lot of my friends are from Oilton and the O-Town crew is one of the main reasons I started pushing music really hard. They’ve supported me from day one and a lot of the songs on this project are based on the smalltown lifestyle that we all grew up with. The title track is more of a direct reference to Oilton and some of the shenanigans we get into during the summertime. I’m not sure about what kind of mainstream success that particular song will have, but I didn’t write it for that reason. It’s a tribute to all the people there and the support they’ve given me and a tribute to true Oklahoma redneckery!
Austin Dixon will play on Friday, March 10 at Whiskey Jack’s, located in the West Island Center at 2061 Savannah Hwy. For more information, call (843) 966-3354 or visit www.whiskeyjackschs.com.
