Country Next: Jacob Hackworth

Jacob Hackworth may be a brand-new name on the artist front, but behind the scenes, he’s already made a major impact as one of Nashville’s fastest-rising songwriters.

While growing up surrounded by the gravel roads of West Plains, Missouri, and working long days on the railroad, Hackworth developed a love and a talent for music. His passion brought him to Nashville in 2019, when he jumped right onto the scene as a songwriter in Music City.

He signed a publishing deal with Goat Island and Boom Music Group in 2022 and has since earned over 20 major label cuts in just a few short years for artists including Bailey Zimmerman, Jelly Roll, Corey Kent, Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown, Tucker Wetmore and more.

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He’s developed reputation as an extremely talented songwriter, but now Hackworth is stepping out with his own voice and story. The rising star introduced himself as an artist with the emotionally charged track, “When I Don’t” followed by an acoustic rendition that’s quickly resonating with fans.

Jacob Hackworth is just getting started, carving out a sound that’s raw, authentic, and unmistakably his own. He recently wrapped up his time on the road with friend and collaborator, Tucker Wetmore, which included a stop at the historic Ryman Auditorium where he received a massive standing ovation following his performance, and is now gearing up to show fans a deeper look into his artistry with more new music.

In this exclusive Q&A, the rising singer-songwriter opens up about his road to Nashville, landing his first major cut, and embarking on the next chapter of his career.

What is your earliest memory of starting to fall in love with music?

I mean, I was little. I probably don’t remember. My mom always said I sang even when I was two. I’d be singing all the time, but I would have to say first I can remember was definitely church. My great grandma always played piano and I would sit next to the piano, sing with her when I was, I don’t know, three, four or five, somewhere in there. And then I just transferred into school and choir now here. 

How old were you when you started playing in a local band and what were some of those early performances like?

I turned 21 and I was working for the railroad at the time, and I quit, and I was gone a lot and I moved. When I say moved, I just mean stayed at home instead of traveled. So I was at home and I just had some good buddies and a friend of mine introduced me to his brother and was like, ‘Hey, he plays music around town.’ I got to know him pretty well and he started having me kind of just jump up at shows that he was playing at and I was learning how to play the guitar at the time, and he just had me play little shows with him. And then finally I was like, ‘I think I want to do my own show, would you guys play with me?’ And I put together a little band and I think it was December of 2018, we did an ugly Christmas sweater show at the only bar in our town and we sold 350 tickets, and it was slammed. It was the craziest thing ever, and it was awesome. We played two hours and that was where it started. That’s when I was like, oh s**t, I can do this. 

You started to get into songwriting around that same time, do you remember what some of the first songs you wrote were about? 

I think the first one that I wrote was a song called ‘Take Me To The Woods.’ And I mean there’s some people that really like it and it’s probably my mom and some of my really close friends and then if I showed anyone now that song, they might laugh at me. So I think I’ve got to keep that one to myself. But yeah, that was the first song I had written, and I think it was like, ‘take me to the woods, get me out of all the stress.’ I’m a woodsy guy, so I like that place. So I think that was the first one. 

How did you balance your music with your job working on a railroad?

Actually the railroad, that was where I was gone a bunch. So I was working 21 days straight out on the road. I worked all over the country, but I had a lot of time on my hands. I was 18, 19, 20, and 21. And so I didn’t go to the bars, I didn’t go do anything like that. I just kind of hung around the hotel and finally decided to buy guitar and that’s where I started playing the guitar and trying to learn that and not always sang. So I was like, well, I just need to learn how to play guitar. And then I quit railroad, got back to town and was there for good. I had a girlfriend at the time and she dumped me like the third day I was home. I was like, I just quit my job, but I just started writing songs. Then once I got back to town, that’s where it kind of started. I luckily wasn’t playing music full-fledged while I was working for the railroad. I was just singing. That’s kind of where I started posting videos and stuff. But I didn’t really start ripping until I got home and got my little heart broken.

What was the transition like from Missouri to Nashville?

I mean, luckily, like I said, I had traveled quite a bit, so from the time I graduated high school I was pretty much gone all the time. So it was really hard just being away from my family. I love my family. I’m very close with my mom and my dad and I’ve got a brother and a sister and my brother’s now got two kids. So that was the hardest part for me. But luckily my family’s always been very supportive and they were always there when I needed them and kind of made it a little easier. But yeah, it was an interesting switch. I think the city, that was the craziest part, but we liked to have a good time, so we found some fun in it. 

How did you get your foot in the door with the songwriting community after moving to town?

The way that I kind of moved Nashville is my mom…she had a friend from high school that had lived in Nashville for a while. She reached out to him and told him that I was playing music and just kind asked him like, ‘Hey, give my son a little some insight on how to do it if he’s going to do it?’ And he called me and pretty much said like, ‘Hey dude, I know you’re playing music in West Plains in Missouri, but I’d love to come and catch a show and maybe write some songs.’ And his name’s Travis Smith, he’s the man, I love this dude with all my heart, but he had a pub deal here in town and pretty much came and watched the show and was like, ‘Hey dude, if you’re going to do it, you’re going to have to probably move to Nashville and if you want to come up here and write for a couple days and see how you like it, I can help you with it.’ So he got me a hotel room cause I was flat broke and booked me four sessions between two days and I came to town and wrote. Immediately was like, ‘I’m going to move.’ And that’s where the songwriting, I think where I fell in love with it because I was like, holy cow, people just write, they go to a session every day and write a song or write a couple songs and that’s their job. I’m like, that’s so badass. So he kind of was my introduction into the songwriting stuff. And then once I moved, he kind of helped me book sessions and showed me the ropes and I started booking my own sessions and meeting people in town. But we still write together a ton. Me and Travis are very good friends and he’s the man. 

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Who was the first big artist to cut one of your songs?

So the first cut I ever had as a songwriter, the first major label song was “Rock and a Hard Place” and I was unpublished at that time. All of us were, there’s two other guys on the song, two good friends of mine, Heath Warren and Jet Harvey. And we were all unpublished just writing songs and he had a little studio apartment above someone’s garage and we wrote “Rock And A Hard Place” and that’s what started everything for us on the major scale. 

How did you feel when you heard the news that Bailey was cutting your song?

Well, I was so green to the whole thing. I didn’t really know what anything meant. So Heath really kind of ran the show on that side. We were going, ‘what’s that mean?’ He’s like, ‘dude, they’re going to take it to radio and Bailey just signed a record deal. It’s going to be crazy.’ And we’re going, ‘is that good?’ He was like, ‘yeah, it’s going to be bada**.’ And I’m like, alright. And so we were just kind of along for the ride and it was kind of special. I didn’t know anything, so I was just completely just happy and enjoyed the whole thing without any other, I didn’t have any idea of what could go wrong or what could go right. So it was really fun. We all really had a good time with it. 

Now you’re transitioning into becoming an artist yourself. What made you decide to choose “When I Don’t” as your introduction to this next chapter?

I was writing a ton of songs at that time, but we were kind of honing in on a sound that I really liked and I was writing with some people that I really enjoyed with and that just kind of led to us discovering that real emotional thing. I love to sing and I’m also an emotional person. So I think we just kind put those two things together and “When I Don’t” was the perfect sculpture of that, so that’s what we just decided to run with and I love it. I love that song.

When did you decide to start trying to put out some of your own stuff now as an artist?

Early on I moved here to be an artist and the songwriting just kind of worked. And so we took a step back when I signed my publishing deal, I signed with two great companies, and I’ve got great management. We just decided to focus on the songwriting stuff and while it was rolling and see if I could do it and do some other cool stuff. And it kind of worked and we got to a good point where we were comfortable and definitely I’ve always been very eager to do the artist thing and that’s really heavy on my heart and I love it. So we just got to a good point and decided to just run with it. The stars kind of aligned with me and Tucker [Wetmore], we’ve been really close friends for a long time and he’s crushing it and we always kind of told each other like, ‘Hey man, whoever goes first, whoever pops off, you got to keep the other one in the loop.’ And we always got to stay true to our friendship. He pulled out a big one and took me on tour and that was kind of where we were like, “alright dude, let’s go.” 

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What do you just hope that fans will take away from hearing your songs and learning more about you as an artist? 

I hope people, when they’re listening to my music, I want ’em to feel it. I listen to music and I go through every emotion with a song, and I think that’s kind of what I want people to do when they listen to mine. I want ’em to be able to feel it and get through what they’re going through and feel what they want to feel with my music. That’s what I want. 

Fans can keep up with Jacob Hackworth on Instagram.