Austin Plaine

Singer/guitarist Austin Plaine crafts sincere folk-pop shaded by country accents, drawing influence from figures such as Ryan Adams, Elliott Smith, and fellow Midwesterners Bob Dylan and Bright Eyes. His debut full-length, Austin Plaine, appeared in 2015 as a solo project. A broader palette shaped his follow-up, Stratford, which surfaced in 2019 after he enlisted additional musicians.

Born in North Dakota and raised in Minnesota, Plaine absorbed his father’s record collection, which included Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Van Morrison. Picking up guitar without formal lessons, he began at age 13 and attempted his own material once he mastered three chords. He later pursued communications studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, laying down his self-titled debut during his final undergraduate year. Initial exposure came through a Noisetrade campaign; placement in a credit-card advertisement then lifted his profile, prompting a deal with Washington Square, an imprint of Razor & Tie, that supplied an official 2015 release.

Plaine moved to Nashville in 2016. For the next album he assembled a complete band and welcomed outside voices, among them Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash, who co-wrote “What Kind of Fool,” and Soren Bryce, who contributed vocals. The finished Stratford emerged on Blaster Records in 2019.