Curtis Grimes

Curtis Grimes turned to singing melancholy tunes in the wake of a romantic split, much like countless other men, yet he possessed the talent to build a career from his songs once the pain subsided. Born in Gilmer, Texas, in 1986, he excelled as a high-school athlete, serving as a pitcher who guided his baseball squad to the state championships. An accomplished scholar alongside his diamond success, Grimes earned a scholarship to Centenary College in Louisiana, only to pause both his athletic and academic pursuits after parting ways with his fiancée. While processing those emotions, he experimented with his roommate’s guitar before purchasing a used six-string at a pawn shop and committing seriously to practice. He later returned to his studies at Texas State University in San Marcos, this time carrying the instrument along, where he performed for friends at gatherings. Encouraged by their responses, he progressed to local bars and fraternity parties.

Securing enough bookings to assemble a band, Grimes captured a contest victory that secured an opening slot for a Kenny Chesney show in Austin, prompting his shift to music as a full-time profession. He began working the country circuit across Texas and Oklahoma, and in 2009 he issued his debut album, the independently released Lonely River. National attention arrived in 2011 when he joined the cast of the television competition The Voice, auditioning with Blake Shelton’s “Hillbilly Bone.” Shelton passed, yet Cee Lo Green selected him and served as his coach throughout an eight-week run that reached the quarterfinals. Capitalizing on the exposure, Grimes issued the seven-track EP Doin’ My Time that same year and maintained a steady touring schedule. His next studio album, Our Side of the Fence, appeared in 2014, followed by the 2015 EP Bottom of the Fifth, which climbed to number 29 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart. Its title track, along with “Baby Don’t Cry,” “Our Side of the Fence,” and “The Cowboy Kind,” each reached the top of the Texas Regional Radio chart. In November 2016 he released Undeniably Country, whose lead single, “From Where I’m Standing,” also became a Texas radio success.