Julia Cole
#
181
Ranking
Rising Artist
BIRTHDATE
BIRTHPLACE
Klein
,
TX
,
USA
33
5
'
8
"
Julia Cole is a Klein, Texas-born independent country singer-songwriter who went from singing national anthems at her own high school volleyball games to surpassing 500 million streams and playing the O2 in London without ever signing a record deal, building one of country music's most fiercely loyal fanbases on deeply personal songs about heartbreak, self-worth, and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
Current Tour & Setlist
Cole kicked off 2026 with a European run that included dates at the Uber Eats Music Hall in Berlin, the Alhambra in Paris, Het Depot in Leuven, and headline slots at the C2C Country to Country festival at The OVO Hydro in Glasgow and The O2 in London before returning to North America for U.S. headline shows in St. Louis and Louisville and a slot at the Carolina Country Music Festival in Myrtle Beach on June 6. Her summer run supports the new album "Love You To Death," released May 22, 2026, and wraps with the Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Canada on July 11, with fans expecting a setlist anchored by "Day Late and A Buck Short," "Best Worst Ex," "Side Piece," and new material from the album.
Early Life
Born September 3, 1993, in Klein, Texas, just outside Houston, Cole grew up as the middle of three athletic sisters in a tight-knit family her parents lovingly called the #ColeTeam, competing in soccer, basketball, volleyball, and track at the highest level of Texas 6A athletics while her late grandfather Poppy, the original music lover in the family, planted the seeds of her country roots. Her mother started her on piano lessons at age five, which she begged to quit but later credited as essential to her songwriting, and her real musical spark came when her volleyball coach encouraged her to enter a singing contest for the Houston Texans, which she won, launching a run of national anthem performances for NFL, MLB, MLS, NASCAR, and ESPN events before crowds as large as 75,000.
Career Highlights
After playing volleyball at Vanderbilt University and moving to Nashville, Cole interned at publishing houses and artist management companies before beginning to post original songs online, building a following without ever signing a traditional record deal. Her 2021 viral single "Side Piece" put her on the map, followed by the 2022 duet "Best Worst Ex" with Alexandra Kay which cleared 11 million streams, and she was named a CMT Next Women of Country honoree that same year while opening for acts including Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, and Jelly Roll. As a fully independent artist who has never signed a label deal, Cole has since surpassed 500 million global streams, made her Grand Ole Opry debut, and released two deeply personal projects, "Life After You" (2024) and "Day Late and A Buck Short" (2025), followed by her new album "Love You To Death" in May 2026.
Family & Personal Life
Cole has shared publicly that her two most recent projects were fueled by two of the most painful experiences of her adult life, a called-off engagement and the loneliness of moving away from her close-knit Texas family to pursue her career in Nashville. She remains extremely close to her two sisters, carries pieces of her late grandfather Poppy's western wear shirts sewn into her stage wardrobe and guitar strap as a tribute to his memory, and describes her fanbase as an extension of the family-first values she grew up with.
