Maddox Batson sits in a swivel chair in a West Hollywood recording studio on a recent evening, spinning idly as his mother and manager go over their plans for the next few days.
The freckle-faced country singer, who turned 16 just before Christmas, has been here working on songs for the last week or so with a handful of writers and producers. Batson likes coming to Los Angeles because of what the dry climate does for his voice and because he reckons he gets a different sound — “more pop-leaning, I guess” — than he does back in Nashville. Tomorrow, he’ll fly home for a quick stay before heading out again to a gig in Indiana, this time on his tour bus with the family dog in tow.
“Humphrey — that’s my guy,” Batson says of the black-and-brown dachshund, whom he introduced to his audience onstage in 2024. His mom, Salina, recalls the scene: “It was his first headline show, in Tuscaloosa, and he’d just gotten Humphrey as a surprise from his sister. Maddox held him up like the beginning of ‘The Lion King.’”
The dog has since become a fan favorite, Batson notes, adding that his team is designing a plush Humphrey toy to offer at the merch booth. “The margins on that are gonna be crazy,” he says with a grin. “We’re gonna sell so many.”
Country music has long made room for precocious teen stars, beginning with Tanya Tucker (who scored a hit with 1972’s “Delta Dawn” when she was just 13) and moving through LeAnn Rimes in the 1990s and Taylor Swift in the early 2000s. In 2018, 11-year-old Mason Ramsey found instant internet fame (and later a major-label record deal) thanks to a viral video that showed him yodeling Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues” in the aisles of a Walmart.
Few in Nashville would say that puppy love powers the genre right now: This week, Billboard’s country albums chart is topped by Zach Bryan’s “With Heaven on Top,” which ponders his messy breakup with the podcaster Brianna Chickenfry, who’s accused Bryan of emotional abuse; behind that are three of Morgan Wallen’s albums, each of which presents Nashville’s biggest act in lightly villainous terms, and a greatest-hits set by the happily pugnacious Jason Aldean.
Yet Batson — the youngest member of a class of teenage up-and-comers that also includes Ty Myers and Waylon Wyatt — is slowly building a fan base with slick but wholesome pop-country songs like “God Talkin’” (“I could find him in the sky, I could find him in a pew / But, girl, I found mine in your five-foot-five baby blues”) and “Girl in Green,” which comes with a smiley music video set at a school dance.
Sixteen months after he signed with Warner Records, Batson has more than 3.5 million followers on TikTok and another million on Instagram; last year, Lainey Wilson took him out on the road as an opening act, while Billboard put him on its 21 Under 21 list alongside Sombr and Katseye.
Batson dropped his latest single, “Any Other Night,” last week. Built on a twangy R&B groove that echoes Baby Bash and Frankie J’s 2003 hit “Suga Suga,” it’s about the singer’s willingness to ditch his boys at the bonfire in the event that his phone lights up with a call from his crush; the song’s throbbing beat and Batson’s rappy flow demonstrate his intuitive understanding of how porous borders between styles have become in the streaming era.
“I think MGK said once that there are no genres of music — there’s only good music and bad music,” Batson says at the recording studio. In addition to his mom, the singer’s sister Loren is here, as is his cousin Alex, who recently joined Team Maddox as road manager. “He just graduated from Mississippi State,” Salina says, “so we put him to work.”
After our chat, the Batsons need to decide where to have the final dinner of this trip to L.A. Last night they went to Nobu; another night they ordered in from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Kitchen. “The food is excellent — I wish she would franchise it and open one in Nashville,” Salina says of Goop. “Nashville would go feral for that place.”
Dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and brown suede cowboy boots, Batson elaborates on his idea about genre. “I feel like there’s a spectrum, right? There’s zero, which is right in the middle, and then there’s two, which is full country — like Zach Top,” he says of the ’90s-nostalgic neo-traditionalist. “Then you have negative two, which is pop music — Sabrina Carpenter. As long as you’re in that realm, you can be considered both.”
Aaron Bay-Schuck, Warner’s CEO, thinks that approach will help propel Batson to heights attained by one conspicuous former teen star. “We believe the upside on Maddox is certainly in-line with the career trajectory Justin Bieber has enjoyed,” the exec says.
Batson grew up playing sports in Birmingham, Ala. “I was a big hooper back in middle school — averaged around 35 points per game,” he says. “But then I got this knee disease in my right knee called Osgood-Schlatter.” The condition, which strikes many young athletes, causes painful inflammation of the growth plate just above the shinbone.
“It straight crushed me at the time,” he says of the diagnosis, “because basketball was my entire life. But that’s kind of what kick-started music for me.” He and his dad, who plays guitar, started posting performance videos on TikTok; eventually, he expanded his repertoire to include more influencer-style content, including a so-called “get ready with me” clip that’s been viewed more than 37 million times.
Batson released his breakout single, the yearning “Tears in the River,” in early 2024, just around the time he transitioned to homeschool. “They put homework on me, and I’m like, ‘I’m not doing this,’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, you are,’ and I’m like, ‘OK, maybe I will,’” he says with a laugh.
“Tears in the River,” which reached the top 20 of Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart, drew the attention of Warner Records; the label signed Batson in September 2024 and immediately put out “X’s,” which recounts a night spent dancing with a girl in a club, both of them marked with black Sharpie on their hands to show they’re underage.
Between “Tears in the River” and “X’s,” Lana Del Rey and Quavo recorded a country-ish song Batson co-wrote called “Tough.” He and Del Rey both played Indio’s Stagecoach festival last April. Did Batson catch her set? Alas, he had to split early for another show in Arizona. He saw videos of her performance, though, including the much-discussed moment when she sang about making out with Wallen before advising anyone listening against “ATVing with him when you’re out west.”
“That caught me off guard,” Batson recalls. “Can you imagine? Poor guy. Now she’s married to that alligator guy? He’s awesome.”
Asked whose career path he admires, Batson mentions Bieber, One Direction and the Jonas Brothers. “Those guys have made all the right decisions,” he says of the Jonases, who started out as teen phenoms in the early 2000s and last year toured arenas. “Longevity is one of my biggest things,” he adds. “I want to be around for a long time — not just another teen up-and-down type of thing.”
The challenge in setting that up is “making sure that the music you put out, you’re not aging out of it the very next year,” according to Jesse Frasure, a Nashville veteran who co-wrote and produced “Any Other Night.” “At Maddox’s age, a year is a huge deal,” Frasure says, in terms of the subject matter of his songs. “Not to mention that sonically, your voice is literally changing.”
Frasure acknowledges that the cheerful innocence of “Any Other Night” is out of step with the “emo-male thing going on” with Wallen, Bryan, Gavin Adcock and the like. “But I think we’re in need of a swing of fun, good-time country music,” he says.
Time will tell whether country radio agrees. So far, Batson hasn’t found much support among programmers, who still wield enormous influence in the format — more, for sure, than their Top 40 counterparts do in pop.
Yet social media is “where Maddox fans live,” says Warner’s Bay-Schuck, which suits the singer fine. Even after a few years of steady posting online, he’s happy to keep making TikToks that allow him to connect directly with his following.
“I love being known as relatable,” he says. “I want everyone to feel like, if they meet me in person, they would never be scared to say ‘What’s up?’” He’ll put that to the test with a tour set to launch next month in Florida and a stop at L.A.’s Wiltern on April 8. Before that, he’s got work to do on the debut album he hopes to release this year.
To many musicians Batson’s age, the LP is an old-fashioned artifact, but it’s important to him. His favorites: Wallen’s “Dangerous,” Bieber’s “My World 2.0” and John Mayer’s “Battle Studies,” which he points out was released the same year he was born.
“Oh, and Michael Bublé’s Christmas album,” he adds. “I know every word. He’s super cool, dude. I just found out he’s sponsored by Rolex.”
Batson is himself wearing a nice watch, which he checks out in a mirror as he prepares for a photo shoot.
“There’s not a reflective surface Maddox passes that he doesn’t like,” Salina notes with a laugh.
How’s it feel to be roasted by his own mom?
“She does it all the time,” the singer answers. “I’ve learned to love it.”
“Gotta keep those feet on the ground,” Salina says.
“Yes, ma’am.”
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