Rylee Austin’s Music Career Is on the Rise
Rylee Austin has seen a thing or 2 that’s inspired her music career. While she worked a variety of jobs over the years — from corrections officer to bail bond agent — music always called to her. 1 day, she decided to trade in in her pink handcuffs and purple Glock for a guitar and a microphone. Now, armed with a record deal and a fan following, Austin’s dreams are coming true every time she steps onto a stage.
A Honky-Tonk Girl
Austin, a graduate of Luverne High School, grew up idolizing country music superstars George Strait, Reba McEntire, Loretta Lynn, and Wynnona Judd, to name just a few. Austin had a black acoustic guitar, just like Judd.
She began playing guitar when she was 9 and was performing with bands at 18. Local musician Robbin McCombs, whom she affectionately calls “Pops,” taught her to play guitar. “Pops really took me under his wing, especially when my dad died when I was 18,” she says.
She remembers listening to country music with her dad, Gerald Andrews when she was growing up. “He always loved country music, but my mom didn’t,” she says.
Even though her mother, Kathy Gonsalves, didn’t prefer country music, she took her 11-year-old daughter to the Hank Williams Festival in Georgiana to hear country icon Loretta Lynn. Austin recalls a woman standing near her at the concert staring at her.
“My mom asked her if there was a problem and she said, ‘Not at all. I’ve just never seen anyone that young who knows every word to Loretta Lynn’s songs,’” says Austin, explaining that seeing Lynn on stage stoked a fire within her.
“That’s the exact moment I knew I wanted to pursue music when I grew up,” she says.
As a young adult, Austin decided to pursue a career in law enforcement while still playing music on the weekends. She worked as a corrections officer in Crenshaw County and also worked as a deputy sheriff. The deputy sheriff position wasn’t a paying gig, she did it to gain experience in hopes of eventually attending the law enforcement academy.
Wanting to try something new, and equipped with her colorful handcuffs and sidearm, she began working as a bail bond agent, which led to bounty hunting. “If we had someone skip their court date in the company, the boss would call me and I would go find them. I loved it, it was so much fun,” Austin says.
She loved her work, but couldn’t scratch the itch that propelled her toward her music. “No matter what I’ve done in life, I always come back to music,” she says.
So, 1 day shy of her 3-year anniversary in law enforcement, she decided to leave it behind and pursue music full time. “I finally just sat down 1 day and looked at my pay, did the math and realized that I could make more money over a long weekend of music gigs than I was making at my job,” she says.
A Star Is Born
Austin loves playing for a crowd, whether it’s at a small bar or in front of bigger crowds like the Hank Williams Festival, Georgiana City Fest or Festival at the Well in Glenwood. Eventually, she got the attention of Nashville-based label Grace Records, whom she signed with in February 2023.
“I’m still not sure how they found out about me, but they reached out,” she says. “At first I was skeptical because nothing has ever worked out in the past with labels.” Austin went to hear what the label representatives had to say and had a really good gut feeling about moving forward with the deal. “It’s felt like home for the last year,” she says.
Austin is a storyteller. Whether she’s singing a song or reflecting on her bounty-hunting days, she enthralls her audiences. She says her songwriting process is the fun part. “I usually have to get really ticked off about something to write a song. I don’t necessarily get mad about a boy, I get mad at a situation,” she says.
"No matter what I’ve done in life, I always come back to music,” she says.
Take the song “Backseat to the Bottle,” for instance. That was a phrase she said to an ex-boyfriend during an argument. “It came out of my mouth, then I was like, ‘Wait a second, I need to write that down,’” she says, laughing. “A lot of my songs come from 1-liners and I just write everything down.”
Almost every song on Austin’s album, “My Side,” was written by her and inspired by her own life experiences. She says it’s hard to choose a favorite, but it would probably be “I Love Her More,” a song she wrote about how much she loves her daughter.
Writing comes naturally to Austin, but she has not always enjoyed performing in front of audiences.
The first time she ever performed with a band was because Pops tricked her.
“I used to have terrible stage fright,” she says. When she was 18 Pops decided it was time for her to start getting comfortable on a stage performing to an audience.
1 day, she came over to Pops’ house for her guitar lesson, and he told her she was going to rehearse with a band that day. The other musicians were there, waiting for Austin, and she settled in and began singing Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight.” Suddenly, people begin walking into the house. Pops had coordinated with about 10 people to hide out until Austin began singing and then came in to be her audience.
“I was terrified,” she says. But, determined to help break her of her stage fright, Pops told her to keep playing. “I was like a deer in headlights, but I made it through,” she says.
Austin has come a long way since then, performing for large crowds at a variety of venues. She has been the opening act for musicians like Jeff Bates, Shane Owens, Taylor Austin Dye, Ashton Shepherd, and Bryan Martin.
No matter where she goes, Austin will never forget her roots and how far she has come. She says it’s still a surreal experience when people recognize her in public and they mention their favorite song she wrote.
And her all-time favorite song? “You Ain’t Woman Enough” by Loretta Lynn, of course. “I used to belt that song at the top of my lungs as a kid about some man I didn’t even have yet,” she says with a laugh.