Australian country music has produced a steady stream of international success stories in recent years, but few have risen as quickly as Mack Geiger. Raised in Central Queensland on cattle stations far from the bright lights of Nashville, Geiger developed a deep connection to traditional country storytelling through long drives across the Australian outback and a childhood steeped in 1990s country music. After honing his craft in talent competitions, festivals and marathon bar gigs, he began attracting attention with a sound that blends neo-traditional country authenticity with modern energy. Breakthrough single ‘String By’ became a global streaming success, racking up tens of millions of plays and earning chart success across Spotify Viral, Shazam and Billboard's country rankings, while helping establish Geiger as one of Australia's most exciting emerging exports.
Now signed to RECORDS Nashville and Columbia Records Nashville, Geiger arrives in Nashville at a pivotal moment in his career. His debut EP, ‘Walk A Straight Line,' showcases the raw, narrative-driven songwriting that has become his trademark, while a landmark debut at the Grand Ole Opry further underlines just how rapidly his profile is growing. Having already shared stages with major artists and built a passionate international fanbase, Geiger is now taking his first major steps onto the global country music stage. When we sat down with him in Nashville last week, we discussed the impact of ‘Walk A Straight Line,' the lessons learned from his rapid rise and how he's navigating the transition from Australian breakout star to one of country music's most promising new international voices.
First off, many thanks for your time today Mack : your name is on everyone's lips out here at CMA Fest in Nashville. Do you live in Nashville now or are you still based in Australia?
No, I’m still in Australia. Yep.
It kind of blows my mind: a Brit interviewing an Aussie in Nashville. It really shows how global country music is now. Has all of this exceeded your expectations from even a year ago?
Yeah, 100%, it’s exceeded anything I thought might happen this quickly. If you’d asked me a year ago where I thought I’d be, I definitely wouldn’t have said I’d be on the other side of the world, standing in Nashville, talking about my music, or out there with my Australian band playing shows in the States. We’ve already been doing headline dates through places like Oklahoma and Texas, playing some pretty decent-sized venues, and there’s even more lined up later in the year, which is just wild to me.
I think what’s been the craziest part is how quickly it’s all happened. It’s not just one moment, it’s like things have just kept building and building, and you’re trying to keep up with it all while still processing it. There’s definitely a sense of, “Wow, this is actually happening,” because not that long ago, I was just back home writing songs, working, and trying to figure out if this could even be a realistic path.
So yeah, to now be travelling internationally, seeing people in different countries connect with the songs, and having opportunities like this—it’s far beyond what I imagined. I’m just really grateful for it, and I’m trying to enjoy it while it’s happening because I know how quickly things can change.
Let’s talk about the EP ‘Walk A Straight Line.' I love it and I love how involved you are in writing it. What does it feel like to finally have this project out?
It feels amazing, honestly. I think for me it’s been building for a while, because once we put ‘String By' out and it started to get a bit of traction, I just got really itchy to keep things moving. I didn’t want to sit around too long, I wanted to back it up straight away and keep putting music out, so then we followed it up with ‘Campdraft Queen,' and from there it just felt like everything was naturally leading towards a bigger body of work. So to finally have a full project out there, something that people can sit with and listen to front to back, it’s a really satisfying feeling.
With ‘Walk A Straight Line,' my goal was to show every side of who I am as an artist right now. I didn’t want it to feel one-dimensional or like it only represented one sound. So you’ve got those upbeat, driving tracks, there’s a bit of western swing in there, and then there are those slower, more emotional songs, which is kind of my bread and butter, if I’m honest. I wanted it to feel like a proper introduction, like if someone’s hearing me for the first time, they can get a real sense of what I do and what I’m about.
I’m also really proud of the songwriting side of it. Five of the six songs are solo writes, which means a lot to me, because I’ve always seen myself as a songwriter just as much as a singer. And then the one co-write, ‘Hole In The Wall,' was with another Aussie, which felt pretty special too. So yeah, just being able to put something out that feels truly like me, that I’ve had such a big hand in creating from start to finish, I’m just really proud of it and I’m really happy with how it’s all come together.
The title ‘Walk A Straight Line' suggests discipline, purpose, maybe resilience. Why that title?
Yeah, for me the title just felt like a really strong statement from the start. It’s one of those phrases that kind of hits you straight away, and I felt like it summed up not just the song, but where I’m at in my life and what I’m trying to do with my music. There’s a sense of discipline in it, but also honesty: just staying true to who you are and not getting pulled too far off course.
I think on a personal level, it represents my values and the way I was brought up. It’s about trying to do things the right way, keeping your head down, working hard and not getting distracted by everything else going on around you. But it also ties directly into what I want this career to be. I’m not here to chase trends or try to impress certain people or fit into something I’m not. I just want to make music that feels real to me and that I can stand behind.
So in that sense, it’s almost like a mission statement. It’s me saying, “This is the path I’m on.” I’m just trying to walk that line, stay consistent, keep improving, and let the music speak for itself at the end of the day. It felt like the perfect title for the project because it captures both who I am as a person and what I’m trying to achieve as an artist.
You’ve written most of the EP yourself. How important was it for this to feel like your voice?
Yeah, it means a lot to me, to be honest. I’ve always seen myself as a songwriter just as much as I am a singer, so being able to put a project out where the majority of it is written solely by me, that’s something I’m really proud of. I think there’s a different kind of connection when you know that what people are hearing has come directly from your own experiences, your own thoughts, and your own way of seeing the world, without too many other voices shaping it.
For me, writing those songs on my own allowed me to really say exactly what I wanted to say, in the way I wanted to say it. There’s no second-guessing or trying to meet in the middle creatively, it’s just completely honest and direct. And when people respond to that, when they connect with those songs or tell me they love them, that’s probably the most rewarding feeling you can get as an artist. It doesn’t really get much better than that.
At the same time, I’m not against co-writing at all. I actually think it’s something I’m really excited to explore more, especially being here in Nashville where that’s such a big part of the culture. But for this EP, it felt important to establish who I am first. To put something out there that’s very clearly my voice, my stories, my sound. So yeah, it means a lot, and it’s something I’ll always take a lot of pride in.
You’re still new to Nashville. Are you excited or intimidated about co-writing with people here?
Yeah, I wouldn’t say I’m intimidated, to be honest. If anything, I’m more excited than anything else. I think it’s one of those situations where you could very easily get in your head about it: walking into a room in Nashville with people who have written massive songs and done this for years, but I’ve always tried to look at it as an opportunity rather than something to be nervous about.
I did have a little bit of a taste of co-writing with ‘Hole In The Wall,' so I’m not completely new to it, but I know I’m still very fresh when it comes to that side of things. And instead of that being daunting, I actually think it’s pretty exciting because it opens up so many different pathways creatively. You’ve suddenly got more ideas in the room, more perspectives, more ways of approaching a song that I might not have thought of on my own.
I think for me it’s about going in with an open mind and just soaking it all up. Being able to sit in those rooms on Music Row, learn from people, and collaborate, it’s something I’m really looking forward to. I don’t feel like I need to prove anything going in there, I just want to make good songs. So yeah, definitely more of a “bring it on” mindset than anything else.
You’re part of this new wave of neo-traditional artists. Why that sound? Did you grow up on it?
I think that style of music has always just come really naturally to me, and a lot of that comes from what I grew up listening to. I learned how to sing by listening to guys like Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Toby Keith: all those ‘90s country artists. That was just constantly playing in our house and in the car growing up. My dad was in his prime during that era, so that was kind of the soundtrack to his life and naturally it became the soundtrack to mine as well.
I’m one of five kids, so if the music wasn’t playing and we weren’t all singing along, we were probably fighting in the backseat, to be honest. So it was always loud, always full of energy, and I think that’s where I really found my voice, just singing along to those songs without even thinking about it. Over time, that style just kind of seeped into me. I’ve tried different kinds of music over the years, especially through my teenage years, but I always found myself coming back to that traditional country sound because it just felt the most authentic to who I am.
And now, seeing artists like Drake Milligan, Braxton Keith and Zach Top bringing that sound back in a modern way, it feels like I’m part of a generation that’s rediscovering and reintroducing it. It might not have always been seen as a young person’s lane, but I think that’s changing now. For me, it’s not about chasing something old, it’s about carrying forward something that’s always been a part of me and presenting it in a way that still feels fresh and relevant today.
Was there a moment where you realised you could do this for a living?
To be honest, there wasn’t really a clear moment in my teens where I thought, “This is what I’m going to do for a living.” It wasn’t something I seriously considered at that stage. Growing up, I was really into sport, that was my main focus. I was playing rugby union, athletics, touch football, all that sort of stuff, and that’s where most of my energy went. Music was always there, but it was more of a side thing, just me playing guitar in my bedroom, messing around, learning songs, writing a bit here and there, but not really thinking of it as a career.
After school, I was heading down a completely different path. I was studying to become a paramedic, and I’d also spent time working as a ringer on a cattle station, so my life was pretty grounded in those kinds of jobs. Music just didn’t feel like a realistic option in terms of making a living or supporting a family one day, it felt more like a passion than something you could actually build a career on.
It wasn’t until I started releasing a few songs that things began to shift. I started to notice that people were actually listening, connecting with what I was putting out, and enjoying it. That was probably the turning point for me: realising that it wasn’t just me playing in my room anymore, that there was an audience out there. From there, it kind of snowballed. I had this moment where I thought, “Alright, I can either spread myself thin and be okay at a few different things, or I can go all in on the thing I really love.” And for me, that was music. So I made the decision to put all my eggs in one basket and give it everything I had, and that’s really when this whole journey properly started.
‘Campdraft Queen’ is such a vivid, cinematic song. What’s the story behind it?
Yeah, ‘Campdraft Queen' came from a really specific place, which is probably why it feels so cinematic. I actually wrote the idea down on the way home from a campdraft, which is something that’s a huge part of life back in Australia, but I know not many people over here or in Europe really know what it is. It’s basically a horse sport where you’ve got to ride into a pen of cattle, separate one from the herd, and then control it through a course, around pegs and through a gate, while it’s trying to get away from you. It’s all about control, skill, and your connection with the horse, and it’s a massive part of rural culture where I’m from.
I grew up around that world, and I’d always listened to country songs on the radio, but I remember thinking, “Why has no one ever written a proper campdraft song?” Maybe they had, but I’d never heard one. So I had this idea of telling a story set in that environment, but really using it as a backdrop for something more universal. The hook about trying to keep up with the “campdraft queen” came to me pretty quickly, and I knew there was something in it, but I actually sat on it for a long time, I think it was around a year, maybe longer, before I came back and finished it.
When I did come back to it, I realised the heart of the song isn’t really about the sport itself, it’s about chasing a girl, trying to keep up with someone who’s maybe a bit out of your league, someone you can’t quite catch. The campdraft setting just gives it that unique flavour and imagery. There’s a lot of Australian slang and references in there too, which I honestly wasn’t sure how that would translate internationally.
So it’s been really cool, and pretty surprising, to see people in America and elsewhere not only connecting with the song but actually singing it back, even with all that Aussie terminology in it. That’s probably been one of the most rewarding parts for me: realising that you can write something really specific to where you’re from, and it can still resonate with people on the other side of the world.
‘String By’ was a huge viral moment for you. What did that feel like as it happened?
The whole ‘String By' journey has been pretty surreal, to be honest. When we first released it, I always believed in the song, I knew it had something but I definitely didn’t put it out thinking, “This is going to change everything.” At the time, I was actually out working on my uncle and auntie’s cattle station up in the Gulf of Queensland, which is a pretty remote part of Australia. There’s not much service out there, and I actually lost my phone in the paddock while mustering, rookie error (laughing), just slipped out of my back pocket, so I was basically completely disconnected from the world while the song was out.
So while all this was starting to happen, I had no idea. My managers were back home trying to push the song and build something around it, and I’m just out there working, totally removed from it all. I ended up being out there for a couple of months, and then when I came back and finally got back online, I saw that the song had started to pick up all these streams and a lot of them were coming from the U.S., especially Texas. That was the part that really blew my mind. It didn’t feel real at first. It was just numbers on a screen, and I didn’t fully understand what it meant yet.
It actually took a while to sink in. At the start, it didn’t feel like anything had changed in a tangible way, I wasn’t suddenly seeing the impact in my day-to-day life, and things like royalties take time to come through, so it was more this slow realisation of, “Okay, something’s happening here.” And then as it kept growing and people started reaching out, singing the song, sharing it, that’s when it really hit me how big it had become.
I think the biggest thing for me is recognising how much social media played a role in that. I can sit here and complain about it like anyone else, but the reality is, without it, that song probably doesn’t reach the audience it did, especially internationally. So in a way, it’s been a huge blessing. It’s opened doors I didn’t even know were there, and it’s given me a platform to build on. But yeah, the whole experience—from being completely disconnected to coming back and seeing it take off, was just a really strange, amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of feeling.
Does that kind of success change how you think about your next releases?
I think I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t creep into your head a little bit after something like ‘String By' takes off. Naturally, you start thinking, “Alright, how do I follow that up? How do I do that again?” There’s definitely a bit of pressure that comes with it, whether that’s from other people or just something you put on yourself. You don’t want it to be a one-off, you want to prove that it wasn’t luck and that you can build something real off the back of it.
But at the same time, I think I’ve had to be pretty mindful not to let that take over how I approach making music. When I look back at “String By,” the reason it connected the way it did is because I wasn’t trying to do anything special or overthink it. I was just writing a song that felt good to me. There was no pressure, no expectations, no strategy behind it. It was just about making something honest and seeing what happened.
So I think the biggest thing for me now is reminding myself of that. It’s about keeping the focus on the music first and not getting caught up in trying to recreate a moment or chase a certain kind of success. Because the more you try to force that, the further away you probably get from what made it work in the first place.
I don’t want to go into the next songs thinking, “This has to be the next big one.” I just want to keep writing good songs, keep enjoying the process, and trust that if I stay true to that, then whatever’s meant to happen will happen. So yeah, the pressure is there in the background, but I’m trying not to let it dictate anything. For me, it’s about staying grounded, staying focused and just walking that straight line, doing what I do and letting the rest take care of itself.
Finally, your Grand Ole Opry debut is coming up later in June. That must be surreal? Are you nervous or excited?
Yeah, it’s honestly all of the above: excited, nervous, grateful, probably a bit in disbelief as well. (laughing) It’s one of those moments that, even now, I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Being from Australia, the Grand Ole Opry always felt like this almost mythical place. Even back home, you know what it represents, you understand the history, the legacy, the people who’ve stood in that circle. So when I first made the decision to really go all in on music, that was right up there at the top of the list of things you dream about.
I just never thought it would happen this quickly. It feels like I’ve been kind of thrown into it in the best possible way, like I’ve been pulled through a bit of a whirlwind and suddenly I’m here, about to step into that circle. It’s a huge honour, and I don’t take it lightly at all. I think there’s definitely nerves there, because you want to do it justice: you want to step up and deliver in a place that means so much to so many people.
At the same time, there’s a real sense of excitement. Moments like that don’t come around often, especially for someone coming from the other side of the world. I’m really aware of how special it is, not just for me, but for my family, my team, and everyone who’s supported me to get to this point. It’s one of those things you dream about without really believing it’ll happen and now that it is, I’m just trying to soak it all in and enjoy every second of it.
And yeah, there’s definitely a bit of curiosity too, like, how’s it all going to feel when I step out there? How are people going to react? But more than anything, I just feel incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity. For an Aussie to get that chance, to stand in that circle, it’s pretty special. I’m just going to go out there, be myself, play the songs and take it all in.
Check out Mack Geiger's awesome new EP ‘Walk a Straight Line' in all the usual places now.
