Nashville native Lauren Watkins has been living and breathing country music for as long as she can remember. The free-spirited singer/songwriter is no stranger to the stage, spending her teenage years performing at hometown honky tonks and holes-in-the-wall. The 22-year-old spent her just-wrapped college years at Ole Miss, earning a marketing degree and falling in love with songwriting, honing a pen as sharp as her wit. Drawing inspiration from indie country icons like Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow to genre mainstays Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, and Chris Stapleton, Watkins brings a tangible relatability and boldness to lyrics all her own. It’s that uniqueness that led her to sign a publishing deal with Songs & Daughters and Big Loud Publishing, joining a roster as one-of-a-kind as she is. Charging forward into her next chapter, Lauren shares: “My goal is to reach people by being completely myself. Whether it’s how I present myself on stage, through the words I’m singing, or having the chance to meet people individually, I want everyone to feel like we really know each other.”