George Birge

A former member of the driving country-pop duo Waterloo Revival, George Birge went solo in 2021, gaining a viral hit with "'Beer Beer, Truck Truck,'" a tune based on a satirical meme that wound up as a ringing endorsement of country cliches. Birge continued to find clever ways to spin familiar country tropes on his eponymous 2022 EP, especially on the slow-burning single "Mind on You," which became a hit in late 2023, well over a year after its initial release.

A native of Austin, Texas, George Birge was drawn to music as a teenager. Discovering a kindred spirit in Cody Cooper, Birge learned how to play, sing, and write country music as part of a duo, but the pair went their separate ways after high school. When he returned to Austin after graduating college in 2013, he reignited his partnership with Cooper, developing the duo Waterloo Revival. They signed to Big Machine Records, where they had a pair of modest Country Airplay hits in 2015 -- "Hit the Road" and "Bad for You" -- before jumping to Show Dog-Universal in 2016. Over the next few years, they continued to release singles and EPs, finally calling it a day early in 2021.

Later that year, Birge launched a solo career. First working as a songwriter -- Clay Walker released his co-writes "Catchin' Up with an Old Memory" and "Need a Bar Sometimes"-- Birge put out his own solo recordings. Walker advised Birge to embrace social media, which helped his "'Beer Beer, Truck Truck'" go viral. Its success set Birge up for a deal with Records Nashville, releasing the single "Mind on You" prior to his self-titled debut EP in early 2022. A year after its release, "Mind on You" finally found an audience in the back half of 2023, reaching number seven on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. As it climbed the charts, Birge released Mind on You: The Album in May of 2023, as well as appearing on two different singles: Rodell Duff's "Outta Dirt" and Raelynn's "Whiskey Go Round." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine