His parents are William Keith Swindell and Betty Carol Rainey. His father died unexpectedly on September 2, 2013, at 65. He grew up in Bronwood, Georgia, and has two brothers and a stepbrother.
Swindell attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia. Swindell attended Georgia Southern University, where he majored in marketing. He met Luke Bryan, who attended the same university some years earlier and was also a fellow Sigma Chi member, at the fraternity house when Bryan came back to Statesboro to do a show. They kept in touch, and after Swindell left college in 2007 and moved to Nashville, he sold merchandise for Bryan for three years, and wrote songs on the road.
In 2010, Swindell signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Cole Swindell wrote Craig Campbell's "Outta My Head"; Luke Bryan's "Just a Sip", "Beer in the Headlights", "Roller Coaster", "Out Like That", "I'm Hungover", "In Love with the Girl", "Love in a College Town", "Shore Thing", "Shake the Sand" and "The Sand I Brought to the Beach"; Thomas Rhett's "Get Me Some of That"; and Scotty McCreery's "Water Tower Town" and "Carolina Eyes". He also co-wrote Florida Georgia Line's "This Is How We Roll" with Bryan, who was featured on the song. Chris Young also had a song on his A.M. album co-written by Swindell, "Nothin' but the Cooler Left".
2013–15: Cole Swindell
In 2013, after his independently released debut single "Chillin' It" was played heavily by satellite radio channel "The Highway" on SiriusXM, the song began to climb the charts, Swindell signed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville. The song was produced by Jody Stevens, who is the son of Luke Bryan's producer, Jeff Stevens, and was formerly one-half of the duo Fast Ryde. The recording of "Chillin' It" was a demo consisting of Swindell's vocals and Stevens performing all instrumentation, and it was sent to radio before it had been mastered.
Swindell released his self-titled debut album on February 18, 2014. Luke Bryan's guitarist, Michael Carter, produced the rest of the album. Along with Lee Brice, Swindell opened Luke Bryan's 2014 That's My Kind of Night Tour. The tour dates began in mid-January and ran into early March. "Chillin' It" became a top 5 hit on Country Airplay and #1 single on Hot Country Songs. The album's second single is "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight", which Swindell co-wrote with both members of Florida Georgia Line. The album's third single, "Ain't Worth the Whiskey" released to country radio on November 3, 2014. It reached #1 on the Country Airplay chart in April 2015. The album's fourth single, "Let Me See Ya Girl", was released to country radio on April 20, 2015. It reached #2 on the Country Airplay chart in November 2015.
On November 17, 2014, Swindell released a five-song digital EP titled The Down Home Sessions. The EP release coincides with his headlining tour of the same name.
Swindell won the ACM New Artist of the Year Award in April 2015.
2015–18: You Should Be Here
The album's first single, "You Should Be Here" was released to country radio on December 14, 2015. It was written with Ashley Gorley. It reached at #1 on the Country Airplay & Hot Country Songs in April 2016. The album's second single, "Middle of a Memory" released to country radio on May 2, 2016. It reached at #1 on the Country Airplay in November 2016. The album's third single, "Flatliner" (featuring Dierks Bentley) released to country radio on January 23, 2017. It reached #2 on the Country Airplay in August 2017. The album's fourth single, "Stay Downtown" released to country radio on September 5, 2017. “You Should Be Here”, “Middle Of A Memory”, and "Flatliner" all hit #1 on Mediabase country radio singles chart.
Swindell also released a music video for the song which featured a video of him telling his father he received a record contract and subsequent montages of Cole and his brothers grieving outside of the family home and at their father's grave. The video also shows images of Swindell's rising popularity while clearly conveying that he wanted to be able to see his father and share this fame experience with him.
2018–present: All of It
Swindell released "Break Up in the End", the lead single from his third album, on February 23, 2018. The new album, All of It, was released on August 17, 2018. After the album became available for pre-order in July 2018, Swindell released the #1 track "Love You Too Late" as a promotional single. "Love You Too Late" was announced as the album's official second single, being released to radio on November 19, 2018.
The lead single from Swindell's fourth studio album, "Single Saturday Night", was released on May 22, 2020. It was followed by "Never Say Never", a duet with Lainey Wilson, on November 19, 2021. Swindell released his fourth album Stereotype on April 8, 2022. Swindell followed the album up with its third single, "She Had Me at Heads Carolina", a remake of Jo Dee Messina's 1996 single "Heads Carolina, Tails California". Cole's remake revises the storyline to tell of an encounter with a woman singing a Karaoke version of Jo Dee's hit. This single has gone on to become the biggest single of Swindell's career so far, having spent four weeks at #1 on the Country Airplay chart, as well as becoming his first Top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Workin' on Me
Cole Swindell Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When the song plays
That smile when you brush your hair away
The things that you do when you don't say
Keep workin' on me
It's the way that you walk
When you walk by
The way you're all up in my mind
Where you ought to be
And I just keeps workin' on me
Don't know if you know it
And everything you do it just gets me going
Baby you're driving me crazy
You got my head spinning like because of liquor
Gets me every time
You're doing whatever you're doing on me
Girl can't you see?
It's working on me
All that it takes is a little touch
There you go
You're makin' my heart blush
This got to be a more than a little crush
When I can barely breathe
You got to believe
It's working on me
Don't know if you know it
And everything you do it just gets me going
Baby you're driving me crazy
You got my head spinning like because of liquor
Gets me every time
You're doing whatever you're doing on me
Girl can't you see?
It's working on me
Look what you've done now
Can't go back
Too far gone now
Keep it coming
Cause girl I just can't get enough
Can't get enough
Instrumental
You got my head spinning like because of liquor
Gets me every time
You're doing whatever you're doing on me
Girl can't you see?
It's working on me
Keep on holding on me
The song “Workin’ On Me” by Cole Swindell is a romantic tune that highlights a man’s infatuation with a woman that he desires. The song is driven by the notion of how the woman’s mannerisms cause the man to succumb to her charm. In the first verse, the singer describes how the woman moves when a song plays and how she brushes her hair away while smiling. The man is fascinated by what she does, though she doesn’t even say anything. The second verse elaborates on this and mentions the woman’s shyness and how she is always on the mind of the singer.
The chorus follows this up by emphasizing how the woman drives him wild and how the little things she does keep him captivated. The lines “You got my head spinning like because of liquor, gets me every time” stress the woman’s effect on the man, and the pre-chorus promises to keep working to obtain her affection. The bridge ends by stating how the man is entirely smitten and how he cannot go back or get enough of her.
Overall, the song is an ode to how a woman’s spells can be cast upon a man through little things done right. The lyrics emphasize how the woman can captivate the singer without much effort, and how he is content to keep working on getting her attention.
Line by Line Meaning
It's the way that you move
When the song plays
That smile when you brush your hair away
The things that you do when you don't say
Keep workin' on me
Your movements, your smile, and even the things you don't say, are working on me and making me want to be a better man.
It's the way that you walk
When you walk by
The way that you come off a little shy
The way you're all up in my mind
Where you ought to be
Your shyness and the way you walk are on my mind all the time because that's where you belong.
And I just keeps workin' on me
Don't know if you know it
And everything you do it just gets me going
Baby you're driving me crazy
Your actions make me want to be a better man, and I hope you know that. You're making me crazy in the best way possible.
You got my head spinning like because of liquor
Gets me every time
You're doing whatever you're doing on me
Girl can't you see?
It's working on me
You make me feel like I'm drunk, and everything you do makes me fall for you even more. Can't you see how much you're affecting me?
All that it takes is a little touch
There you go
You're makin' my heart blush
This got to be a more than a little crush
When I can barely breathe
Even your slightest touch makes me feel unable to catch my breath. My feelings for you go beyond a crush.
You got to believe
It's working on me
Don't know if you know it
And everything you do it just gets me going
Baby you're driving me crazy
Believe me when I say that you're changing me for the better. You're making me fall for you harder every day.
Look what you've done now
Can't go back
Too far gone now
Keep it coming
Cause girl I just can't get enough
Can't get enough
I'm so far gone for you that there's no turning back. Keep doing whatever you're doing because I can't get enough of you.
You got my head spinning like because of liquor
Gets me every time
You're doing whatever you're doing on me
Girl can't you see?
It's working on me
Keep on holding on me
You have a hold on me that's stronger than liquor, and everything you do just makes me fall for you more. Don't let go.
Contributed by Connor D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.