After a group of his cattle ranch coworkers banded together to express their support for his musical career, country singer Brad Cox sat down to write his debut record. “It was kind of a moment, internally, where I went, ‘Well, if these guys believe in me and reached out like that, maybe I owe it to myself to go and, you know—give it a crack,’” Cox tells Apple Music. The word “crack” is apt—Cox filters an old-school country sound through the thunder of ‘90s alternative rock. Born in the mid-’90s in Jindabyne, Australia, he grounded his self-titled debut in the geography and stories of his life, with nods to joyous nights “500 miles” back home (“Too Drunk To Drive”). In 2020, he balanced introspection with turbocharged twangers on My Mind’s Projection, a follow-up record by turns raucous (“Hold Me Back”) and reflective (“Wasted Time”).