It’s an unlikely start to a not-so-typical tale for a country music artist: singer/songwriter Raleigh Keegan was born in the Columbus State Penitentiary where his biological mother was serving time for drug abuse, and later placed him up for adoption. “It ended up being the best-case scenario – my parents are wonderful. I had an awesome childhood.” Raised outside of Cincinnati with a large extended family (11 aunts and uncles and nearly 50 cousins on just one side), Raleigh was the only member with any sort of musical inclination. “My birth father played guitar – that’s about all I know of where my talents come from.”

At the age of eight, Raleigh was introduced to piano. “My parents found a piano for free up in Michigan, so we drove up to get it. It barely fit in our minivan. It was super out of tune, but I played and played.” Though he took lessons that first year, Raleigh soon took to teaching himself. Around age 10, he picked up trombone and after years of practice, became first chair in the state of Ohio for jazz trombone.

As Raleigh’s love and involvement in music grew, so did his interest in sports. “I was involved in everything – basketball, swimming, football…” He played football for Georgetown College in Kentucky while earning a degree in Exercise Science. “The way that sports affected me as a person was significant – my tenacity, my willingness to work harder than anyone, the discipline involved – all came in handy in other areas of my life.” Raleigh balanced music and sports for the longest time. Still, his love for music far outweighed his love for sports. “There was a lack of desire to move forward in sports. That desire for music was always there.”

Around the same time, Raleigh’s career path into country music began taking shape. “There was a brief time I thought I’d go into ministry. Then I heard Zac Brown Band’s album Uncaged and I was hooked – I listened to it for six months straight. There was something about it that allowed me to escape. That’s when I really fell for country music.” After that, he got to work learning guitar and songwriting.

“I was a personal trainer at the time. I’d write every day during my lunch break.” His lunch break writing sessions soon progressed to a full-time career in music. Playing gigs every weekend that he had booked himself, Raleigh’s fan base grew – so much so, he made the move to Nashville in 2018. “I’d sold my house to pay for my first record – I’d done everything I could from Lexington, Kentucky. It was time to move forward.”

He began writing, landing sessions with some of Nashville’s best songwriters. He self-released his own EPs before connecting with Grammy-award winning producer Ryan Gore (Jon Pardi, Old Dominion). Raleigh has completed 14 new fully produced tracks, including his include brand-new song, “Drink For That,” “Easy on the Trigger” as well as “Way Back,” “Another Good Day,” “Long Line of Lovers,” and “Handyman,” with additional tracks dropping in the coming months.

Though he takes inspirational cues from Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, Billy Joel and Tom Petty, Raleigh keeps his sound as organic as possible. “I like a mix of old and new – I like to stay somewhere in the middle. Bringing elements of old and new country together, with a bit of soul.”