The Station Sports Bar and Grill was alive with the thrumming of guitar strings and steady rhythm of country music on Sept. 18. Although it was only his second live show, Noah James was not nervous — the audience was filled with family and friends there to support the up-and-coming country singer’s hometown debut.
At only 18 years old, the Baton Rouge native has already made waves in the country music industry. James first gained traction on TikTok, where he began posting himself singing covers and original songs in late 2023. His account now stands at 298 thousand followers and 8.6 million likes. After only a year of posting, James signed with Santa Anna Records, a label under Sony Music.
“I never thought it would, you know, turn into a career this fast,” said James. “You know, I thought maybe four or five years down the line.”
James grew up surrounded by music. His father is a professional jazz musician who passed on his love of music to James. Each of his siblings grew up singing together and learning how to play instruments at a very young age, James said. His first instrument was the electric bass.
However, he took a break from music at the age of 12 after his music teacher’s passing and did not pick it back up for three years. At 15, James decided to pursue music once again. He learned guitar and picked up singing, but something was still not clicking.
Despite living in the South, James did not listen to much country music growing up, and all of his musical influences were in other genres. His biggest inspirations were pop artists like Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes, whom he still looks up to, but he was struggling to find his voice through pop.
That all changed when he discovered country music. Artists like Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan became James’ biggest inspirations, their gritty musicality and compelling lyricism drawing the young singer-songwriter in. Soon after, he was hooked.
“I really like the more poetry type of writing, and I think that Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan really capture that in all their songs,” said James.
James posted a cover of Bryan’s “Pink Skies” to TikTok in Dec. 2024. His account had already begun to gain some traction, but this video went viral. It garnered hundreds of views, then thousands, then millions—the numbers just kept climbing. As of Sept. 24, the cover sits at 31.7 million views on TikTok.
James’ virality did not go unnoticed. Soon, record labels began contacting James, and after some deliberation, the artist signed with Santa Anna Records. Under this label, James released his debut EP “The Tracks,” which he wrote with the help of his older brother Micah and his brother’s girlfriend.
Inspired by the emotional depth of Kahan and Bryan’s lyrics, James knew he wanted to draw from his own life.
His song “Kind Tired Eyes” was written for his grandmothers, who have both passed. James’ whole family was touched by the song.
“My mom definitely cried,” James said, “and it definitely hit all of us really deep.”
His title song “The Tracks” draws from his life in a unique way. Based on the love story of Ally and Noah from “The Notebook,” the movie for which James was named, “The Tracks” tells the story of a wealthy girl and an underprivileged boy falling in love and running away together.
Since starting his music career, James said that songwriting has been a nonstop process. Even when he is not deliberately sitting down with pen to paper, the young artist is constantly running through melodies and lyrics in his head.
“Obviously sometimes I’m more inspired than others,” said James. “Like last night, I was more inspired, so I picked up my guitar at 2 a.m. and started writing.”
All of James’ songs from “The Tracks” made it on his setlist for his recent show at The Station, as well as covers of Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan, Tyler Childers and other country artists. James said that playing one of his first shows in Baton Rouge meant a lot to him, especially getting to perform for so many of his friends and family.
“I played it over in my head so many times,” James said. “Playing my first hometown show, playing any show, so many times over in my head that I wasn’t really nervous getting up there.”
Each song was met with a chorus of applause from both loved ones and strangers, and the audience even sang along to some of the classics like “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Lady May.”
The whole experience only cemented the singer’s dreams to pursue country music as a career. James’ five-year-goal is to take his show on the road, touring the U.S. and inspiring people from all walks of life through his music. But in the meantime, James is continuing to write songs that he hopes will resonate with audiences.
His new single, “Denim Eyed Dear,” will drop this Friday, Sept. 26, and though he is keeping quiet on other projects in the works, James says fans can rest assured that he has more music in store for this year.
In the end, James feels very blessed to have a platform where he can share his music and connect with others. He admits that it was risky to pursue music full-time without college as a backup plan, but he ultimately believes he made the right decision.
“I think if I would have had that in my back pocket to fall back on, then I probably would have took that route,” said James. “But because I didn’t, I think that was one of the turning points that made me realize that this is what I’m going to do. This is the only thing I can do.”
