Named an “Artist To Watch” by Entertainment Weekly with over 120 Million streams, Chris Bandi is poised for his breakthrough in country music. The St. Louis, Missouri native has been writing songs since high school. He began making the trek to Nashville during his college days at Ole Miss, honing his craft playing small clubs and making the big move to Music City after graduation.

He arrived with 100 original songs, and his first place was a friend’s closet, where he slept on an air mattress.  Bandi’s breakout hit and debut single, “Man Enough Now,” was about a girl he dated in college and offered the idea of “I’m Man Enough for a Relationship Now.” “I was thinking if we started dating today,” he says, “would I have made the same mistakes that I made as a 21-year- old, dumb college kid? I feel like I’ve grown up a lot since then. I feel like everyone has had a relationship where they didn’t see what they had when they had it.”  The song was a digital smash hit and a great start.

“Storytelling has been a big part of my life, and I always want to convey that and write songs that are true to me because music’s the biggest part in helping you through anything in life, be it a bad breakup or a good time. Any song about being 16 again, makes you go back to that time in life.”

Bandi made his Grand Ole Opry in 2020 following the release of his self-titled debut EP. The seven song collection, four of which are co-written by Bandi, includes his single, “Would Have Loved Her,” written with Zack Kale.“’Would Have Loved Her’ is such a special song to me,” says Bandi. “I wanted to write a song about my grandpa who passed away a few months before I met my girlfriend. I brought the idea into a write with my good friend Zach and he told me that his dad had passed away before he met his (now) wife. We both knew what we needed to write that afternoon. We definitely had some people looking down helping us that day!”

Bandi has just released his new single, “Carolina Blue”. This song is about seeing that certain color of blue that always brings back the memory of a flame that burns out too soon.  Influenced by rock, pop, hip-hop, and R&B as well as country, Bandi‘s music reflects his wide-ranging tastes, with the electronic beats of “Only One,” the reggae-accented rhythms of “Rain Man,” and the sleek pop production of “Gone Girl” confirming he’s not just another country artist.