A new name in the country music world is Max McNown. He is a rising artist in the country scene who is impressing long time country fans and, frankly, anyone listening to his music. LOHS teacher Christopher Hill, a fan of his music, said, “I am definitely a fan, I love country music and he has a great voice.”
When you visit McNown’s website, it says he’s an artist from Bend, Oregon, but that is not totally truthful. People who have been around LOHS for a while know that McNown was actually a student here. Basically, LOHS should be famous in relation to this rising star. Mr. Hill was one of the teachers who had McNown as a student in a few of his classes. Mr. Hill said that McNown didn’t show very much interest in music in his time at LOHS. “I remember him playing a ukulele in a marketing video, but he never did Friday Break Live or anything like that.”
When McNown left Oregon he decided to move his life to Southern California. In Southern California he busked on a pier in San Clemente. On the pier he met fans such as a little boy who McNown helped play the guitar. This busking on the pier was where he began to gain traction online through TikTok. This platform gave him a lot of followers and fans, and he was even #1 on the TikTok Breakthrough USA chart.
McNown currently has over five million monthly listeners on Spotify. His most popular song “A Lot More Free” has over 60 thousand plays. For a small artist on his way to becoming a well-known artist, this is a great place to start from.
Things are only just beginning to heat up for McNown. He’s already been seen on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. As a singer and songwriter, he has a lot of talent waiting to be found and recognized.
McNown’s debut album is called “Wandering.” This album has 13 tracks on it with the most popular one being a song called “A Lot More Free.” The song is about how his life is better with more freedom, but his past still has an effect on him.
The style of McNown’s music is more folk country. The way he sings reminds listeners of artists like Noah Kahan. Mr. Hill said, “It’s got a Zach Bryan feel to it a little bit.”
Watching where the world is going to take this young musician will be interesting. It’s fun to think about how people from LOHS can become known all over the country and potentially the world. This whole story of LOHS alumni becoming known figures is a parallel to Kevin Love. Love is a professional basketball player who went to highschool at LOHS. During his junior year he even led the Lakers to win the state championship. He also finished highschool as Oregon’s all-time leading scorer. Love left a lasting impact on Laker basketball and the school reputation. Perhaps McNown will be the next alumni to once again put LOHS on the map nationally.
