Abbey Cone has worked her entire career to get where she is now. That is, on the precipice of releasing an album that is 100% authentic and writing songs that reinvigorate the fun in making music.
As the clock struck midnight to ring in 2026, so came the release of Cone’s “Change the Man,” a fiddle-filled, traditional country breakup anthem. Just a few months later, Cone doubled down on her newfound traditional country sound with “That’s Showbiz Baby,” a song that may or may not have manifested her recent engagement.
We chatted with Cone all about reconnecting with her traditional country roots, new music on the way, her recent Vince Gill cut and more!
Pro Country: Your bio mentions growing up in a rodeo family in Fort Worth listening to classic country music. Who were some of the earliest artists you remember hearing that made you fall in love with that style of country music?
Abbey Cone: To this day, my dad’s radio is always on Willie’s Roadhouse. I love traditional country artists like Bob Wills, Willie Nelson and Waylon, because my dad loves them so much. You could probably play any traditional country song from the 50s on, and my dad would probably know the artist.
Being from Texas, everybody loves George Strait. I love Lee Ann Womack, too, as well as Loretta, Tammy and Patsy Cline.
PC: You moved to Nashville from Fort Worth at just 16 years-old. What was it like to move so far from home in pursuit of your musical dreams?
AC: The first time I came to Nashville, I was 12. I started singing lessons when I was six, and I sang my first National Anthem at a rodeo the same year. I’ve always done this, so by the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to go to Nashville, so I asked my mom to take me. We went to the Opry and The Listening Room, so we got to see both sides of the scene.
I saw Vince Gill at the Opry when I was 12. I was hooked. By the time I was 14, I was spending a week a month here. I went to a public high school in Texas up to my freshman year, and then switched to online. I’d come to Town for three weeks to write, and then I’d be home for a week. In that week, I’d get three weeks of schoolwork done, so I graduated when I was 16. I already had my first publishing deal, and I moved to Town.
I talk to my therapist about this a lot: I’ve always had an internal drive to do this. It’s a hard thing to do. It’s very up and down, but for some reason, I never quit. Something has kept me going.
When I moved here, my parents were super supportive. I couldn’t go to the doctor without a letter from my mom until I was 18 [laughs]. It was hard, but I don’t regret it. I’ve finally gotten to the point in my life where I’m really happy. I used to think that I could’ve waited longer to move here and finish out high school like a normal kid, but the older I get, the less I think about that. It’s been a journey. I’ve built a life and a community here.
PC: You’ve mentioned a bad major-label experience surrounding your Hate Me EP, but your first release as an independent artist, “If You Were a Song,” has become your top-streamed song on Spotify. After that experience, how validating was it to immediately return with that success, and to tangibly see the support it received?
AC: It was so unexpected. My only goal was to put the song out. I think I needed the support more than I thought I did. It gave me a push to keep going, because there was a world where I wasn’t brave enough to continue independently. Maybe I would’ve tried to find a new label, but I was so exhausted from what I’d just experienced.
Maybe my experience would’ve been different if I didn’t sign a month before the pandemic. Ultimately, I’m grateful for it, because maybe I would’ve had a better experience, but my experience is not rare at all. I’m not anti-label by any means, but I think it’s a really good time to be an independent artist. You can do so much on your own.
It’s a little hard now, after “If You Were a Song,” because I have that to compare, or try not to, compare everything to. None of my releases since that song have done what that song did, but I have to keep in mind that I did transition from a more pop-country sound to a more traditional sound, which is something I’d always planned on doing.
Not to offend streaming, but there is a political element to streaming. My manager always tells me that editorial playlists can’t be the marketing plan. We can’t bank on those playlists being my main source of exposure. It’s hard, sometimes, with “If You Were a Song” being the bar, but I’m really proud of it, and I’m proud that I’ve kept moving.
PC: “If You Were a Song” eventually landed on Greener, your debut full-length album, which chronologically tells the story of a breakup. What did you like about presenting an album in that way, and what has the album meant to you in the last year?
AC: That album was something that I needed to get out of my system, in a good way. I went through a really horrible breakup, and Greener was my cleansing album. Putting it out was me moving on. I moved on from it pretty quickly, from a promotion standpoint, because I’d already been working on my next album. I still get messages from people who love that album. They tell me that it helped them through their breakups. It came from a tough time, but I love that album for what it helped me process emotionally.
PC: You mentioned that it was always your plan to transition back to a more traditional country sound. “Change the Man,” which released on January 1st, was your first song that did that. Why did you feel it was the right time to lean into that sound, and why did you feel that “Change the Man” was the right song to introduce that sound with?
AC: I felt like it was the right time because I’m an independent artist, so I can. There’s nobody that could tell me I couldn’t.
I feel like after my relationship ended, I came back into myself. I spent more time in Texas with my family than I had in years. It felt like returning to my roots. Though I’d been thinking about making a traditional country record, it felt like the right time, because I feel that’s who my most authentic self is.
What I love about traditional country so much, especially in the era of Loretta and Tammy, is that there’s so much humor in it. They talk about real stuff, but those songs have humorous undertones. Transitioning into traditional country has helped me find the fun in music again. After Greener, I toured quite a bit, and sitting up there singing songs like that is a “holy shit, I’m bearing my most vulnerable feelings to a bar, where only some people care” was too much for me [laughs].
What’s so funny is that if you really know me, you’d know I’m a pretty silly person. A type of song like “Change the Man” allows me to have a personality again. It’s a different part of me that I’m expressing. It’s always been in there, but I’ve been through a lot of shit in the last couple years that’s dimmed my personality.
PC: “Change the Man” is quickly approaching 500,000 streams on Spotify alone in just a few months. With the sonic shift that happened with the song, how encouraging was it to see the support the song received?
AC: When I was touring for Greener, I was playing “Change the Man.” I’ve never had a response to a song, in front of people, than I have with “Change the Man.” It didn’t go mega-viral on the internet, but there were a couple videos that didn’t have paid ads on them that connected in a real way.
I think this song has caused divorces! [laughs]. I’m not a homewrecker, but it’s so crazy how I had a girl DM me saying she saw me play the song live, with her boyfriend, and she realized that he was giving her the bear minimum. After she heard the song, she said it gave her the courage to leave. I didn’t know how to feel about that, actually [laughs].
It’s been really cool to see, though. I believe with my whole heart that if the man won’t change, change the man!
PC: “Change the Man” earned a standing ovation at the Grand Ole Opry. How special was it to see the song received so positively on such a hallowed stage?
AC: I’ve played the Opry six times now, and I’ve played “Change the Man” twice. Playing that song on the Opry is my kryptonite. There’s no better musicians to play the song. Their bread and butter is playing traditional country.
I don’t know which character I turn into, but something comes over me and I turn into someone else on stage when I’m playing that song. She’s an icon, I fear [laughs].
PC: When we saw you at The Bluebird in February, you joked that you weren’t going to release your latest single, “That’s Showbiz Baby,” until “your left hand had a new shine,” and now you do! [laughs].
AC: I do! I manifested it! [laughs].
PC: Along with that, why did you feel “That’s Showbiz Baby” was the right follow up to “Change the Man”?
AC: I was using it as a manifestation tool for getting engaged! [laughs].
I could’ve released several other songs that are going to be on my record, but for the women that I know connected with “Change the Man” and said that they actually left their boyfriends because they felt like they deserved better, I felt like I couldn’t jump straight to a love song. I felt like I needed a transitional song. I feel like “Showbiz” is the transition from “Change the Man” to the love song that I’ll be putting out next.
Thematically, it was a good follow up. I changed the man, and look what happened! Did I know that my left hand was, in fact, going to get a new shine? No, but I spoke it into existence!
PC: You co-wrote “That’s Showbiz Baby” with Madeline Edwards and Elysse Yulo. Can you take us in the room and talk about how the song came together?
AC: We wrote it over two different sessions. I’d played them some stuff from the album, and I told them about finding the fun in music again. I knew I wanted another fun, unserious song to be a sister song to “Change the Man.” I had the title, “That’s Showbiz Baby,” and I knew that I wanted it to be about unapologetically moving on. That’s what’s fun about writing songs like this: you can say things that make you laugh!
PC: You’ve mentioned the album you’re working on and that the next song released will be a love song. What information, if any, can you give about the album and what listeners can expect to hear?
AC: I’m not announcing the name yet, but this album is the full spectrum of who I am as a person and my internal world. There’s songs like “Change the Man” and “Showbiz,” but it’s not all unserious. There’s songs on it that touch on my existentialism and feelings about life. It’s not just a love or breakup album. I made this album for myself. Not that I don’t want people to love it, because I do, but this is my dream album. This is the album I’ve been working to make for my entire life. This album would make little me very, very proud.
PC: You’re working with co-producer Jack Schneider on the album. What kind of camaraderie do you feel with someone who is as musically talented as Jack is?
AC: I reconnected with Jack about a year after I first met him, because I needed a guitar player for a show. I ended up going over to his house. I thought it would be a professional rehearsal vibe, but we ended up sitting on the floor of his house talking for four hours. It felt like we did drugs, but we didn’t [laughs].
I like manifesting things. I told myself that I was going to make a traditional country record with amazing musicians. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it, but that’s what was going to happen! I’d been speaking it into existence. When I connected with Jack, there were so many invisible string theory things. He loves traditional country music and is so educated in it. There’s also the weird fact that his grandmother and I have the same name! There’s so many weird things that connect us. I asked him if he wanted to make the record with me, and he agreed. Now, we’ve been working on it for over a year.
PC: You have a handful of dates with Josh Turner on the books for late May. How much are you looking forward to hitting the road with Josh, seeing his show and being able to play for his fans?
AC: I’m so excited about those shows! Two of them are in Texas, so I get free places to stay [laughs]. I love that the types of venues we’re playing are performing arts venues. Those shows are bigger than club shows, but they’re still intimate. Jack is going to come out with me, and we’re going to play acoustic. That’s my favorite way to make fans.
I’m also so excited to see Josh Turner. I’ve never met him before, but I grew up on his music. I’m really excited and I’m really grateful to have gotten these opportunities.
PC: In late 2025, you earned a co-writing credit with Vince Gill on “Leaving Home,” a song on his 50 Years From Home: Secondhand Smoke EP. How special is it to be able to write a song with a legend of Vince Gill’s caliber, and then have him cut it and release it?
AC: It doesn’t feel real. I don’t know how to put it into words.
I’m friends with his daughter, Corrina, and she’s incredible. Vince is so normal. It’s so shocking. He’s the most talented person ever, but he’s also just a dad. I’ve written with him twice. I think we wrote “Leaving Home” in 2021. He’s a monstrous talent, but what inspires me most is how humble he is and how grateful he is for his success. He’s a good man. He’s like the godfather of Nashville. As much as I feel special for knowing him, he makes a conscious effort to write with artists like me. He uses his Vince Gill-ness to give other opportunities, and he doesn’t have to do that.
PC: With “That’s Showbiz Baby” now released and new music and tour dates on the way, what else do you have planned for 2026?
AC: I’m going to put out the album this year. I’m looking at the fall. I’ll probably do two or three more songs between now and then, so there will be consistent releases while I work towards the release. It went to mixing this week. I’m going to try to stay consistent with content around the new album, but at the same time, not let the internet ruin my mental health [laughs].
Being an independent artist, I have the Josh Turner dates and more things that I’m keeping my fingers crossed for. I’m hoping that the stars align and that opportunities come together. I’m hoping another tour might fall in my lap, too.
Oh, and I’m planning a wedding!
*All images by Erika Rock
Pro Country 
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