Real. Genuine. Those are two words to describe country music newcomer Andrew Pope. Born and raised in the Northeast pines of Alabama, Andrew Pope is proving to be another natural-born talent from the same region that produced country music legends the Louvin Brothers and the super group Alabama. Over the past decade, Andrew has built a worldwide following of supporting fans, mostly on his own. He's performed shows with folks like John Michael Montgomery, Confederate Railroad and David Allan Coe, among many others. His songwriting skills are increasingly in demand, and he has written songs with everyone from the legendary Larry Gatlin, David Bellamy, and Larry Bastian to newcomers such as William Michael Morgan and Brent Cobb.

Andrew’s songs are real, straight-forward, sometimes tender, sometimes hard-hitting, always honest. He is a big believer in “music without boundaries,” where an artist is free to be genuine, not confined by the limitations set by an industry that is too often focused on trends and image rather than reaching people where they live. Country music legend Bobby Bare calls Andrew “the future of country music.”

Pope has spent the last two years working on his sophomore album, Stoned on the One, which will be released on May 5th via Alacob Music. "This album is special to me in so many ways. I've spent so much of the past decade in Nashville.. writing songs, doing writer nights, meeting people, you name it" he says. "I took a break from touring for a few years to focus on my songwriting. I wanted to cut a new record, but I knew I could not afford it at the time so I didn't really decide to do a new album any time soon. I think God just gave it to me and said it is time. So, the songs came and the story was already there. I laid everything I had on the line and a damn good concept album was born. Its just the culmintaion of driving my old beat up Chrysler "Whitey" from Alabama to Nashville and back 3 or 4 times a week, trying to promote who I am as an artist and figuring out what I want to say as a songwriter, and how to say it to make people want to listen. In the midst of this you're going through a few breakups, you're on the road doing shows, you're wondering if you'll ever get ahead, and thinking back to life lessons you learned when you were a kid... it's all part of this story, and it's my story. Each part of this story was born in different times of my life so, yes this is all real, all me. I have a hard time making up songs that I haven't experienced or lived. There's enough people in Nashville doing that already." says Pope.

When asked about touring again, Pope states "I belong on stage and I can't wait to hit the road again this year. We will be doing a nationwide tour to support the album with dates to be announced soon." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.