“A lot of great musicians have come from Georgia, there is just a spirit that the mountains have that isn’t everywhere else.”
On the latest episode of Uproxx Studios’ new show, The Street I Grew Up On, rising country star Peytan Porter takes us down to Georgia. Dawson County to be exact, the small town that helped shape her artistry, and the site of her most potent memories of trying to find her voice as an artist. With many modern country stars, there is an element to their artistry that can sometimes feel like small-town cosplay, but that isn’t the case with Porter; one quick stroll through her hometown makes it clear that she’s the real deal. A certified country girl.
That’s probably why her lyrics are so potent. When you see the street she grew up on, you can imagine the characters that inhabit her songs, like Barbara Sue from “Lemonade,” sitting on her front porch, all dressed up, hoping to catch a glance from the mailman. You can see Johnny, the son of a drunk Pentecostal preacher, yearning to escape his lot. And escape is something Porter thought she needed too.
“I really had to force my way out of this ball of expectations. I thought that it was saying goodbye to these people and this place forever. They are still welcoming me. They’re still loving me, I don’t think that I ever really knew that was an option. To have the best of both worlds.”
It’s clear that even though Porter left Dawson County for the big country stage, she’s still very much a part of the community, whether it’s through the memories of a neighbor whose late mother would sit on the porch and listen to Porter develop her voice, or through the halls of Dawson County high school, where her name still echoes.
To learn more about Peytan Porter’s hometown experience, watch the latest episode of The Street I Grew Up On above.
