When Australia-based country artist Mack Geiger was in preschool, he was already demonstrating his passion for country music. During a preschool dress-up day, Geiger went as one of his favorite singers: Country Music Hall of Famer Alan Jackson.
“We were raised on that sort of ‘90s country stuff,” Geiger tells Billboard via Zoom from his home in Australia. “My dad had a stack of CDs that he’d be playing. I wanted to dress up like Alan, and my mum went and bought a yellow, blonde mullet that we glued to the back of the back of my hat. I had a blonde mustache and I took my guitar to school, proud as punch.”
Geiger grew up on his family’s cattle ranch in Queensland, Australia, about seven hours away from the nearest large city of Brisbane. He later began working on a larger cattle ranch, where also doing gigs at local bars, often playing six-hour cover sets.
These days, Geiger is fast cementing his own status as a superb neo-traditionalist in the genre, thanks to his breakthrough song “String By,” which is at No. 48 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and also brought Geiger his Billboard Hot 100 debut. He officially released “String By” in October 2025, and signed with RECORDS Nashville/ Columbia Records earlier this year.
“It’s pretty wild to think about when you write a song at the kitchen table and you don’t really realize what it is when you do it, but then a lot of people resonate with it,” he says. “I didn’t really have a personal story in mind when I wrote it — I just wanted to write, so I sat down and started playing bit of a chord progression and wrote about someone who’s not walking away, I guess because it’s easier to stay in something toxic than to walk away sometimes.”
He’s followed with songs like “Pouring” and the Australian bush-inspired “Campdraft Queen.” Over the past year, he’s played high-profile events and fests, including making his Grand Ole Opry debut, playing Australia’s CMC Rocks and making his debut at Nashville’s CMA Fest. He also recently completed his first U.S. headline tour, with his New Dirt, Same Boots Tour playing venues including Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, and Houston’s Armadillo Palace. He’s also working on new music with producer Keith Stegall, known for his work with Jackson.
“It’s been a trip looking back,” he says of his whirlwind past eight months. “At the end of last year, I was studying to be a paramedic and working part-time on a ranch, axe-chopping timber, doing weed control and things like that. My life has changed significantly.”
Geiger, Billboard’s Up-and-Coming Country Artist for September, discusses his breakthrough hit, transitioning from work at a cattle station to music and adjusting to life on the road.
You initially released the song “About Time” in 2025, but it was “String By” that introduced you to international audiences. What do you recall about the initial feedback for “String By”?
It felt pretty surreal. A lot of Texans were getting around it early. I was working on a ranch in Northwestern Queensland, a 60,000-acre ranch there that we were mustering [rounding up] cattle and branding. I actually lost my phone out there and I was out there for maybe a month or so, then I came back and was blown away a bit. I hadn’t taken off too big by that stage but it felt surreal because I’d never really gotten that much interest outside of Australia, from that first single, then this one broke in the U.S. market.
How did growing up with the kind of work ethic needed for a cattle ranch translate into your approach to music?
Growing up the way I did has an impact on everything I do. Waking up early in the morning and I think in everything I do, I sort of go in with the same mindset. If I’m sitting doing nothing, I’m thinking, “Okay, there’s probably something I should be doing right now — I could be writing a song. I could be planning something.” Work ethic’s definitely one of the big aspects of that, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m really proud and blessed to grow up in agriculture and working cattle and working alongside my parents and working hard from a young age.
What do you recall about your first performance?
I was in a local busking contest [during high school]. I got runner-up in that competition so I got to go to [the Gympie Music Muster Festival in Queensland] and be part of the youth showcase. That was the first music festival I’d been to. I realized there’s other people making a career out of this. Growing up, I never even thought about it. Obviously, you see the big stars on TV, but I never saw for myself that that was a sustainable career. I never thought it was an option. So it was eye-opening to go there and see other artists writing songs, making music, and making a living out of it.
Who are some of the current crop of Australian country artists that you listen to?
Adam Harvey, Troy Cassar-Daley — and a lot of new artists coming through, too, like Wade Forster, and then Tyla Rodrigues. There’s definitely a lot of talent over here, and country music is massive over here.
You’ve been on the road and will launch another headlining tour later this year. What have been some of the biggest challenges for you in adjusting to life on the road and doing music full-time?
I guess you don’t realize how much of this job is just meeting people — and I’m still adjusting to how social you have to be. I haven’t always been the most extroverted person, but these stages have been incredible. At the start, there’s a bit of imposter syndrome, knowing there are people who have worked a lot longer than I have to play the same stages. But I put my faith in Jesus and I believe he’s put me here for a reason.
What have been some of your favorite places to eat on your headlining tour in the U.S.? And what are some differences you’ve noticed?
Yeah, there’s a few spots. Jersey Mike’s, that’s some good stuff right there. We don’t have that at home. Chick-fil-A is good, any of your burger places, burger and wings places. I think you guys have bigger serving sizes [in the U.S.] as well. We don’t tip back home in Australia, so that was a whole new thing. You get over there and they hand you a receipt, and those first few times, I’m like, getting the calculator out. So that was new. Going there through Texas and you pull up to a Buc-ees, that always is bound to blow your mind a bit.
You released the EP Walk a Straight Line in May, and you are working on new music. Are you looking at a full album soon?
We’re sort of figuring that out now. We’re leaning towards an album. Either way we go, it’s going to be a bunch of new music out before the end of the year. So I just got back from America. We did a quick trip over there. I was over there for a week, and we smashed out a bunch of new songs with [songwriter-producer] Keith Stegall. It’s a real blessing to me to be working with him. So we definitely got a whole lot of new music coming on the way. [Recording in Nashville] was a really cool experience for me, too, because in Australia, we would record half the song here, send it to Nashville, get session musicians to play on it, and then they send it back, and then we send it back again – they’re not all there in the room. So, these new songs, I’m really stoked about.
What was the first full album you fell in love with?
We had a Brooks & Dunn Greatest Hits album, and I think that was probably the first album front to back that I could sing every word to. Our Dad used to play the hell out of it.
What is one song you wish you had written?
Probably “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” [recorded] by Willie Nelson. There’s a lot of Willie songs that I wish I wrote. But also [Kris Kristofferson’s] “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).”
Beyond the country genre, who is an artist you are a fan of?
During my high school days, I was listening to a lot of rap and hip-hop. I loved Young Thug. These days, I’ve been leaning into rock a lot more, so I’ve been on a real Silverchair kick. And then the Temple of The Dog album.
