The Canadian country singer Shawn Austin was born on January 13, 1989, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Inspired by a range of artists that included country icon Garth Brooks, blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, and pop crooner Michael Bublé, he began releasing music independently in the 2010s. By 2017, he'd signed with Steelhead Music, a country label founded by fellow Canadian artist Dallas Smith, and released the debut single "Paradise Found." The single became a Top 10 hit, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Canada Country chart and paving the way for a pair of Top 20 singles — "Get Me There" and "You Belong" — the following year. "Get Me There" and "You Belong" both appeared on his self-titled debut EP, Shawn Austin, which was also released in 2018. Austin was nominated for the "Rising Star" award by the Canadian Country Music Association in 2019. That same year, he earned the highest chart peak of his career with "What Do I Know," which hit number 7 on the Canada Country chart and doubled as the lead single from his 2020 EP, The Little Things. The success of "What Do I Know" was superseded in 2021 by "Tailgate to Heaven," a duet with Chris Lane that hit number 5 on Billboard Canada Country and number 61 on the Canadian Hot 100. The song appeared on his follow-up EP, Planes Don't Wait, which was released in 2022 and also featured the Top 10 hit "Slip." Another EP, Dirt Roads Downtown, was released in 2023, as was the non-album single "Settle for a Drink," which became his seventh Top 40 hit on Canada Country.