Mae Estes shares her journey from rodeo dreams to the Grand Ole Opry stage, fueled by grit, faith, and love for her fans and family.

Hopefully, by now, you have heard a song or two from Mae Estes. Mae is part of the new wave of country music that has the feel and sound of more traditional country. She started in the rodeo arena and is now a driving force behind the microphone. She is a dynamo who doesn’t sit still and continues to release songs and perform everywhere. Mae’s fan club is affectionately referred to as “Maeniacs”. I had the pleasure of catching up with her when she was performing at the Grand Ole Opry at the end of July. 

I read that you rodeoed growing up, can you tell me more about that?

I barrel raced from the time I could sit up on the horse. I trained and rode most weekdays and weekends.  Then, I did FFA when I was old enough. I caught the entertainment bug when I was young, and I just wanted to make people happy. I’m still that person that says “hey” to strangers in the hallway. And it depends on where you’re at. We were recently in New York, and people were like, “Why are you talking to me? Like you don’t know me?”I was shocked to see the country music lovers out there, but they are diehards. 

What has been your experience in the music industry, and when did you start seeing any success?

The definition of success has changed for me over the years. When I moved to Nashville, performing at the Grand Ole Opry was number one on my bucket list.  It was because my mom’s a massive classic country fan and, and revered the entire sentiment of the Opry. As of tonight, I played the Opry seven times, and my first time was in March of 2023. It feels like we’ve built a great relationship and they call me to fill in last minute a lot. It feels awesome to be on the bench.

I moved to Nashville in 2015 and started releasing music in 2019. I never had any financial backing, and my family is incredibly supportive. I come from a very small town in Arkansas, we live paycheck to paycheck and work very hard for it. And that’s the way I was raised. So I knew I was going to have to just figure it out on my own here. It’s very hard to live in Nashville and I was working three jobs from the second I got here while trying to fit music into that. My biggest success was signing a publishing deal in 2020, and that got me out of the restaurant industry and music became a full-time job. I was able to give it 110%. I was just so young and hungry and eager. The best advice I got was to find your champion. 

What does success feel like to you?

I’m still on very big stages and announcing myself like, “Hey, guys, you have no idea who I am. But I’m so excited to be here with you tonight.” When there are people in the crowd that have a sign for me, I’m mind blown. My family has always been so awesome. So they’re at everything they can be. It’s wild to know that I’ve connected with people that I’ve never met before.

What is your biggest advice to others who are trying to find their way in life and music?

The same advice I was given:  find your champion. The biggest thing is to work hard and expect nothing. My work ethic has been a massive piece of my career – no one can outwork me. You also have to work with your people and use their gifts and strengths. That’s hard for me, because I was always independent, but you got to have help in this industry. You’ve got to lean on your people and build your team out. I just don’t know how you do it by yourself. 

What would you say to someone who might be looking up to you as a role model, especially young women?

It scares me to death to be a role model, because I feel like I have nothing together, and I am rough around the edges. The only time I feel at peace is when I am doing exactly what God put me on this earth to do.  I’ve tried to just encourage them to dream as big as they possibly can. I was given some kind of drive and hunger to see and do more that I don’t even understand just like I said, some kind of god-given purpose. I enjoy meeting them probably way more than they enjoy meeting me. I hope they leave knowing it’s okay to be themselves, to be authentic, to be proud of who they are, and to love themselves more than anybody else could ever love them. 

How long have you been married? 

Four years.  I’m astonished every day that I even get to have a partner much less like the one I do because Chad is my husband and he is the absolute most supportive, holds me together, and encourages me. He’s very much the reason I’m still sitting in this town. 

And then, of course, you write a cheating song right after you get married. How did that go over?

It’s hilarious because he’s also like so many people are offended by that song but he thinks it is funny. He understands that the sentiment of the song is about respect and communication. What if we all respected our spouses enough to actually bring that to them? Instead of telling somebody else we were thinking about cheating on him, and he’s just the absolute best piece of this. My team that I never saw coming and the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

To learn more about Mae, find her at maeestes.com.  If you are in Las Vegas during the 2024 NFR, she is opening for Lainey Wilson on December 14th at the MGM Grand Area with Tracey Lawrence.

Mae Estes Official Bio

​​Mae got her start at age seven in the middle of an Arkansas rodeo arena, singing the national anthem. Hope, Arkansas native, Mae Estes hasn’t stopped singing since.

Paying dues in Music City for nearly a decade, she’s now stacked with stories to tell. In 2019, Estes began releasing music and signed her first publishing deal with Plaid Flag Music in 2020. She’s since racked up more than 13 million streams across platforms and over 1M views on YouTube, independently and organically building a quickly-growing fan base with her “plain-spoken truth” (The Boot).

In 2022, “Thinkin Bout Cheatin’” became the first release from her debut EP as well as her first video feature on CMT. That same year, Mae was honored with Arkansas CMA Female Vocalist of the Year for the second time. In 2023, Estes independently released her debut EP, “Before the Record”, a six-song project produced by hit songwriter Paul Sikes.

Later that year, she announced a signing with Big Machine Records, WME Agency, Kobalt Music, and Blue Bronco Entertainment. Post-pandemic events such as The Grand Ole Opry, NHL Stadium Series, PBR Stadium Series, Music City Grand Prix, Wrangler’s National Finals Rodeo, The Bluebird Cafe, CMA Fest, Nissan Stadium, The Country Music Hall of Fame, and more have hosted this “stone-cold country newcomer” (Whiskey Riff).

AIMP’s 2024 Rising Artist-Writer of the Year winner is one of the key Country females to watch, being named to CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2024 and a slew of artist watch lists (iHeart Media, Wide Open Country, Cowgirl Magazine, Entertainment Focus, Country Now, etc.)

Estes prioritizes supporting our servicemen and women, having toured internationally with Armed Forces Entertainment and CreatiVets. She joins a host of fellow country artists and festivals on tour this year while releasing new music from her upcoming project.