Arkansas hick-hop artist Charlie Farley's self-issued digital tracks, mixtapes, and videos resulted in a record deal, touring spots, and a place on the country charts.

Farley started writing poems when he was 12 years old, but it wasn't until he graduated from high school that he started combining the lyrics he had written with music and beats, working in a makeshift studio to create mixtape after mixtape of his songs. An avid fisherman and hunter, his first break came when he wrote and recorded a fishing rap song for the television fishing series Exposed. His ease with the country rap format eventually brought him a production deal with Phivestarr Productions and an album deal with Colt Ford's Average Joes Entertainment, which released Farley's debut album, Hog Heaven, early in 2014. The artist decided to go the independent route for his sophomore album, All I've Been Through, which appeared in the spring of 2016. The album placed on numerous digital charts and prompted some regional touring. Almost two years later, Farley got back in the studio to issue the full-length Winning with the Losers for his own Back Road Records, distributed by Average Joes Entertainment. The album landed inside the Top 25 on the country Heatseekers charts. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi