PERRY, Georgia — Country music and Clayton Hackle go way back.
"My parents both listened to country music when I was young, and I just grew up listening to the radio. A lot of Alan Jackson, George Strait, just 90's country. And it just found its place in my soul somewhere," Hackle said.
He said his favorites quickly stood out: Alan Jackson, Josh Turner, and Dierks Bentley - he describes his music style as a combination of those three.
Growing up in Metter, he said those influences rubbed off on him until he caught the performing bug himself.
"I started out listening more than I played, and I really found the heart of country music before I could start performing," Hackle said.
Once he started performing, a lot of it was at his church or through the choir. This is why it's always special to him whenever he hears his voice on local radio stations like Y96 Country Hits.
When he's not performing or sharing his music with the world, he says he's just a normal guy who likes to sing about his normal life as a blue-collar worker and family man.
"I love my family; I love the normal life that I have outside of music. And I think all of that fuels what I do with music so much. I think that I kind of need the two because if I'm not living the normal life that everyone else is doing, I'm not getting to write about all those things," Hackle said.
This will be his first time at the Georgia National Fair, and he'll be playing from Oct. 9-12.
"To be in the epicenter of the state and to be surrounded by all the Georgians that come together for one event, all the friends, and all the family, and the fun- getting to have a place in that is just gonna be a dream come true for me," he said.
You can get tickets to this performance at the fair on his website. He said he has new music coming out in the future, and you can see updates for that on his website as well.