Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Editor’s note: This interview was originally conducted in September. 2025 and was feared to be lost.
I spoke with Country artist Andrew Mitch about his music, the sequencing of his songs and how his personal journey has shaped the sound and meaning behind his work.
Mitch released the deluxe edition of his debut album, 'still feeling outside the lines', on September 19, 2025. The expanded release serves as both a celebration of the project that introduced his unfiltered storytelling and queer perspective to country music, and a conscious farewell to the era that defined his earliest work.
The deluxe edition includes the complete original album along with four additional tracks. One of those is the 2023 original mix of all in my head, a song that found unexpected traction by reaching No. 94 on the iTunes Country chart and earning attention from CMT and Apple Music Country. The remaining three additions, 'boots', 'not kiss you' and 'kissing my tattoos', are previously unreleased songs written during the album’s earliest stages.
While revisiting old files, Mitch came across demos he had originally intended to include on the album but ultimately set aside. Hearing them again made it clear they still carried the emotional core and intention he had hoped to share at the time. Rather than allowing those songs to remain unheard, he decided to release them now, using the deluxe edition to complete the narrative he first set out to tell.
All of the newly released material was recorded in 2021, nearly two years before the debut album’s original release. Bringing these songs forward now feels like a way of formally closing that chapter of his life. Since then, Mitch’s circumstances, outlook and sense of self have shifted dramatically. While he no longer fully identifies with the mindset that shaped those songs, he views them as an essential outlet from a formative period. Including them as part of a deluxe release felt like the most fitting way to honor that time before moving fully into what comes next.
For longtime listeners, the deluxe edition offers a sense of closure. For new fans, it provides a more complete entry point into Mitch’s story. The added songs act as missing pieces, helping to round out the emotional arc of the album. His hope is that listeners can move through the pain captured in the original tracklist (listed below) and arrive at a sense of healing through the final additions, reflecting the way he himself has come to experience the music.
Mitch’s songwriting has long served as a way to process major life changes, including coming out, leaving the church and stepping away from a PhD program to pursue music in Nashville. Growing up as someone focused on pleasing others, he found that writing these songs expanded his understanding of what life could look like beyond the limits of his hometown. Looking back on this era, he expresses gratitude for how far it carried him and for the people he met along the way, embracing the idea that feeling outside the lines is not only inevitable, but necessary.
'still feeling outside the lines' — tracklist:
don’t wanna go to heaven
heads or taillights
wish it was you
all in my head
someone else’s heartbeat
every sip of shandy
cowboys and lonely crowns
boots
not kiss you
kissing my tattoos
thank God
miss me more
all in my head (original mix)
Visit Andrew Mitch's official website at andrewmitch.com/.
#andrewmitch #lgbt #countrymusic #singersongwriter #interview #fanboynation
Editor’s note: This interview was originally conducted in September. 2025 and was feared to be lost.
I spoke with Country artist Andrew Mitch about his music, the sequencing of his songs and how his personal journey has shaped the sound and meaning behind his work.
Mitch released the deluxe edition of his debut album, 'still feeling outside the lines', on September 19, 2025. The expanded release serves as both a celebration of the project that introduced his unfiltered storytelling and queer perspective to country music, and a conscious farewell to the era that defined his earliest work.
The deluxe edition includes the complete original album along with four additional tracks. One of those is the 2023 original mix of all in my head, a song that found unexpected traction by reaching No. 94 on the iTunes Country chart and earning attention from CMT and Apple Music Country. The remaining three additions, 'boots', 'not kiss you' and 'kissing my tattoos', are previously unreleased songs written during the album’s earliest stages.
While revisiting old files, Mitch came across demos he had originally intended to include on the album but ultimately set aside. Hearing them again made it clear they still carried the emotional core and intention he had hoped to share at the time. Rather than allowing those songs to remain unheard, he decided to release them now, using the deluxe edition to complete the narrative he first set out to tell.
All of the newly released material was recorded in 2021, nearly two years before the debut album’s original release. Bringing these songs forward now feels like a way of formally closing that chapter of his life. Since then, Mitch’s circumstances, outlook and sense of self have shifted dramatically. While he no longer fully identifies with the mindset that shaped those songs, he views them as an essential outlet from a formative period. Including them as part of a deluxe release felt like the most fitting way to honor that time before moving fully into what comes next.
For longtime listeners, the deluxe edition offers a sense of closure. For new fans, it provides a more complete entry point into Mitch’s story. The added songs act as missing pieces, helping to round out the emotional arc of the album. His hope is that listeners can move through the pain captured in the original tracklist (listed below) and arrive at a sense of healing through the final additions, reflecting the way he himself has come to experience the music.
Mitch’s songwriting has long served as a way to process major life changes, including coming out, leaving the church and stepping away from a PhD program to pursue music in Nashville. Growing up as someone focused on pleasing others, he found that writing these songs expanded his understanding of what life could look like beyond the limits of his hometown. Looking back on this era, he expresses gratitude for how far it carried him and for the people he met along the way, embracing the idea that feeling outside the lines is not only inevitable, but necessary.
'still feeling outside the lines' — tracklist:
don’t wanna go to heaven
heads or taillights
wish it was you
all in my head
someone else’s heartbeat
every sip of shandy
cowboys and lonely crowns
boots
not kiss you
kissing my tattoos
thank God
miss me more
all in my head (original mix)
Visit Andrew Mitch's official website at andrewmitch.com/.
#andrewmitch #lgbt #countrymusic #singersongwriter #interview #fanboynation
