A boyhood spent partly in a car

Kane Brown grew up in Georgia, where, according to a profile in Taste of Country, classmates often used racial slurs against him. He is biracial. Brown has called himself a poor kid, and in interviews he has said that parts of his childhood were hard. The article also reports, citing his conversation with the Tennessean, that his early years included violence and abuse, a subject he addresses in his song Learning.

There were also times when he and his mother had nowhere else to go. During those periods, they sometimes lived in a car. At other times they stayed with his grandparents or moved from one friend's house to another. The article calls these periods of homelessness, which suggests recurring episodes rather than one continuous stretch. It does not give dates, ages, the places where they stayed, the cause, or how the situation was finally resolved.

Music was a constant. He discovered country music through the radio and became determined to be a singer after attending his first concert, a show with Chris Young and Brad Paisley. At a high school talent show, his performance began with racial taunts from the crowd and ended with a request for an encore.

He built an audience by posting covers of classic country songs on Facebook, and he later signed a record deal. He released his full-length debut album, and his latest single at the time was Thunder in the Rain. Country radio had been slower to embrace him. He said he felt that he now had a chance to be a role model, and that he wanted people to see that he is a good person.