Cameron Whitcomb, a British Columbia native who got his start posting videos of himself singing covers on Reddit, turned that viral fame and a brief stint on American Idol into a career making upbeat, confessional country-folk-rock songs that meet in the middle of Zach Bryan and Mumford & Sons. The plain-spoken “Shoot Me Dead” was one of his earliest singles, Whitcomb’s vulnerable lyrics sung with a hard-rocking edge over familiar acoustic sounds. He was signed by Atlantic shortly after that release, and subsequently released the slightly gentler “Rocking Chair”—a song about questioning religion and specifically religious authority. “Medusa”, a soaring folk-rock anthem, became Whitcomb’s first internationally charting single, proving his reach across rock, country and folk audiences around the world. Many of the singer-songwriter’s other best-known singles are collected on his debut album The Hard Way, including “Quitter”, a song inspired by Whitcomb’s own journey with addiction; “Options”; and “Hundred Mile High”.