Florence native kickstarting music career in Nashville

FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) — A Florence native is making a splash in the music industry.

Camryn Gardner says music is her first language. She remembers singing around the house, in church, and anywhere and everywhere she could.

“I was singing ‘God Bless America’ in my car seat when I was two,” Gardner said. 

Gardner, a 2018 graduate of West Florence High School and a Clemson alum, recently made the move to Nashville to start her career. It was during college that Gardner said she discovered that she couldn’t live without music.

“Kind of halfway through, I was like, the only thing I really want to do is move to Nashville and pursue music,” Gardner said. “So I switched my major. I was doing engineering, I switched it to business, and then I minored in music.”

It was all about her love for music.

“If you love what you do, and you love the job that you pick, you’ll never work a day in your life,” Gardner said. “I knew that the only thing I loved that much was music. And I knew that if I wasn’t doing it in some way shape or form, I wouldn’t have been happy.”

Since moving to Nashville, Gardner has jumped headfirst into music, collaborating anytime she gets the chance to try to get her voice heard.

“I play like four or five times a week,” she said. “Most of the time, it’s for free, but that’s OK.” 

Gardner’s hard work is already paying off. Her first single “Hero” is out now and available on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music among others. She even has billboards up in the city.

While Gardner is just getting started making her mark in the music world, she already has three or four more songs in the vault that are soon to be released. She credits her support system in South Carolina for guiding her success.

“I just have a lot of support from the community from the very beginning from church and my family,” Gardner said. “So it made it easy to go out and do what I wanted to do.”