How Corey Kent's "Empty Words" Became an Unexpected Hit Without Label Support

Corey Kent’s“Empty Words”is a masterclass in what happens when radio stations take risks and audiences get to decide what matters. At the Country Radio Seminar in March, a Bonneville/Denver radio director challenged his peers to play a song that RCA wasn’t even officially promoting as a single. The gamble worked perfectly. Major markets like Denver, Nashville, and Dallas started adding“Empty Words”on their own, completely organically, because programmers heard something special that deserved airtime. Now the track is climbing country radio while Kent’s other single,“Rocky Mountain Low”featuring Koe Wetzel, sits at number four—a rare achievement that puts him in a club with only five or six other country artists.

The story behind the song is equally compelling. Written during the final day of a four-day songwriting retreat at La Rosa Ranch, Kent’s family property,“Empty Words”came together with five co-writers: Joybeth Taylor, Matt Roy, Lydia Vaughan, and Austin Goodloe. The hook combined“empty bed”with“empty words,”creating a narrative about a man spiraling after pushing away his girlfriend through lies. Production-wise, the team made deliberate choices like shifting from minor to major key between verses and chorus to intensify the emotional impact. Austin Goodloe’s guitar demo was so strong that drummer Aaron Sterling refused to re-record his parts, saying those original drums were already perfect.

What’s remarkable about“Empty Words”is how it’s resonating with audiences. At shows, people are screaming along to this soul-heavy ballad with the kind of energy you’d expect from an uptempo anthem. It proves that country listeners are hungry for genuine emotion and vulnerability. In an industry where labels typically control the narrative, the organic rise of“Empty Words”reminds us that sometimes the audience knows exactly what it wants. What kind of country songs resonate most with you—the ones that hit hard emotionally, or the ones that get you pumped up?