Cole Swindell has enjoyed a career most artists can only dream about. The "You Should Be Here Singer" is well aware of his blessings and shares his gratitude to the city of Nashville for its continuous support in a heartfelt letter published in the Huffington Post on Monday (Oct. 10).

In the lengthy love letter, he thanks Music City for an open-armed welcome nine years ago and promises to return all the blessings he's been bestowed. An excerpt reads:

I’ll never forget the day I moved to town. Aug 23r​d​ 2007. It was my dad’s birthday and I was breaking my mama’s heart leaving Georgia. That day was the first year Capitol Records put on the Pub Crawl on Demonbreun Street and some of my biggest artist/songwriter influences were all playing... Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, & Eric Church. Almost everyone I met that first day in town all said these words, “Welcome to Nashville!” It reminded me so much of the folks back home and that was comforting. I had no clue if I’d ever be able to write a song like the ones I fell in love with as a kid or if I’d ever get a record deal, but I did know how much I loved music and how much I really wanted to be a part of the industry. I didn’t care what my job was as long as I got to be in Music City.

Later, he discusses his evolution as a songwriter after signing with Sony/ATV, and even thanks the city as a whole for being there for him when his father died:

I signed my record deal with Warner on July 13t​h​ 2013, and had my first single picked, “Chillin’ It”. It was the best year of my life and I was in the middle of my radio tour when I got the call that we had lost my dad in a freak accident. How could that possibly be in the master plan? He was the best guy in the world, my biggest fan and was the first person I ever heard play the guitar and sing. I was in shock and lost. Who did I turn to?

Nashville. This town. My family. Country radio ... It was like everyone had my back no matter what media partner, label, publishing company or PRO they worked for and I’ll never forget it. I realized that some of my heroes, like Dierks Bentley, had also lost their dads and were there for me. Things like that make me proud to live in THIS town and proud to be a part of this format.

Swindell closes his love letter to Nashville by thanking everyone for allowing him to "live this dream, saying: "I will always be here for you like you’ve been there for me."

Cole's Song Makes Our Top 10 of 2016. See Who's No. 1! 

More From Cat Country 102.9