Pennsylvania-born country singer-songwriter Warren Zeiders is a stunning success story, one that is emblematic of the music-industry landscape of the 2020s. Beginning his adult life as a lacrosse-star-to-be, injuries and the Covid pandemic pushed him toward exploring music seriously. After he gained exposure through posting acoustic covers on TikTok, his windswept anthem “Ride the Lightning” caught unexpected fire on the social-media site in 2021, racking up hundreds of millions of views. The song was included on Zeiders’ independently released 2021 mixtape, 717 Tapes, which was released with other tracks as a full album the following year. His proper debut, Pretty Little Poison, featured another grittily delivered hit—the lonesome ballad of a title track—as well as the single “West Texas Weather”.