Esten explores life, love, and the passing of time through the lens of a travelled and tested everyman, who has never lost his innate sense of wonder, or his wide-open soul over the course of his debut album, Love Ain't Pretty. Working in tandem with hitmakers like Jon Nite, Eric Paslay, Gary Burr, Leslie Satcher, and more, Esten co-wrote all tracks on the album. Vividly detailed and filled with the emotional daring of a celebrated storyteller – both onscreen and onstage – Charles dives into wide-ranging themes of earth-shattering romance, big-picture reflection, and more.

Love Ain’t Pretty,produced by Marshall Altman (Frankie Ballard, Marc Broussard, Matt Nathanson) to sculpt a calm, controlled, and beautifully contoured sound, blending the forward momentum of Country Rock with Rootsy small-town charm, and a warm, soulful vocal, is a culmination of a lifetime of growth, and like its title suggests, it hasn’t always been pretty, but it has been a beautiful ride.

Multi-talent Charles Esten is a global entertainer. Known for his roles as Ward Cameron on the Netflix hit show Outer Banks and Deacon Claybourne in ABC/CMT’s Nashville, the artist-songwriter introduces his independent debut album, Love Ain’t Pretty, on January 26, 2024. Already totalling over 14 million streams for his music to date, Esten is a 2018 Guinness World Records title holder for the “Most consecutive weeks to release an original digital single by a music act” after delivering 54 original songs once a week for 54 straight weeks.

He’s made over 160 appearances at Nashville’s iconic Grand Ole Opry and performed multiple headline tours in the U.S., Germany, Amsterdam, and the U.K