Unboxed is a new BET.com series highlighting Black artists who think 'outside of the box,' when it comes to their music.

Rising country star Tony Evans Jr. is breaking boundaries and redefining country music, meshing his love of the R&B genre with his passion for country. Unfortunately, mainstream country music has had a rather rocky road embracing and uplifting  Black artists however the Atlanta-born singer who now resides in Nashville hasn’t let that phase him.

Evans discovered his talent and love for singing and songwriting at a very young age – performing songs that he wrote at family reunions and being told by family members that he was going to be a country star, although that wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

 “I would sing these songs that I wrote and my family told me I think I was 11 or 12 they said, you’re going to be a country singer and I said, no I’m not. I don’t want to be a country singer,” Evans shared. It took a bit to see the vision but fast forward to today and Evans has amassed over 500k followers on Tik Tok and over 3.5 million likes with a continuously growing fan base.

The singer/songwriter originally captivated fans with his viral cover of Luke Comb’s "One Number Away," accumulating 3.6 million views on Tik Tok and Instagram. With his baritone voice, movie star looks and unique covers putting a country twist to popular R&B and pop songs, it wasn’t long before fans were falling in love and established artists were sending praise. CMT and 4x Grammy nominated artist Mickey Guyton tweeted, “Country music also looks like Tony Evans Jr. stud muffin, I’m shooketh. Not sure he’s had a record deal but if he doesn’t, he needs one ASAP.”

The queen of country wasn’t the only one to recognize his undeniable talent, BET and Grammy-nominated singer Keyshia Cole saw immense potential in the country artist after seeing one of his singing videos posted on the blog account, theshaderoom. She quickly reached out to Evans and got him in touch with producer Ron Fair who has worked with mega artists such as Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, and many others.

Fair produced Evans' recent EP, Starless released on March 10. “It feels like these are the songs that are going to represent me right now. I just want to make a good first step forward to say ok, this is who I am now and give you a little sneak peek of where I’m going with it too,” the Nashville native shared. Evans is blocking out any hate and focusing on the love as he continues to develop his sound and grow in the industry.

You can stream Tony Evans, Jr.'s Starless EP here.