Ian Munsick has blazed his own trail as an independent artist. Working from the ground up with a grassroots approach to his artistry has only brought him success, solidifying him as one to watch on several different artist lists and landing him a deal with Warner Music Nashville.
The singer/songwriter has marked a series of incredible milestones in the past few years. Not only has he racked up nearly 800 million global streams throughout his career, but he also celebrated a sold-out debut at Red Rock Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, in 2024.
Now, his latest benchmark is right around the corner. This summer, Ian Munsick is set to make history as the first native of Wyoming to ever headline Cheyenne Frontier Days as part of its 129th anniversary. The massive outdoor rodeo and western celebration takes place in Cheyenne, Wyoming across ten days and includes rodeos, bucking broncos, as well as country music concerts, and dances.
Needless to say, it’s symbolic to the West, which makes Munsick a no-brainer to be hand-picked for the event. Munsick performed as a support player at CFD in 2022, but he has yet to be the big act of the night on the sacred Frontier night stage. This time, all that will change as his lifelong dream will become a reality.
“That’s just the ultimate, right there. That’s what the last 13 years of me grinding it out has led to, That’s the biggest stage in Wyoming, and that’s always been my top place to play has been Frontier Days for 20,000 people, and that’s just the biggest honor that I got asked to play there,” Munsick shared in an interview with Music Mayhem. “I mean there’s other names there, shoot Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll Brooks and Dunn, Machine Gun Kelly. I mean, they get these huge, huge, huge artists that have had years of mainstream love. And for me to come in there and just have this organic following that wouldn’t exist without the state of Wyoming. It’s just a huge honor for me to come back and hopefully give those people the show of a lifetime just to say thank you.”
Munsick’s invitation to play CFD arrived after his sold-out Red Rocks show in Colorado, when a group of fans launched a Facebook page petitioning for him to headline the 10-day extravaganza. The Wyoming paper Cowboy State Daily caught wind of the page and published a story about the requests.
“Ian has worked hard, taken the necessary steps, and fostered the relationships with the partners. He deserves this moment, and I look forward to celebrating this night in Cheyenne,” agent Lance Roberts of WME shared via a statement.
Munsick’s performance will kick off the second night of CFD on Friday (July 18), with Travis Tritt joining as a supporting act. Other artists that are part of the 2025 weeklong lineup include Jordan Davis with Brett Young, Bailey Zimmerman with Josh Ross, Brooks & Dunn with Chancey Williams, Luke Bryan with Priscilla Block, Cody Johnson with Randy Houser, and Megan Moroney.
Folks who grew up listening to Munsick are well aware of his family’s history as he, his brothers, Tris and Sam, and his father, Dave, were in a group called The Munsick Boys Band. Munsick, who grew up tending cattle by day and playing music by night with his band, has become a staple in the field of Western entertainment. When asked if he had any special plans to bring out his brothers or his dad during his upcoming CFD headlining show, he said, “My brain has been stewing on just how to make it as Wyoming as possible.”
“I would really like to, man. I know that we have some plans for that one. My brain has been stewing on just how to make it as Wyoming as possible because I’m the first Wyoming native to headline that, so I really want to make it about Wyoming.”
CFD aside, Munsick has been keeping busy. He recently dropped his third studio album entitled, Eagle Feather — the follow-up to his 2023 release, White Buffalo. Eagle Feather features 20 tracks, including duets with Lainey Wilson and Flatland Cavalry lead singer Cleto Cordero. On top of that, Munsick recently achieved his dream of purchasing a house in his home state of Wyoming. The goal has taken him over a decade in the making, now bringing him full circle!
“Man, that’s always been the goal, dude,” he said of purchasing the land and building the house. “I moved to Nashville 13 years ago, and the day I left Wyoming, my goal was to ‘make it,’ so that I could move back to Wyoming. We bought a small ranch out there a few months ago, and when we bought that place, it felt like I had achieved what I came out to do. So, man, I’m really looking forward to spending more time out there over the years, and we still have a ton of work that we have to do out there to get it to be a proper ranch right now, it’s just kind of land with a house on it. But that’s our dream is to make that into a ranch and to finally be able to live the Wyoming lifestyle while having a music career.”
Read our full interview with Ian Munsick HERE.
