Ian Munsick just released his third studio album, Eagle Feather. Boasting 20 tracks, the collection, produced by Munsick, Jared Conrad and Jeremy Spillman, dropped on April 18, and continues the Wyoming native’s exploration into themes of the American West, following 2023’s White Buffalo and 2021’s Coyote Cry. The project is already making waves with a Top 5 debut on Apple Music without any support from Country radio, just organic support from his loyal fanbase.
In an exclusive interview with Music Mayhem, Munsick, 31, opened up about his latest album and discussed the importance of showcasing his roots through his music. He also spoke about the friendships that have stuck with him throughout his musical journey.
Ian Munsick Explains Significance Of Eagle Feather
Two of those friends heavily influenced the Eagle Feather name and the project’s title track, which appears as Track 4 on the record. Munsick, who played his first Red Rocks Amphitheater show to a sold-out crowd back in June of 2024, said on that particular day, his two buddies, which he did not name, invited him into their native tribe.
“Toward the end of our show, two of my friends that are natives walked out on stage, and one of them was a member of The Crow Tribe,” Munsick said, adding, “I grew up pretty close to The Crow Reservation. They’ve always just had a huge impact and influence on me and my music, but also just to the West in general. When they walked out on stage, they were holding an eagle feather, and they adopted me into their tribe. I thought just the imagery and the icon of the eagle feather was a really powerful, honorable image to go along with my album. And having my two other albums be called Coyote Cry and White Buffalo was a great way to get the animal trilogy.”
The Eagle Feather title track, written with Stephen Wilson Jr., focuses on the connection Munsick has with The Crow Tribe as he sings the lyrics: “You and I, we fly together / Gave you my heart like eagle feather.”
“I had that idea just kind of written down, and I knew not a lot of people could tap into that heaviness and spirituality that goes along with that,” Munsick said of co-penning the tune with Wilson Jr. “But I saw that I had a day coming up with Stephen, and I knew that his dedication to his craft and uniqueness as an artist and a writer made me trust him with that title.”
“So I threw it out there and I gave him the backstory and he just started playing this little groove on his guitar. And the first thing he told me was he had the idea of ‘you and I, we fly together, gave you my heart like eagle feather,’” he continued. “From there, it was just off and running, just capturing the honor of love and giving your heart to somebody.”
Opens Up About The Album’s Duets
“Feather In My Hat” With Lainey Wilson
On the album, Ian Munsick enlisted two artists as guest vocalists — Lainey Wilson on “Feather In My Hat” and Flatland Calvary’s Cleto Cordero on “God Bless the West.” The former of the two tracks finds Munsick swapping verses with Wilson on lyrics that show gratitude for a love that doesn’t let you down.
“You’re the ground neath my boots / You’re the one I run to / When I feel like riding away / You’re the wind in my sails, the wings on my back / Angel you ain’t just a feather in my hat,” the two artists belt out the chorus over a slow-tempo melody.
Munsick and Wilson are longtime friends, so a collaboration wasn’t out of the question when the Wyoming crooner was working on his album. The pair of hitmakers also toured alongside each other in 2024 on Wilson’s Country’s Cool Again Tour, which made it easy to work together on the album.
“I’ve been pals with Lainey for probably eight years. My wife is really good pals with her and they have an amazingly talented friend group,” Munsick revealed before sharing how the collaboration came about. “I think it was probably halfway through the tour, she invited us out to her house to hang out and have dinner. We usually all end up around the campfire, playing tunes for each other. I played her ‘Feather In My Hat’ and by the last chorus, she was singing along.”
“I knew that that was the one that spoke to her. So, a few weeks later after I had recorded it, I gave it to her and said, ‘Hey L Dubs, I know everybody and their mom wants you to record with them, but I think this is on brand for not only a duet, but a duet between you and me.’ She was like, ‘Absolutely! I love this one. Let’s figure out a time to record it,” he added.
Munsick went on to say that he and Wilson ended up laying down her part of the song while on the road.
“I [brought] my recording rig out on tour, and she hopped on my tour bus, and in about an hour she had cut her part on the song,” he said. “So that was just kind of a cool little story about it too. She knocked it out just insanely quick. It was pretty cool just as an engineer and as a producer and not even as an artist to be able to put that hat on to record, just a very special vocal.”
“God Bless The West” with Cleto Cordero Of Flatland Calvary
As for “God Bless the West,” the song, which brings together Mexican, classical, and hip-hop influences, is one of Munsick’s favorites on the album. And when it came time to find a duet partner, he looked for the perfect fit.
“I had always kind of thought that it would be cool to get a Latin artist to hop on there, just because it takes you to Mexico at the same time that it takes you to Montana,” Munsick said. “This is kind of one of those vibes, but I’ve never been an artist that just wants to collaborate with people to get my numbers up. If it doesn’t truly speak to me or it’s not authentic to the artist, then I would just rather not.”
“So we had kind of gone through all the steps of trying to get a Latin artist on there, then I was like, ‘Guys. It just doesn’t feel true to do that.’ But then I started to think there are a lot of Texas artists that would be cool on this one, but none would be cooler than Cleto…he’s a poet, and he grew up in Texas and Texas is just as western as Wyoming is, but in a very different way, which helped demonstrate just how huge the West is. It’s not just one place. It is miles and miles and miles and miles. So for him to be on that man was just really cool. Over the years, he’s watched me grow, and I’ve watched their band grow, and just to be able to call them pals now is just an honor.”
“Horses Not Hearts”
Out of the 20 songs on Eagle Feather, Munsick self-penned one and co-wrote all of the rest but two, which are “Horses Not Hearts,” penned by Andy Albert, Michael Tyler, and Ben Stennis, and “Drink Around,” with writing credits going to Wyatt McCubbin, Travis Wood, and Jared Kiem. Of “Horses Not Hearts,” he connected with the song’s message, which takes away the “cowboy runs away” storyline and switches the narrative to the cowboy that stays.
”When I heard that for the first time, I was so pissed that I didn’t write it,” Munsick, who also debuted the official music video for the radio-ready anthem, revealed. “… From day one, I’ve always wanted to stop the illusion that cowboys are these heartbreaking outlaws that just always ride off and leave the girl hanging.”
“Real cowboys and all the cowboys that I grew up around are the kind of people that their word is their bond, and they’re the kind of people that you want as your husbands and as your dads, and as your brothers, because they’re honest people,” he added. “So I’ve always wanted to squash that narrative. So when I heard that the hook line is ‘cowboy breaks horses, not hearts,’ I was like, ‘That is exactly the perfect phrase for squashing that misinterpretation of what cowboys are.’”
His Wife Caroline Munsick Inspired Several Tracks
“Made Her That Way”
Munsick’s original track, “Made Her That Way,” is one that he calls one of the most personal tracks on the album.
“It’s a very personal tune I wrote about me and my wife [Caroline Rudolph Munsick], and I had always wanted to get back to writing alone, but oftentimes I’ll start writing a tune on my own and then bring it to one of the co-writers I trust and that know who I am because we’ve written a ton,” he shared. “But I wanted to prove to myself that I could still write a song from top to bottom. And when I did, man, just the amount of personal experience that went into it was kind of the result. I remember playing it for my wife for the first time, and she cried. Anytime you garner that emotion out of the listener, I feel like it has a power, and other people need to hear that song too.”
“Caroline”
“Made Her That Way” isn’t the only track inspired by his wife Caroline. She claims a title on the album with the No. 7 track, “Caroline.”
“When I had that idea, she’s like, ‘Well, this better be the best one that you’ve ever written,’” Munsick said of his wife’s reaction to being his muse. “And there was a lot of pressure when it came to that one, but man, I couldn’t be prouder of that song in particular and that is still I think one of the best-written tunes that I have.”
Along with his new album, Munsick, and Caroline, who are parents to 5-year-old son Crawford, are celebrating even more these days. The pair are expecting their second child, a baby girl due in the fall.
“Man, having a little girl is just going to be a total change,” Munsick acknowledged. “But I’m just very blessed and very, very, very pumped about experiencing the other half of parenthood by having a little girl.”
“Crawford freaked out when he heard that we were having one,” he added of his little boy’s reaction. “He’s always wanted to be a big brother and having a girl too, he’s just a sweetheart of a boy and very thoughtful. So I think that he’s going tobe a great big brother.”
“The Gate”
Serving as the closer on Eagle Feather is a song called “The Gate.” The heartfelt song, written with Benjy Davis and Josh Kerr, plays out as a letter of advice from his father — something that he carries along with him throughout his life and hopes to pass along to his son.
“Just leave The Gate the way you found it / If there’s a mountain don′t go around it / Cause you gotta climb if you’re ever gonna touch the sky / Hold the door for your lady / Cause one day she’ll have your babies / It′s a wild ride, hold ′em tight while you still have time,” Munsick sings throughout the lesson-learned chorus.
“So that was the last one I wrote for the album, but I had had that idea for a long time,” Munsick shared of the tear-jerking number. “A few days away from going into the studio and recording the last round of tracks for the album, I was like, ‘Man. You know what? I’m going to try and write this because it feels like it would be a great way to end this album.’”
He went on to share the meaning behind the ‘gate,’ saying, “So there’s a phrase on the ranch that goes, ‘You leave the gate the way that you found it.’ So, if you walk up to a gate, and it’s closed, then you close it behind you, and if you walk up to a gate, and it’s open, then you leave it that way… for cows to come in and out of or whatever the reasoning may be…I know for people that who have lived that life, I think that they will respond well because that’s the whole reason why I’m doing this in the first place is to give those people a voice in country music. And then just being able to tie it in with God and ranching, just being able to put everything that you have into what you love and into the land and to be able to provide for the ones that you love through your labors, that’s about as country as it gets right there.”
“Bring The West To The Rest”: Wyoming Inspires Munsick’s Music
As with every song on Eagle Feather, Munsick chooses to represent his birthplace in Wyoming and the Western culture, drawing from concepts of the land and people that inspire him.
“For me, it’s always, being from Wyoming and being a representative of the West in country music is why I make country music in the first place,” he shared. “Because growing up in Wyoming, I never heard music on the radio about where I was from or the culture I grew up in. So, I promised myself that I would bring the West to the rest. And with the Cowboys and Western culture kind of being at the forefront of pop culture these days, I think, it’s even more important that I accurately represent that lifestyle because there are a lot of people out there who are just throwing on the cowboy hat and taking advantage of cowboy culture, being in pop culture. So I think now more than ever, I have a responsibility.”
And he will continue to draw inspiration from Wyoming as he and his wife, Caroline, recently bought a ranch in “The Cowboy State.”
“Man, that’s always been the goal, dude. I moved to Nashville 13 years ago and the day I left Wyoming, my goal was to ‘make it,’ so that I can move back to Wyoming. And 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,” Munsick explained. “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 career in music.”
Eagle Feather is available now on all streaming platforms.
