Ian Munsick recently released his uptempo track “Earn Your Spurs,” a song that appears on his fourth studio album, The Mountain Goat, which dropped last month. Co-written with Adam James and Jared Conrad, the track feels like a modern-day cowboy anthem and features a rugged country sound with a flair for the Old West.
The lyrics on “Earn Your Spurs” find Munsick showcasing his home state pride and loyalty to being a true cowboy through and through, while delivering a warning to others that Western ways aren’t something to wear as a costume. For Munsick, authenticity matters, and he can see right through a cowboy phase that isn’t rooted in the lifestyle.
“You can talk that talk / But let me tell you something / ‘Til you walk that walk / Man, it don’t mean nothing,” Munsick sings.
Throughout the tune, the singer/songwriter and beloved Rocky Mountain artist, 33, frames his lyrics with cowboy language, using “earning your spurs” as a metaphor for demonstrating loyalty, commitment, and toughness through actions over words or material items.
“That hat has seen more neon than it has the rising sun / That buckle don’t mean anything unless that gold’s been won / That pearl snap on your back ain’t had a full day’s worth of work / Anyone can buy the boots, but you gotta earn your spurs,” he sings throughout the chorus of the song, showing off his warm country vocals.
For Munsick, the meaning behind “Earn Your Spurs” goes well beyond the traditional cowboy imagery often associated with the Western lifestyle. He believes being a cowboy isn’t defined by what someone wears, but by how they choose to live their life.
“Really the main one is that it’s not about the hat, it’s not about the boots, and it’s not about the clothes,” Munsick shared in an interview with Music Mayhem. “It is about how you live your life. And being a cowboy is something that you have to earn.”
“You can’t go into a store and purchase being a cowboy,” he continued. “You have to live that life.”
That perspective comes from Munsick’s own upbringing and his years spent surrounded by people who have lived the cowboy lifestyle firsthand. Growing up in Wyoming, he says he has been fortunate to learn from a community that understands the hardships and dedication that come with the culture.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be raised in a community of cowboys,” he explained. “And I know through them the hardship and the lifestyle of being a cowboy, because it is a lifestyle. It’s not a job. Being a cowboy is not a job. It is a lifestyle,” he added. “And I feel like people need to know that being a cowboy is a rite of passage that you can’t buy.”
For Munsick, who made history in 2025 by becoming the first Wyoming-born artist to headline Cheyenne Frontier Days (the iconic rodeo known around the world as the “Daddy of ‘Em All”), highlighting the culture of the American West is nothing new. The Wyoming native has stayed connected to his roots throughout his music career, often portraying the part of the country he comes from through his music.
“I just want to make sure the part of the country I come from is accurately portrayed in country music,” Munsick shared via a press release. “There’s a lot of country in the Rockies and out West that needs representation, and I truly believe that’s a world where I will never run out of creative ammunition.”
That commitment to representing authentic Western culture is something Munsick also respects in his peers, most notably Cody Johnson, whom Munsick credits as an important figure in his own journey. When Johnson was recognized as Entertainer of the Year, Munsick said his first reaction was that the honor was long overdue.
“Man, just one; I thought that it was long overdue because he brought me on tour in 2021 and I had already been listening to him for probably 10 years before that,” Munsick said.
Having toured alongside several major country acts, Munsick has seen plenty of performers take the stage. But Johnson, he says, brings something that goes beyond simply making good music. “I’ve been on tour with a lot of great acts, and no one puts on a show as CoJo does,” he shared. “He is an entertainer.”
Munsick went on to explain that there is an important distinction between being a great artist and being a true entertainer.
“There’s a lot of great artists that are great on stage, but being an entertainer is a lot different than having good music,” he said of Johnson, who has maintained his Texan roots as a former professional bull rider. “It is about making sure that when people leave the concert, they think that that was one of the best shows they’ve ever seen.”
“And Cody, he does that every single night and has been doing it for the last 20 years,” Munsick added. “So it was pretty awesome.”
