Born and raised right outside of Austin, Texas, teenager Ty Myers is already a force to be reckoned with within the country music community, amassing nearly one million monthly listeners via Spotify alone.
Obsessing over an expansive range of artists as a child — from Jimi Hendrix to Otis Redding to Chris Stapleton and beyond — Myers has developed some artistry of his own as of late, making waves with his debut single “Tie That Binds” in 2023, followed by the release of smash hits “Stay,” “Malibu,” “Too Far Gone,” “Let ‘Em Talk” and his latest release, “Worry is a Sickness,” throughout 2024.
For those who are unfamiliar with the talented singer/songwriter, Myers sat down with Music Mayhem to discuss who he is and how he got started within country music — as well as what the future holds — in an exclusive interview.
Musical Beginnings
The 17-year-old, who is destined to be country music’s next big star, began by opening up about his musical beginnings, which originated from the moment he was born.
“I was born and raised in a town called Dripping Springs. I live on a cattle ranch, where I’ve always lived since I was born,” he prefaced. “My dad was a singer/songwriter around, you know, central Texas area, so I kind of grew up watching him play and going wherever he went, and I kind of just wanted to be like him.”
Myers shared with a smile, “There’s like pictures of me, you know, three years old passed out on bar tops and stuff, just following him through dance halls.”
Growing up admiring his father and his career path, Myers began to pursue music himself around the age of eight, participating in “songwriter swaps” around the area once he reached the age of 12. Still splitting his time between music and sports — as well as various other hobbies typical of a teenager — an incident caused the country crooner to hang up his cleats once and for all, making the difficult decision to pursue music full-time.
“I was playing football and baseball in high school, and I blew my knee out my sophomore year of football,” he explained. “I wasn’t going to be able to play football or baseball that year, so we decided to go in and record some songs, you know, really not expecting anything out of it. Just to kind of get my mind off of stuff.”
As soon as he made the decision to step away from sports, it is safe to say that his career took off, with Myers amassing a great deal of social media success almost instantaneously.
Social Media Success
Right after he started to post some songs on social media, specifically TikTok, Myers was discovered by three different record labels, proving that social media is a huge tool to increase visibility and achieve success in this day and age, especially within the music industry.
“Social media is a huge, huge, huge, probably the number one tool of a modern musician in these days,” Myers shared from firsthand experience. “My dad — but even people other than my dad — tell me all the time, you know, ‘Back in my day, you don’t understand how hard it was having to sell, you know, posters and blah, blah, blah,’ and in-person marketing and stuff like that, so social media is a ginormous tool that every artist should be using.”
Scoring His First Viral Video
He then delved into the experience of achieving his first viral video, which ultimately kickstarted his country music career. “We were in Key West in June — we were actually staying in Marathon Key — and I went to bed one night and I looked at my phone, and I was like, ‘I’m getting a lot of Instagram followers. That’s really weird.’ I kind of just turned it off, and I went to sleep, and I woke up to my sister shaking me the next morning,” he explained.
According to his sister, Myers had been featured in “one of those like copy and paste type of deals, like new music you should be listening to if you haven’t already” on TikTok, which attracted a lot of people to his various social media accounts, as well as his music as a whole.
He continued, “That day we were going to drive from Marathon Key to Key West. It was like a 45-minute drive, and in that 45-minute drive, three record labels reached out just from that TikTok being made.”
Overall Sound & Musical Influences
Now signed to Nashville/Columbia Records, Ty Myers has been releasing a great deal of music, but if you have yet to hear any of his top-notch tunes, he explained his overall sound and musical influences in our exclusive interview.
While he is country through and through, Myers unexpectedly takes inspiration from genres all across the board while creating some new tunes.
Explaining that his mother is a big fan of soul music, Myers shared that Otis Redding, Bill Withers and Anderson East are some of the artists he grew up with, prior to venturing out and finding a love for blues music as well. “I really dug into the blues scene a couple of years ago and kind of dedicated my life to learning, you know, the neck of the guitar and really devoting myself to that,” he explained.
Nowadays, Myers has been “listening to a lot of indie stuff” like Ray LaMontagne, even going so far as to deem John Mayer his musical hero.
Original Music
After explaining his musical influences, the rising country star then delved into his songwriting process as of late, admitting that he has transitioned to writing more personal music.
“I’m kind of wild, kind of a ‘by the seat of my pants’ type of writer,” Myers detailed how he writes a new tune. “I’ll write a song driving down the road in the car. I’ll write one in my room… I don’t really have a that much of a process, because even when I’m writing a song, it could come out. Anything could spark anything.”
He continued, passionately, “I’ve been trying to work recently on writing stuff that’s, you know, more personal and a little more true to my life… I’ve always been able to make stuff up. I’m very imaginative. It’s never been a problem for me to make a story up, but I’ve been working on pulling from more, you know, life experience. It’s something I feel a little more joy in, and I feel a little more accomplished at the end of it.”
Describing this more personal storytelling as “a great form of therapy,” it is safe to say fans will get to know Ty Myers on an even deeper level in the coming months, beginning with his most recent release, “Worry is a Sickness.”
“Worry is a Sickness”
Released on September 13, “Worry is a Sickness” is a heartache anthem that the fast-rising country star is “really proud of,” delving into the details with Music Mayhem.
“I think it kind of shows what’s to come in the future as far as music and really, you know, finding myself and the sound I’m going for,” he dished. “It’s a kind of a story song. A song that I think most people can relate to, which is always a good thing, you know, and something I’m always like shooting for when I’m writing a song. I’m really proud of it.”
As mentioned, this tune is a glimpse into the rest of the music Myers has on the horizon, promising fans that he “definitely has been working hard on getting a lot of new music out to people.” Naturally, they cannot contain their excitement.
Currently, on his Headlining Let ‘Em Talk Tour
Aside from working on new music, after sharing the stage with Willie Nelson — and serving as a supporting act on Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers Band’s Hold My Beer Tour — Myers is currently in the midst of a tour of his own. Beginning on September 5 in Corpus Christi, Texas, he has almost sold out the entire run of shows, which is set to run for 19 dates and conclude November 8 in Hockley, Texas.
“We actually have more shows that are selling out as we speak, we have like five shows that aren’t sold out right now. They’re getting there, but yeah, it’s been awesome,” the soon-to-be country star gushed. “I love being on the road and playing music. It’s what I live for, and so these crowds are amazing.”
“They’re rowdy, and it’s really everything we could ask for and more,” he finished with a grin.
Advice for young, aspiring artists
Already achieving a great deal of success at such a young age, Myers concluded our exclusive interview by offering advice to other young, aspiring artists, telling them to keep their heads held high regardless of any setbacks they may face.
“Just don’t let anybody tell you, you can’t do it, because there’s a lot of people that’ll tell you, you can’t,” he advised. “The truth is, you can make a living in this industry if you want to, and that’s without a doubt. Yes, it’s hard to make it and a very few people make it, but even if that’s not the route you want to go, there’s a place for you in the music industry no matter what.”
“If you love it, put your mind to it. Anything’s possible,” Myers concluded, and we cannot help but applaud his positive outlook on such a tough industry to make it into.
With an extremely bright future ahead — filled with new music and a nearly sold out headlining tour — to stay tuned on all things Ty Myers, country music fans can connect with the talented singer/songwriter on Instagram @tywmyers and TikTok @tymyers.
