Tyler Braden made his hometown proud as he represented the state of Tennessee on NBC’s American Song Contest on Monday, April 4.
The fast-rising country singer and former firefighter put his signature raspy vocals on full display with the live debut of his new single, “Seventeen,” which was penned by Braden.
Ahead of his performance, Braden opened about the Volunteer state and his time as a firefighter at the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Company.
“Tennessee has to be the musical state in the country,” Braden shared. ”There’s live music in every venue you pass, there’s major record labels, there’s small and large publishing companies. Nashville is Music City and people come here from all over the country to chase their dream… I worked for Brentwood fire for my first three years here, while pursuing a career in music on the side. The firefighters who worked with me here, they wanted me to chase that dream that just speaks to the support of this state and I’ll never be able to thank them enough and to show them enough appreciation for that.”
Braden went on to reflect on the early days of his career and his journey to this moment.
“I started getting my first publishing offers in 2019, and later signed my first record deal, and that’s when I left the fire service,” Braden continued. ”Being from that line of work, you got to learn to control emotions and that parlayed into this music industry in a big way. I recently played my first-ever arena tour then just a few months I made my Grand Ole Opry debut, it was such an amazing honor.”
The Warner Music Nashville and 50 Egg Music signee then shared how “proud” he is to represent the state of Tennessee “because there’s so much country music history and talent here, which makes it that much harder to stand out and I want to go out there and make everyone proud.”
https://youtu.be/1p9pMpU1ZX8
Braden’s delivered the live debut of the reflective tune, which finds Braden crooning over young love.
He earned a roaring applause with his performance and praise from co-host Kelly Clarkson, who gushed, “I thought it was so good.”
Braden is representing the state of Tennessee while competing on the new reality show, which is a spinoff of Europe’s Eurovison Song Contest. The show features contestants from all 50 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. and five territories.
According to the show’s synopsis, “In week three of the qualifiers, three artists from week two are revealed as advancing to the semifinals; 12 artists from across the country perform an original song to earn America’s vote.”
This week’s contestants on the show also included: Jewel (Alaska), Riker Lynch (Colorado), Nitro Nitra (Delaware), Ale Zabala (Florida), Brittany Pfantz (Louisiana), Brooke Alexx (New Jersey), Sabyu (Northern Mariana Islands), Jesse LeProtti (South Carolina), Judd Hoos (South Dakota), and Grant Knoche (Texas).
Fans can vote (up to 10 times) for Tyler Braden’s “Seventeen” via TikTok by clicking HERE.
Voting ends Wednesday, April 6 at 7 a.m.
