Interview with Tyler Braden
Country Thunder Florence
Florence Arizona
April 9, 2022
by Mary Andrews
Alabama native, Tyler Braden’s week had an incredible start when he appeared earlier in the week making the semifinals on NBC’s reality series, American Song Contest. The show is all about the song and Braden’s song “Seventeen” made the grade. His gritty performance had the early set a commanding performance for the “Morgan Wallen” day at Country Thunder.
Brayden is a songwriter, performer and instrumentalist whose star is on the rise. Unrated was able to catch Brayden after his set for a chat. This is what we learned.
Unrated : Were your parents into music?
Tyler Braden: Absolutely. Both my parents, my aunts and uncles all sang. Every since I was little both my parents played nat private parties and venues all around. So, I started wth them.
Unrated: Who has had the most influence on you?
TB: My parents obviously had a huge influence on me. I sang from day one. I’m sure I would have found my way into it eventually. Artistwise, rock bands like Foo Fighters, a lot of the guitar stuff, and a good rock show have a huge influence on me. There is a wide range there even R&B. Countrywide, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Brothers Osborne people who tend to do their own thing. HARDY the big one, there’s a lot of influence out there.
Unrated: That’s a lot of young artists. What is your age?
TB: I’m 33.
Unrated: Yes, you are young compared to me. Do you play instruments?
TB: I play guitar. I Play a little bit of piano. My live show is mostly guitar. Maybe a third of the set. The rest o the time, I run around making a fool of myself.
Unrated: How did you learn to play guitar?
TB: Gosh. When I was a teenager, I had friends that played They taught me chords. I was 16-18 years old, but I really get into it heavily until I was in my 20s. I started doing acoustic shows and I started doing it heavily. Besides them teaching me basic chords, I basically taught myself, trail and error.
TB: There are a lot of young artists out there now. I got my first songwriting cut with Dylan Marlowe just put out a song “When I look Back.” There’s a lot of young talent for sure.
Unrated: Do write most of your music?
TB: I’ve put out one song before I had a record deal or anything that was an outside cut. Some great writers and friends of mine The song is “What Matters.” I’ll put out anything if it is a great song.
Unrated: Have you recorded with other artists?
TB: I have not. It’d be great honestly to collaborate with someone. If I could do cross genre collaboration, it would either be the Foo Fighters or Jon Bellion. Jon Billion is a big pop and hiphop producer guy. His stuff is just very authentic and artistic.
Unrated: Dead or alive, who would you like to meet?
TB: Oh, Larry David. He’s the creator of Seinfeld.
Unrated : Dead or alive, who would have liked to see perform?
TB: Prince. It would be between him and Michael Jackson. Foo Fighters as well. I never have gotten to see them live. Taylor Hawkins just passed away so we’ll never get to them live again. That’s a tough one, but I had to go with anybody dead or alive, I would have to go with Prince.
Unrated: What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
TB: Worst job? None of my jobs have been absolutely terrible. If I look back, I worked at Subway. I worked at some jobs under the table, odds and ends like construction. When I was 16, I worked at Subway. It wasn’t even the job itself. It was a brand new Subway and it was super busy. There were lines out the door for eight to ten hours straight. It was in Slap out, Alabama. Brand new Subway. I even painted part of the inside when I worked there. There were parts that had gotten missed, so I painted part of the inside. That wasn’t fun at 16.
Unrated: I’m from Montgomery.
JB: I worked for the Montgomery Fire Department for four years. At times it was hard. Half the time it’s really hard and half the time, we’re just sitting around. A lot of fighters have second jobs during their time off.
Unrated: I f weren’t a musician, what would you be?
JB: Did Luke Combs ruin that question for you? Luke Comb has a song “If I Weren’t Doing This, I’d Be Doing This.” I’d bet this gets referenced a lot. But I’ll be fair. If I wasn’t doing this, I’d still be in the fire service. If I wasn’t doing this professionally, I’d be performing on the side.
Unrated: What music are listening to in your car right now?
JB: I try to keep up with modern country. I do love Hardy and the new guys. There is a duo called Lawrence which is soulful music. Jon Billion produces them. They are a brother and sister about 22 and they are incredibly talented and soulful music. They are great.
Unrated: What’s the best advice you ever got?
JB: The best advice I ever got is don’t break the law while you are breaking the law. Especially for the music industry, would be to network and be friendly Those who you can learn you can trust, take them with you and be good to them. They will be good to you.
Unrated: If you were interviewing yourself, what would you ask?
JB: I don’t know what I would ask myself. I think it would be something people could not normally google about me. I don’t have a lot of interesting things about me. I don’t drink. I never have.
Unrated: You’ll last long in the industry.
JB: Several people have asked about the connection between the fire service and the music industry. There is a lot of similarity between the two actually. In the fire service, you learn to live with people for 24 hours. You live around each other closely. You become family quick and you learn to problem solve together because you will be with each other nonstop. I learned to never get riled up. Never worry about pressure very often. As you learn to do that this career has a lot of ups and downs. The best interviews are when the questions whey off of each other. The answer leads to another question from what they say.
Unrated: What inspires you when you write your songs?
JB: One of the biggest tips I got for songwriting was to read a lot. I don’t read as much as I used to but I do read. And listen to a lot of different types of music which we’ve already talked about. Watching movies and paying attention to the stories. That teaches you to be a story teller. That’s what country music is, storytelling. Diving into as much creative arts as I can. You learn from the best when you do that. You learn from a lot of different places. Most of my inspiration is trying to stay open minded.
Unrated: Are you married?
JB: I will be two weeks from today. She’s from Kentucky originally, but we met in Nashville. I live in Nashville now and have been for six years. I love Nashville. I live in a small town outside of Nashville called Hermitage. I’ve been blessed to have a good team around me since the beginning.
