Garrett Bradford’s grew up on a ranch in Weatherford, TX, a small town outside Dallas-Fort Worth. His parents had horses and cattle. He helped his dad and started a land clearing business. He had no idea that would lead to an opportunity that opened doors to a whole new career. One day a guy named Taylor Sheridan came by and bought a property from him. He hired Bradford to do some work on his ranch. Turns out he’s the producer for a show called Yellowstone. They became friends. At that time Garrett was playing small local shows as a hobby. “He figured out I played music and he had me bring my guitar over and play for him. He really encouraged me, lit a fire under my rear end.” A few years later Taylor came to him. He had a scene in the show and an idea for a song. He was asked to write a song about the western way of life and how it may seem like the cowboy way is dying, but it’s not. It’s just changing. So Bradford wrote “This Way of Life”, recorded a rough acoustic demo in the barn, and sent it to him. Sheridan replied back the next day saying they were going to use not only the song but his recording as well on Season 3 episode 9. “After that everything changed. I knew it would be a big deal because it was a popular show but I didn’t realize how many doors it would open.”

He started coming to Nashville a few times a year and loving it. When he discovered he was coming here and spending days at a time, he got a place. Now he splits his time 50/50 between Texas and Nashville. When asked what made him decide to move here he jokes that he was madly in love. Sadly they broke up right after the move, but he says he got a lot of great song material out of it.

He admits to playing music since he was 12. In high school he’d play in dance halls and VFW halls. “We have such a great music scene. I’m very blessed. I think if I was born somewhere else I would have come to Nashville sooner. But there’s so much for artists to do in Texas. There’s radio stations, tons of venues.” Still to this day he goes back to Texas because it’s easier to book shows and the pay is better.

He may have only been here two years, but he feels like people have been completely welcoming. “I thought I’d be an outsider. There’s a rivalry between Texas country and mainstream country. Growing up I heard all kinds of horror stories ‘oh they’ll rip you off in nashville, nobody cares about anybody but themselves’. I’ve had the opposite experience. People in nashville have been so kind and generous and welcoming.” He adds that it helps that he has Yellowstone on his resume, but says “I’m a nobody. I just walk up to someone and ask to write and they say yes. It’s the coolest thing.”

There is a great songwriting community in Texas as well. However, it’s a smaller community and people are more protective of their contacts. “Very few times in Texas have I had an artist be like you need to meet so and so. There’s not as much co-writing collaboration. It’s a totally different experience in Nashville.”

Garrett has also spent time in LA with a management company. “What I love about LA and that’s not a long list, but one thing is people really tell you what they think. If they don’t like you, they’ll just tell you I don’t want to work with you. Here I think it’s the southern kindness. They are like oh yeah come by the office sometime, or I’ll call you but they were never really interested.”

We talk about how Nashville is a 10 year town and he shares a song idea. A tongue in cheek “I’m broke, I’m living on the side of the interstate but don’t worry momma cos tomorrow is 10 years.” He’d call it 9 years 364 days”.

Part 1 of his album “Honkiest of Tonkers” came out a few weeks ago. Three singles have already been released. “Watching You Burn” has had the best first month as far as streams, outperforming even “This Way of Life”. He’s had feedback from Europe and the UK, people loving it, and hopes to go over there and play during the next year. Part 2 is set for release on April 11th. When asked how he came up with the title he says he was fishing in East Texas and the title just came to him. He thought I have to write a song called that so he did. And when it came time to title the album, he wanted it to stand out so instead of self titling it like he’d been thinking he went with that.

In June, Garrett is playing CMA Fest and says “I’ve never even been to one I’m so excited.” He shares that they are doing a stage of all Texas Artists at Chief’s. “I’m going to bring a lot of my friends from Texas that haven’t been around Nashville. They are super talented. I’m excited to bridge the gap.” If you want to hear more you can find his music wherever you download music, and check him out on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook!