Country

At just 17, Ty Myers has crafted a 16-song debut album (The Select, out Jan. 24 on RECORDS Nashville/Columbia Records) that blends country songcraft, blues-drenched guitar riffs and soulful, gritty vocals in a way that sounds far beyond his years.

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Myers was born and raised in Austin, a Texas city that boasts over 250 live music venues and has garnered the moniker “Live Music Capital of the World.” So, there’s little wonder that while many of his Gen Z musical contemporaries followed the bedroom TikTok-to-hit performer pathway, Myers’ roots extend back to the vaunted singer-songwriter haunts of Austin. His songwriter father regularly played in Austin’s local venues, while Myers’s grandmother played piano in church.

“My earliest memory is sitting at a bar top at four years old,” Myers tells Billboard. “I have pictures of me just passed out, sleeping on a bar top. I should not have been at that age, but I was always just locked in on music.”

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Myers recalls first singing alongside his father at a now-defunct local Austin venue, Nutty Brown Café & Amphitheatre. By eight, Myers was writing his own songs, and by 11, he was doing full-fledged performances with his father.

“We would do songwriter swaps at local places, just trying to get my foot in the door a bit. Places aren’t usually too quick to let an 11 or 12-year-old come play for people who are trying to have a good time and drink,” Myers recalls. “My dad kind of had relationships at a lot of places and he helped me out.”

Beyond the musical talents of Myers and his parents, he is the nephew of Lonestar member Dean Sams, and Myers notes to Billboard that he also has a familial connection to George Strait’s longtime piano player Ronnie Huckaby.

Along the way, Myers soaked in the sounds of Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, George Strait and Chris Stapleton, channeling their influences. By high school, Myers was balancing playing music with playing baseball and football. After he tore his ACL playing football, and realized the recovery process would hinder him from playing for the rest of the season, Myers redoubled his efforts on music, pouring the dogged work ethic he learned growing up on his family’s cattle ranch into songwriting, live performance and guitar playing. He began recording with producer Tommy Detamore, known for his work with artists including Ronnie Milsap, Jim Lauderdale, and The Texas Tornados.

“Growing up, country was always my main influence,” Myers recalls. “So those first sessions were very country-based, which is Tommy’s bread and butter — he’s an old-school steel player. He played with everybody under the sun and he really perfected those first sessions.”

Those sessions created what would become Myers’s breakthrough songs including “Tie that Binds,” “Drinkin’ Alone,” and earnest love song about enduring affection “Ends of the Earth” — and are included on his full-fledged album, alongside songs produced by Brandon Hood, such as the R&B-inflected love song “Firefly,” the horn-laden “Can’t Hold Me Down” and the Americana/country-informed “Drunk Love.”

“I feel like this album is a real culmination of all of my influences,” says Myers, who is managed by Starstruck Entertainment. “I blended everything that I love into one, hopefully unique, sound.”

The album’s title nods to the fictional bar LA Select, featured in author Ernest Hemmingway’s book The Sun Also Rises. “That’s kind of where [the book’s characters] all go,” Myers says. “They leave the world behind, relax and have fun, and lay all their stresses to the ground, which is kind of what I want people to do when they listen to the album.”

The CAA-aligned Myers just launched his 45-show headlining The Select Tour, which is largely sold out and added 19 new dates. Among the tour stops are shows at revered music venues including Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, and New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.

Myers, Billboard’s January Country Rookie of the Month, told us about the making of his album. navigating his musical breakthrough, and some of his favorite past-times beyond music.

“Tie That Binds” was the song that first caught fans’ attention after it was featured on the TikTok Bonfire Specials. What was it like seeing that initial reaction from both fans and the industry?

It was surreal. We were on family vacation in Key West and that day we were going to drive from Marathon Key to Key West. It’s like a 45-minute drive. And in that time, three labels reached out in 25 minutes—it almost felt like somebody’s playing a prank on you and you don’t know what to expect, going from zero to a hundred like that. And in the days that followed, it felt like every day was a different call.

You are signed with RECORDS Nashville and Columbia. How did that joint deal come about?

It was coming down to either RECORDS or Columbia and we had a meeting in New York. The day before the meeting, we were told, “We want to do a joint meeting with RECORDS and Columbia,” and it turns out they wanted to do the deal together and it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

What advice has your uncle given you about navigating the music industry?

He told me that he was the only one out of the group there at an awards show one time, and he went up [onstage] to accept the award. He saw the video two years later and said he didn’t remember accepting the award, and that’s because he was always thinking about what’s next. So he told me to appreciate the moments.

You wrote “Ends of the Earth” by yourself. What was the writing process for that song like?

I wrote it in my room. I would say about 90% of the songs I write are in my room, but I with that, I knew I wanted to write kind of a soul song. That old-school intro, kind of “boom, boom, boom.” The “Ends of the Earth” idea came next, kind of a play on words that I do in the chorus. I just built it off of that and wrote that one probably within an hour.

How does your live show inform your approach to songwriting?

That’s the number one thing I think about when I’m writing songs, because when you’re performing live, that’s the roots of music. I love playing live.

You’ve opened shows for Randy Rogers Band, Wade Bowen and Cody Johnson. What have you learned from them in regard to live shows?

Randy and Wade love to have fun on stage, so I got that from them. And playing with Cody Johnson, I love studying his show, and how he really gets the audience involved. There’s not very many people who can move at an arena like Cody Johnson..This past year has been a whirlwind for you. What are the moments that stand out?

Opening for Willie [Nelson], getting to sing gospel [music] with him onstage. I could have melted into the stage; it was truly amazing. Looking over and seeing Willie Nelson, and then he says your name onstage, it’s like, “This isn’t real.”

When you are not making music, what do you do for fun in your off time?

Hunting and golf.

Who is your favorite pro golfer?

Tiger Woods, for sure. That’s obvious, though. My second-favorite golfer would be [Jordan] Spieth. He went to [The University of] Texas.

Do you have a favorite podcast?

I love Theo Von. I listen to Theo Von all the time.