Texas singer-songwriter Garrett Bradford is staying true to his honky-tonk roots with the release of Honkiest of Tonkers – Part 1. The project, out now, features a mix of boot-stomping anthems and classic country storytelling. With Part 2 set to arrive on April 11, 2025, Bradford is continuing to build momentum, earning spots on key playlists and connecting with fans through his honest, down-to-earth sound.

We caught up with Bradford to learn more about his latest music, the inspiration behind his songs, and his journey as an independent artist.

Your music is deeply rooted in the Western and rodeo lifestyle. How do your experiences growing up on a ranch influence your songwriting and the stories you tell?

Well, I think growing up the way I did it was definitely a blessing. I didn’t have any say in that, I was just born into that you know? But I think you just see things on a totally different level, having grown up in the country. I mean, I know that sounds silly and everything, but I mean a lot of people didn’t have that luxury. I mean, I meet a lot of artists up here and I don’t say this in a negative way. I mean they love country music and maybe now they live in the country, but they didn’t get to grow up like that. And I think just the work ethic and the values, as the kids would say, all that stuff ‘hits different’ when you actually grew up that way. 

You split your time between Nashville and Texas, does that ever get difficult? What do you love about the two places?

It does, like on Saturday I usually spend a month here and then I go back to Texas for a month. When I’m up here, I’m doing a lot of writing, sometimes playing writer’s rounds and stuff. When I go back to Texas, it’s working on the ranch back home and then also playing shows back there cause we have a great music scene in Texas. Saturday morning, I’ve got to fly out, or get to fly out, to go to Austin to play a little show down there and I’m not really looking forward to that after CRS. I’m like, ‘I would rather just chill for the weekend.’ But all in all, I’m really thankful to get to do what I do. I don’t know, it’s really neat to get to be able to be in both places. 

One thing I’ll say is that I love everything about Texas. I’m a typical Texan. I mean, there’s nothing I don’t love about Texas, but what I love about Tennessee is the people and how welcoming people have been in the music business up here. I didn’t expect that at all. I thought it would be kind of cliquey and I’ve heard people say that it is, but I have not experienced that. I mean, people have just been so nice, so quick to introduce me or help me if they can to connect me to people. So I love that. I love the history in Tennessee, all the old buildings and the Civil War history. I love that. And then Texas is just Texas. I love it. Like I say, I love everything about it. I miss it even when I’m up here. This is the only other place I think I could live besides Texas.

Do you remember the day you found out that your song, “This Way of Life”, was going to be featured on the hit TV Show Yellowstone? What was your reaction?

I mean, I was ecstatic. So the way that happened, I met Taylor Sheridan who created the show. He hired me to do some work on his ranch in Weatherford, which is where I’m from. And at the time I played local shows and I loved writing songs. I mean, I wrote songs like I do now, even back then. I’ve done it my whole life. It’s my passion. But he hired me to clear some land and cut down some trees on his place and we became friends. And over a couple of years, I never even thought about getting one of my songs on the show, but he had this scene and he wanted a song about the western way of life and how it seems like it’s dying, but it’s still really alive. It’s just changing and he needed a song like that for this scene on season three. And he approached me and just asked me, he said, ‘hey, I want to see if you could write something that would fit here.’ But he made me really nervous. He said, and I won’t say their names, but he mentioned two other really big artists. And he goes, I told them, ‘I gave them this idea too, and everything they sent me was terrible.’ I was like, oh no, I don’t stand a chance if they couldn’t do it. So I took some time. I knew it had to be good and I wrote it and I did an acoustic demo in the barn on the ranch where I live in Texas, which just makes the story even better. And I sent it to him on Tuesday, the next day Wednesday he called me, he said, ‘buddy, I love this song. We’re going to use it on Sunday.’ I was like, ‘I got to go to the studio and get a real recording’ and said, ‘no, we just love it acoustic like that.’ So I went from not having any music out on Wednesday to having my first song was on the biggest show ever, basically.  People ask me, ‘how do you get a song on Yellowstone?’ I’m like, ‘well, Taylor’s got to move to your hometown and then you got to get hired to do some work for him. And then you got to become friends with them for two years.’ But it was, I mean I always say I do think it was a God thing. I mean, that’s such a coincidence that it can’t be a coincidence almost the way that all happened. And I’m definitely very thankful for it. 

How did that moment change your career, and would you ever want to have more of your music in TV or film?

I would love to have more music in TV and film. In fact, that’s something I’m kind of working on now. I kind of let that slip because I mean, that’s not the only thing I want to do. I want to have songs on the radio and all that so I haven’t been pursuing the sync, TV and film side as hard until the last couple of months. I really was kind of like, ‘hey, that’s what got me all these opportunities so I need to keep leaning into that.’ And that’s where the money’s really good in that. 

But the way that changed my career, I mean it did everything for me. I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve had such positive experience the last two years in Nashville, is just having something on my resume. I mean, a lot of people want to have their song on that show in this town, because it’s known for its music and it’s not easy to get your song on that show because he really picks songs from artists that he you know, a lot of independent artists and things like that. So just having that on my resume has just been a complete game changer. And I’ll always be thankful to Taylor and everybody at “Yellowstone” because they could have put any artist song on there, but they chose to go with somebody like me who at the time and even still pretty much, I’m like nobody compared to the artists they could have on there.

Is he planning to pick up any more of your songs?

He’s got a lot of shows going. “Yellowstone” ended and I thought I was going to get one more on “Yellowstone,” but that didn’t end up happening. But he’s got all these other shows, so I’m hoping, and I got to do my part too. I’ve got to send him and Andrea, who is their music supervisor, I’ve got to keep sending them songs. 

Your album, Honkiest of Tonkers, is being released in two parts. What made you decide to split the project, and how do the two parts differ in style or storytelling?

So I wanted to split the project because there’s quite a few songs on it.  I think there’s 19, nine on one, 10 on the other. I love all the songs on it. They’re a combination of songs that are recorded here and in Texas over the last couple of years. I just wanted to have time to promote all the songs and not just put them all out at once because it’s a lot to ask people to listen to. I wouldn’t do it. I mean, I’m just going to be honest with you. I’m not going to sit down and listen to 19 or 20 songs in a row. So I thought, well, maybe if we broke it up into two parts. They have a lot in common, but part one I would say is more of just high energy, maybe more radio type industry friendly music. And there’s definitely some of that on the second part. But the second part also has a lot of heartfelt songs about my dad who passed away and my grandfather and just a little bit more personal stuff, just real life.

Are you more excited for part one or two?

I think I’m more excited for part one just because this is my first time I’ve ever released an album. Everything before this has been singles and it’s been so cool getting to do the press tour. And yesterday I got to be on RFD-TV, which from the world I’m from being on RFD TV is like being on ABC news or something. All my people back home, they watch RFD-TV. It’s rural, I forget what it stands for, but they have the rodeos on there. They’re always talking about the weather and the cattle markets. So it was so funny because I’ve done a bunch of appearances, but yesterday was the one where I got so many texts from all my people back home, my family, my aunts and uncles, my friends, their parents, my friend’s parents. They’re like, ‘oh my gosh, you were on RFD.’ I had somebody text me and say, ‘did you know you were on RFD-TV today?’ I did know that actually. I just walked out of the studio. I did know that. Thanks for letting me know. 

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

I really like all of ’em. There’s this song on the second part of the album and it’s really sad, but it’s called “Give Dad a Call.” And it’s basically the punchline or the hook is ‘I wish I could give dad a call.’ And it’s talking about my dad who passed away a couple of years ago, all the times that still I pick up the phone and I go to call him. And a lot of times I literally almost call him before I remember that I can’t do that anymore. That song’s cool. I think the people that have heard it, especially people that have lost their dad, really connected with it. At the end of the day, that’s what this is all about the whole songwriting thing. The reason you do it is because you want to write songs that make people feel something or that they connect with, at least that’s my goal. I don’t want to just be famous or rich. This is not the business to get rich in anyways. 

Country music loves sad songs. It’s like, I was laughing, I was talking to somebody the other day and I was like, ‘it really is funny because country music, the classic songs like George Jones, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” or Merle Haggard “Silver Wings.” If you are playing in a bar and you start with the band and you start playing those songs, they’re the saddest songs in the world. But everybody starts smiling.’ It’s like in country music, people love the sad songs and they just smile when you play them.

In 2023, you were the songwriting winner of Texas Songwriter U. How did it feel to earn this award and be recognized by renowned writers like Jack Ingram and Liz Rose?

It was really neat. Texas Songwriter U is, they don’t call it a contest anymore even though it kind of functions as one, but they take eight up and coming songwriters and there’s no age limit, which is really cool. You don’t even have to be a singer. There’s writers who don’t really perform, but they judge you just solely based off your lyrics and the demos that you submit. There’s tons of people that enter in that thing. So just to be selected was really cool. And then getting to develop a relationship with Liz Rose, Jack Ingram, all those people, Blue Foley, and they have so many cool mentors. Then guys like Radney Foster were there, which in Texas, I mean Radney Foster is one of my heroes. And through that contest and winning that, I’ve gotten to meet all these people that I’ve always looked up to. It’s so cool. Sometimes you meet your heroes and you’re really disappointed but I feel like I’ve been really lucky because the ones that I’ve met have all been really cool. 

With over 600 shows under your belt, you’ve spent a lot of time on the road. What’s been your most memorable live performance so far, and why?

I would say the coolest thing that I’ve done so far is last year I played at an event called “Mack, Jack, and McConaughey” in Austin, and that’s Matthew McConaughey and Jack Ingram and Coach Mack Brown from UT. I got to play at their after party thing. It’s like a VIP thing. I mean I got to literally sit probably 10 feet from Matthew McConaughey and play a bunch of songs and he was just sitting there nodding his head. Then when I got done, I was just leaving, I wasn’t even going to talk to him. I didn’t want to bother him. And he ran out and he was like, ‘man, those songs are cool. Keep it up.’ And I was like, ‘this is the pinnacle of my career so far. This is it.’ I’ve got a picture shaking his hand and I’ve got the biggest smile like a little kid. 

What are some other goals that you have for yourself and your career? Long Term and short term? 

I would say short term, most of my goals are just to get this record out and try to build a solid foundation for the rest of my career. I don’t know the way all this stuff happened, I wasn’t expecting this. I mean, it was always something that I would’ve loved to do but until the “Yellowstone” thing, I didn’t think about myself as a country artist. It was just my hobby. So I think for the short term, solidifying some connections in the music business and learning more because I got a lot to learn. And long term, I’d love to stay independent as long as I can. Hopefully, at some point I won’t be. But I think just being able to write the songs that I love and make the people back home proud, I mean, that’s really all I care about. And it’s good for some stuff to finally be working and paying off, being here at CRS and it feels a little bit surreal. I can’t believe it sometimes, but those are my goals. 

Fans can keep up with Garrett Bradford on Instagram.

The post Garrett Bradford Talks ‘Honkiest of Tonkers,’ His Texas Roots, and Landing A Song On ‘Yellowstone’ appeared first on Country Now.