Ty Myers Interview - The Select Album. Ends Of The Earth

In just two years, singer/songwriter & guitarist Ty Myers has risen from being an unknown high school studeat, to becoming a hot young country artist. Myers is quickly building a large fanbase with his soulful, powerful voice, and his prolific songwriting. This week, he’s releasing his debut album called The Select, via RECORDS Nashville/Columbia, and his new single “Ends Of The Earth” is moving up Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

It was in early 2023 that Myers independently released his first four songs: “Tie That Binds,” “Drinkin’ Alone,” “But Me” and “Tomorrow’s Out Of Sight.” His first breakout song was “Tie That Binds,” which went viral and generated millions of streams. Soon after, “Drinkin’ Alone” came out and also went viral.

When music industry execs and music fans heard these songs, it was clear that Myers was an exceptional new talent. He combines country with blues and soul for a unique style that sounds both classic and fresh. His musical influences include country icon George Strait, soul legend Otis Redding, and blues great Stevie Ray Vaughan.

	SPECIAL FEATURE: STREAMING AUDIO
	Here’s an excerpt of our interview with Ty Myers, who tells how he wrote his hit single, “Ends of the Earth.”

Myers, who is just 17 years old, was born near Austin, Texas, and he grew up on a cattle ranch owned by his family. His father was a singer/songwriter in Central Texas, and Myers was inspired to play guitar and start writing songs at a young age.

Myers also loved playing football and baseball, but when he suffered an injury as a high school freshman, he focused on his music. He began recording the songs he had written, and in early 2023 he posted his songs online. Impressively, his songs have now been streamed over 150 million times. In addition, Myers has developed into a strong live performer, and he now headlines and sells out his shows.

The deluxe edition of his new album, The Select, contains 16 songs including his early cuts “Tie That Binds” and “Drinkin’ Alone,” plus his latest songs “Ends Of The Earth,” “Can’t Hold Me Down,” “Worry is a Sickness” and “Let ‘Em Talk.” Notably, Myers wrote or co-wrote the songs, except for his cover versions of “Man On The Side” (written by John Mayer & Clay Cook), and “Somewhere Over You” (by Allen Shamblin & Michael Reid).

Here’s the video of Ty Myers’ hit, “Ends of the Earth.”

Along with his album release, Myers is launching his new concert tour, called The Select Tour. He is starting with shows in Texas, and then he’ll be playing over 20 shows across the country, including Tennessee, New York, California, Michigan, Arizona and North Carolina.

We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Ty Myers. He discusses the songs on his new album, and talks about his quick rise in the music business.

DK: I read that you’re from Austin, Texas. How did you get started with singing and playing guitar?

Ty Myers: My dad was a singer-songwriter around Central Texas. That’s probably the main reason I got into music. I was following him, and watched him do everything he did. Then I picked up the guitar when I was around seven, and I devoted a lot of time to learning to play it. And when I was eight, I started writing songs. So soon after I picked up a guitar, songwriting was what I wanted to do.

DK: With your music, you play country, blues and soul. Who are some of your favorite artists that you’ve been inspired by?

Myers: Well, I’ve always been a huge blues fan. When I was growing up, I liked listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. And my first love was country music. So I try to pull from all of these different genres, and John Mayer is probably my favorite artist right now. I’ve been listening to his music a lot over the past two years.

DK: I read that you originally liked playing baseball and football. At what point did you decide to focus on music?

Myers: I played football and baseball during my freshman year. But in my sophomore year, I blew my knee out in football, so I had to get surgery. I was going to be out for nine months, so I couldn’t play football or baseball, and that’s when we went into the studio. I recorded these first songs and put them out, and they blew up way bigger than we thought they would. So I ended up doing music full-time.

Here’s the video of Ty Myers’ song, “Let ‘Em Talk.”

DK: What were the early songs you recorded that blew up?

Myers: The first four songs we recorded were called “Tie That Binds,” “Drinkin’ Alone,” “But Me” and “Tomorrow’s Out Of Sight.” When “Tie That Binds” came out, we really had a social media moment. Then after that, “Drinkin’ Alone” came out.

DK: What was it like for you during that time? You went from being disappointed you couldn’t play football or baseball, to suddenly having millions of people hear your songs.

Myers: Yeah, it was very surreal, like an out-of-body type of experience. It didn’t feel like real life for a long time.

DK: When you put out those four songs, were you an indie artist, or were you already signed with a record label?

Myers: I was completely independent at that point. It was after these four songs came out that I started to hear from record labels.

DK: I like your new song, “Ends of the Earth,” which has cool title and story idea. Can you talk about writing this song?

Myers: I wrote that one late at night in my room. That’s how a lot of my songs get written. I had the idea for the title “Ends of the Earth,” and I was bouncing ideas off the wall. The whole basis for the song was…I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth. I will be devoted to you…I’ll always be your man. That was my original idea, and then it was making it happen from there and executing it. I had a fun time writing that song.

DK: You write most of your songs by yourself, with a few co-writes. So do you mostly like writing songs on your own?

Myers: I like writing on my own, and co-writing, for separate reasons. I’d say I probably love writing by myself a little more because I feel more connected to the song in a way. But co-writing is amazing too, and I learned so much from co-writing. I work with co-writers who keep me at the top of my game, and I also like writing on my own. Either way, all the songs are from my heart.

Here’s the video of Ty Myers’ song, “Can’t Hold Me Down.”

DK: You’re about to release your debut album called, The Select. Can you talk about making this album?

Myers: We’ve been working on the album for over a year now. I love this album so much. We’ve worked really hard on it. I love that it’s a compilation—there’s some songs I wrote from three years ago, to songs that I wrote a week before we recorded them. It shows a broad perspective of where my head is at, as far as influences and sound as far as music goes. I think it has a very broad spectrum and I’m very proud of it. I can’t wait for everybody to hear it.

DK: What are some of your favorite songs on your new album?

Myers: It’s so hard to decide; I’m very happy with all the songs. I always like to ask…could I release this song and be confident in it? If the answer is yes, then I know it’s okay to release it in the first place, because I don’t like the idea of having throw-away songs. But probably my favorite song right now is actually one I didn’t write. I had the idea of covering one of my favorite John Mayer songs, called “Man On The Side.” I cut it a couple months ago and I’ve excited how it turned out.

DK: Along with releasing your new album, you’ll be launching a new headlining tour. Can you talk about your live show and your tour?

Myers: Yeah I’m really excited. We were lucky and blessed enough to sell out my whole first headlining tour that started last year, and that was so much fun. And I know that this is gonna be even better because we’ere playing bigger rooms and we’re going to places we’ve never been before. It’s shaping out really good, and we’re going to have a lot of fun this year.