Tanner Usrey doesn’t see much difference between the studio and the stage.
The native of Prosper, a city about 40 minutes north of Dallas, crafted his latest studio album, These Days, which drops on Atlantic Records July 11, to be the sonic equivalent of a rollercoaster — the same sensation, he says, you’ll get if you see him perform live.
“I like my albums to be like my live show,” Usrey said during a recent conversation. “It’s all about tension and release. [Playing live] is the real way to connect with people. I feel like you can release music and write music all day, but in front of your face, that’s when the real connection, I think, hits for me.”
Usrey, who cut his teeth in Dallas and had early work produced by Beau Bedford, has also found himself among Nashville’s next generation of stars. Artists like Ella Langley and Cody Jinks have enlisted him as an opener and he’s now collaborating with A-list producers like Dave Cobb, who oversaw the invigorating yet introspective These Days.
“Beau’s a monster, too, but Dave is an absolute monster,” Usrey said. “I think this is some of the best stuff I’ve released so far. He’s — if I could step into Dave Cobb’s mind for 24 hours, that would be amazing.”
I spoke with Usrey, who will perform at the Austin City Limits Music Festival this October, about the value of live performance, how his roots inform his sound and why, for now, Texas is home instead of Nashville. The following conversation has been lightly edited and condensed.
You’re a noted fan of the Red Dirt genre — one of the characteristics of those artists is they are constantly in front of fans, fostering that connection.
Usrey: We’re in this scene where I’m big on it, and I know other people are, too. You go out after the show, and you meet the fans, and then the people that come to your shows — if you just look somebody in the eye, you have a fan for life. … That’s part of the reason I started playing music was because I met Wade Bowen … I met him and I was like, “Damn, that’s really cool.” … I was at a Wade Bowen show in Dallas, and I was like, “Yeah, this is what I want to do.”
Growing up here in Texas, how do you feel like that influences your songwriting?
I don’t know if it influences my songwriting. It influences my sound, for sure. You know, I take a lot of inspiration from [Cross Canadian] Ragweed, which is [an] Oklahoma [band], but then [also] Whiskey Myers — a lot of inspiration from those two. And Wade Bowen — I feel like Texas artists have influenced it a lot, for sure.
One of the things that struck me about These Days is your willingness to open up and be vulnerable. Do you have any kind of internal guardrail — like, “Oh, I don’t want to go too far.”
Nah, man, I want to write about real [expletive]. You know, that’s the end of my game. I want to tell people stories. And if there’s one person that can say, ‘Damn, I relate to that’ and ‘You saved me’ or whatever … then I’ve done my job.
Given your success so far, are you tempted to leave Texas and move to Nashville?
Man, I can do all the stuff that I do in Nashville in a week, and then I gotta come back. I can’t live there. No hate, Nashville — maybe, like, outside of Nashville.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
