Tyler Halverson

Tyler Halverson grew up in Canton, South Dakota, a small town where he split his time between livestock sale barns and skate parks, two disparate worlds that both show up in his songwriting^[1]. His father's CD collection introduced him to Garth Brooks, George Strait, and Chris LeDoux, and country music stayed a constant even during a stretch when Halverson embraced an emo phase and skateboarding culture, attending Warped Tour dates before a bluegrass festival pulled him back toward the sound he grew up on^[1].

At twenty-one, Halverson moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University. After graduating, he headed west to Montana and Wyoming, working on ranches and playing cowboy on a Wyoming spread, an experience that later inspired one of his early cult singles^[1]. Gary Stanton of Muscadine Bloodline discovered him on Instagram just before the pandemic, a connection that led to a publishing deal with Concord and, in 2023, a major-label contract with Atlantic Records^[1].

Halverson calls his sound "Country & Western Amerijuana, for the hippies and the cowboys," and released two EPs under that Western Amerijuana banner in 2024 before signing to CMDSHFT for his debut full-length^[2]. He cites Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings as key influences, particularly their plainspoken honesty about the difficulties of life on the road, and he has made multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry as his profile has grown^[3]. His stated artistic philosophy is to show himself exactly as he is, good and bad, rather than polish away the rough edges^[3].

That approach reached full expression on his debut studio album, In Defense of Drinking (2026), recorded at Amber Sound in Hermitage, Tennessee and produced by Halverson alongside Ryan Youmans and Gary Stanton^[4]. Halverson has described the record as an ongoing argument with himself over who he becomes on tour versus who he is at home, admitting the songs often catch him being reckless and impulsive while insisting he's trying his best^[5].