This years Country 2 Country gave Kentucky native Tyler Booth the first chance to perform his music outside of the States. Playing on the festivals Big Entrance, Wayside and BBC Radio 2 Stages, Tyler had the opportunity to introduce himself to a range of fans at the festival. After playing back-to-back sets on Saturday morning, we caught up with Tyler to find out more about his first experience of England and London.
How does it feel to be so far away from Kentucky? You know, it is like a haul from the States and there’s so much to get used to here like driving on the left side! That totally weirded me out when we got here. There’s a few things that will take me a little bit to get used to but I’ve got say, I love London. The people here are so warm and welcoming, the city is so beautiful and I feel very blessed to be here. If I could’ve picked anywhere in the world to play outside of the States for the first time it would have been here, so I’m feeling so blessed to be here and having so much fun.
You braved the elements this morning at 11:30 on the Big Entrance Stage just outside the O2! Yeah, it was very cold yesterday when I was walking around a lot and doing a tour of the city. We saw Big Ben, the Eye and Buckingham Palace so I got a little used to the cold then but today it was actually pretty warm out there compared to then!
How did it feel to play two sets to the London crowd this morning? It was awesome. I was surprised there was people in the crowd before I even got on stage requesting songs of mine and I had no idea that people were listening to my music outside of America, so it’s really cool, To be able to expose people to my music that have never heard it before is a blessing. Did you notice people singing along? There was a lot of people, and it was funny because I wasn’t expecting to see a big crowd out there. I’m always nervous during the first couple of songs and get focused on myself to make sure I’m playing ok, then I looked out to the crowd, and I see all the people and I was so surprised and glad to see people singing too.
How different is it getting 3 different slots here compared to festivals in the States? We did the Big Entrance first, and I got to meet some of the people that watched my set and took some photos for five minutes, then my dad came up to me and said we had to get going for our next set. Luckily we got there on time as we went back to back, and we literally plugged in and started playing! It’s fun.
Playing across the different stages must’ve opened you up to a wide variety of the fan base here this weekend. Yeah, between the first set and the second if I felt there was a song that I didn’t play as well, or the audience wasn’t familiar with I was able to scratch that song and throw another one in! By the time I play my last show tomorrow I’ll know what songs people want to hear!
Is it strange knowing there’s some people watching you on the Festival Stages that aren’t even here for the festival? It’s so cool, I would say there’s 15/20 percent of the crowd was waiting for me and then when I started playing you would see people who were just walking by would stroll over and stop to see what I was doing. Me being an artist is also cool as I have a lot of friends playing this weekend so I can see some of their sets too while I’m just walking around the venue. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it quite a bit later today and tomorrow to check out what they’re doing. Everybody I meet here is just so nice and welcoming. I really don’t feel like I’m that far from home with all my friends being here plus the friends I’ve made so far. You have brought with you some new music as Real Real Country was released just last month; how does it feel to have new music out having not released an EP since 2021? It feels good, I’m so excited to be able to put out some more music and right now I’m working on three or four different projects. We are playing it by ear and getting into the studio when I’m in Nashville and have some downtime. We are loosely getting some songs down, and I’m excited to see what gets to come out this year and how people will receive these songs that I’m putting out. I also tested a few tracks and have got to play a bunch of new songs that no one had ever heard which was exciting. They got a good response on them. Grab the Reins came out in early 21 so its going to be really cool to get a few different projects out and we will see what happens
You seem to be enjoying the first trip and there’s more of Europe for you to explore, are there thoughts towards the next trip already? I tell you; I would love to come back and play. There are so many artists that have come out of here that I have looked up to for a long time – the Rolling Stones; Amy Winehouse; Adele – there’s so much to take in. you can feel the influence of those artists in the city and England. I can’t wait to explore more of this place. I feel like just 3 or 4 days is not long enough, I’m so fascinated with London and England that I would love to come back as soon as I can. It’s been a great weekend. Back home in Tennessee and Kentucky I will go around and get recognised and here I wasn’t expecting but there has been a few times people have stopped me and even said hey you play Palomino Princess. I was like, yeah that’s me!
I see your parents have come with you this trip, is that important for you? Yeah, they’re always with me. Dad manages all my stuff and he’s really good about keeping me on task as I will go down these song writing rabbit holes and get lost for a day or two but he’s always telling what I’ve got to do and keeping me on track. I’m so blessed to have him and experience all this with him and my mum is so cool. They’re always with me on the road and they’re my biggest fans. They’re always out there cheering me on and are so proud. Hopefully it won’t be too long till we see you again. I’d love to come back and will be here any time.
We are excited to hear that Tyler is working on new music and you can listen to his new track Real Real Country now.