After a very popular visit in March at C2C Festival in London, Tyler Booth was an artist that had so much demand to return to the UK that he announced his summer tour and appearance at The Long Road Festival not long after.

Earlier this year, Booth shared several new tracks including Bring On The Neon, Different Kind Of Blue, Real Real Country and more recently G.O.B by the G.O.G – All of which will be featured on his Keep It Real EP which is released on September 15th.

We caught up with Tyler at The Long Road Festival to discuss his new music, his time in the UK, about his hometown of Campton, Kentucky and more!

Enjoy!

Hi Tyler – How are you?

Doing great!

How has your week been?

Oh it’s been great!

Welcome to Sunny England (as it pours down with rain)

Thank you! Haha

How long have you been here?

A couple of days, I went out and explored Leicester yesterday.

Oh did you? What did you think?

It’s been a lot of fun! It’s nice!

How do our towns compare to the towns back home ?

Leicester reminds me a bit of Nashville in a way!

On really? That’s nice to hear!

We took the Northern Line here from London and it was nice looking out at all the pastures and stuff. I’ve never seen that part of England before!

Ah, lots of Cows and Sheep?

Yeah haha, it was beautiful!

Last time you were here was for C2C Festival, what was that experience like?

It was great! I was really surprised! There was some folks that knew my music and that really surprised me. Especially coming back now, I am still getting people in the crowd singing my songs and that’s just crazy! I couldn’t believe it the first time at C2C and then now it’s really cool because everybody is like “It’s good to see you again!”.

You have the new EP ‘Keep It Real’ coming out soon…

Yeah, I am really excited! It comes out September 15th! I feel really good about all these tracks, they are all really special to me. I have put out three singles from it so it’s about time I get this thing out there, I’m ready to do this! I am so excited! I’ve got that one and I’ve got a bunch of other projects I am working on too so hopefully that will come out before the year ends. Maybe I will get two projects out.

What has been the biggest challenge making the EP?

One challenge recently is, I tried to write a song on it specific to the album as it’s all themed. So I am still missing a couple of songs that I need, something to open up the record and then possibly a love song so I am working on that. That’s been a little challenging. I only have about a week and half before we get the band in to record it, so I’m a little nervous about that!

Tell us about G.O.B by the G.O.G (good ol’ boy by the grace of God) – that’s so hard to say haha!

Yep! That’s right haha. It’s one of those songs that, I wanted to put that as the title just to make people wonder what it meant. Then as you listen to the song, I feel it kind of reveals what it means. Especially if I do it live because I give a little back story behind it and that kind of thing. I love that track! That was one of my favourite tracks to make. Whenever the band is with me and everybody’s sort of counting on me with their instruments, I will play the Mandolin on it which is cool.

(Earlier in the year Booth said of the track; “One of the cool things about country music is it sheds light on things that people not necessarily look past but don’t acknowledge. It could be the simplest things like loving somebody or getting your heart broke, but ‘G.O.B. by the G.O.G.’ sheds light on a way of life. I wanted to write a song that was the anthem of the way me and everybody that I grew up around in Kentucky live and how we see things.”)

I love instrumental segments in songs and in live music. I love the instrumental intro in that song but can’t figure out what one of the instruments that you use in the intro is?

The wacky sounding thing?

Yeah!

It’s called a Moog. It’s a very specific almost synth like instrument? It’s like a bass instrument and it’s used by foot pedals. I’m pretty sure it’s popular in English music.

Probably!! Haha!! I have been reading a lot of your lyrics. Fried Chicken, is that a Traditional Sunday dish?

Yeah! That is definitely a staple after church! That’s where Kentucky Fried Chicken came from so I am from Kentucky so..

Is Kentucky Fried Chicken actually nice or as you have it as a traditional dish does it not compare?

No we like it!

You will probably feel differently about ours here haha

I saw a KFC on my way here! I think I stopped at one of the train stations and I saw a KFC and I was dying to try it! But the train was ready to come. I would like to try it just to give a good review!

You are from a place called Campton! Please tell us about that and Kentucky in general as I have never been!

Yeah! Campton it just a town of four hundred people so you can imagine it’s super small. I think there are like two stop lights/two red lights. It’s crazy small and it’s really close to some popular attractions like The Natural Bridge which is popular for hiking, rock climbing and that sort of thing. Cycling, canoeing, all that great stuff. That’s all pretty common back home! There wasn’t really much to do there but Bluegrass was always around growing up, everybody had a guitar so, that’s kind of what we did as kids. If we got bored we’d pick up the guitar or a banjo, Mandolin and all that stuff.

What instruments can you play?

Mandolin, Guitar, Bass Guitar, I used to know how to play the Saxophone! I have tried my hand at keys. I can play harmonica so just a little bit of everything.

Is there anything that you want to learn to play that you haven’t yet?

Hmm…piano, I’d like to be better at Piano, that would be great!

Do you have anything you have to have on your Ryder?

Oh….one thing I tried it once, I forget, I was supporting maybe Darius Rucker and they had Hummus . I don’t know if that’s a thing here.

It is!

It is? It tried it and I loved it and was like “put that on my ryder right now”. I’ve got Hummus, some water and that’s pretty much it!

What have you got planned for the rest of the year?

Just getting out touring. Got a bunch of dates with Jake Owen that I am excited about. Getting this project out, and possibly another so that would be cool!

About Tyler Booth:

Road warrior, songsmith, and proud Kentucky native Tyler Booth has been making a name for himself in country music since he first started playing festivals around his home state as a high schooler. Born and raised in Wolfe County, Kentucky, he grew up in a musical family, often sitting in on the rehearsals of his dad’s rock band. After enrolling in Morehead State University’s Traditional Music Studies program, he quickly caught the attention of one of his professors, Scott Miller, an old friend of songwriter Phil O’Donnell (George Strait, Craig Morgan).

After Miller made the connection, O’Donnell invited Booth to Nashville, where the two cut his first EP, Self-Titled, released independently in 2017. A couple years later he was featured on legendary duo Brooks and Dunn’s country swing-style ballad, “Lost and Found” on their REBOOT album, and then in 2021 he released his own Grab the Reins EP. Booth has recently toured across the country on his headlining “Real Real Country Tour,” and shared stages with artists such as Darius Rucker, Jon Pardi, Brooks and Dunn, and Cody Johnson. He’s currently opening for Jake Owen’s “Loose Cannon Tour” through the fall.

The entertainer has gained a loyal fanbase through his extensive touring and is also backed by his over 1.1M+ followers on social media. CMT described Booth as, “a country traditionalist with an impressive knack for storytelling” while American Songwriterdeemed him, “An outlaw with the baritone voice, an endearing smile and a flowing mullet,” who “just might prove to be a breath of fresh country air in a world of far too perfectly coifed and filtered country superstars.” Booth will release his Keep It Real EP on September 15.