Taylor Austin Dye is a rising country music star who is taking Nashville and beyond by storm with her authentic and hard-hitting music.

The Kentucky native is not shy about what she writes about and that is a huge part of what makes her so appealing as an artist! There’s no sugar coating when it comes to TAD (Taylor Aston Dye). She has lived and breathed most of these stories and it’s artists like her that truly put the meaning behind ‘Music is a healer’.

TAD just released her most recent single Poison In The Well accompanied by a fun-lovin’ video that she is always so good at creating. With TAD’s music videos, you really get an insight into to what the songs are really about! The lyrics already paint a picture but the videos give you the front row view into what these real life experiences look like!

If you haven’t got on board with TAD and are not yet one of her Ride or Dyes then please do check out her music. Not only is her music a healer lyrically for its difficult content, but she also has a wonderful way to make those stories have a bit of wit behind them!

We caught up with Taylor Austin Dye to discuss her music and the stories behind the difficult topics, her fanbase (Ride or Dyes), what it was like moving to Nashville as a new artist and more!

Enjoy!

Hi Taylor – how are you?

I am good! We just drove 19 hours for a show!

Oh wow! I appreciate you doing this after driving all those hours!

Oh no it’s fine, we’re glad to be here now

Where are you now?

North Dakota

How has your week been, you said you are having a show tonight so have you been touring all week?

It’s been great, actually I have been in the studio for the first half of the week, just getting ready to put out some new music, record some songs.

Oh nice! So you have been driving in Lt Van right?

Yes haha we have, putting the miles on him.

Aww. Is he a kitted out van? All poshed up?

Oh it’s great, honestly it’s like a 2018 Chevy Express, it’s got 4 seats in the back, it’s great! It gets us where we need to go, it’s got a radio and air conditioning so that’s all that matters to us.

And something we don’t have here in a lot of cars, and homes for that matter, is air conditioning.

Oh my gosh, we definitely need it, it gets so hot in the summer.

A hot day here is probably a cold day for you

That’s true

I have been listening to your music a lot and am loving it! I was sold immediately just on that one line “It all starts with the whisper on the devils telephone”

Oh yeah from ‘Poison in the well’!

Yes! I love being gripped from an intro

Oh thank you so much, I appreciate that, it’s one of my favourite lines that I’ve written actually!

One of best friends Nicole Croteau she came to me with the idea of ‘Poison In The Well’ and we kind of started talking about what that could mean in different contexts. We had written a ton together for over a year now and they (Nicole and Chris Utley) didn’t know a lot about me and my history so I started telling them about my hometown and the rumour mill and the place where you get all your gossip is the diner right in the middle of town! Everyone goes there in the morning for breakfast and they all catch up on the gossip. So we kind of decided to make this poison in the well kind of centred around that rumour mill. It’s kind of like the game of telephone when you tell one person one thing and then it gets changed and by the time it gets to the end of the line it’s a completely different story and how harmful that can really be and detrimental to people’s reputations.

That rumour mill in the diner, I can’t even imagine living in that environment. I live in what I would describe as a small town but I hardly know anyone that lives here haha!

Oh really?

Yeah, and I have lived here for about 15 years and I don’t even know everyone who lives on my road. I could pass them by many times and swear I have never seen them before haha!

Oh wow! That’s funny!

So everyone really knows each other?

Oh yeah of course. I could go through my town and name every person that lives in every house and name their mum and dad and brothers and sisters and kids. They really do know everybody!

I forget my direct neighbours name all the time!

Hahahaha! That seems nice though!

I guess we are a bit reserved here but then I can’t talk for every small town across the UK and I think there must be towns here that are so small that everyone knows each other. I guess it’s also what my definition of small town is compared to others.

Your music in general, you deal with a lot of difficult topics which is important and there’s no greater genre to do that in than country music. You don’t hide it, you say it!

Oh yeah, I think that’s important. There are these stories that need to be told and it doesn’t matter if they’re not clean enough or a good enough topic for country music radio. For me, I just want to tell the story!

Yes and we appreciate that! Some of the best songs are the ones that country radio won’t play! Look at Kacey Musgraves

I agree!

We aren’t shy to play anything over here on radio and we love our women in country music!

I have noticed that we have been getting some radio play over in the UK and Europe in general. That has been exciting to see. We have been charting over there a couple of times, I think we do have a good fanbase over there!

Oh definitely. I mean I am late to the party, I followed you and saw so many mutual friends already did and realised just how late to the game I was.

Hahaha I am glad you’re here now, that’s all the matters.

A song that I am really loving is ‘Rest In Peace’, It instantly reminded me of Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Café with the whole who dunnit? But also who really cares because he deserved it!

We actually didn’t have that in mind but now that you say that, it’s kind of interesting!

Yeah, no I didn’t think it was influenced by it but I just loved finding my interpretation of it! The video is so exciting! I love the song and video which is such a funny thing to say about a murder ballad and video haha!

You know it’s funny because we always end our show with it, that’s kind of our finale song and people go crazy for it. You’re literally singing about killing a guy and people are so enthusiastic about it which is always funny to me to hear everybody screaming it back to me.

Who doesn’t love singing about killing a bad guy? I want to say it’s relatable but don’t worry, it isn’t haha, I haven’t killed anyone!

Yeah I hope it’s not relatable haha but I guess there is someone that we all want to get a hold of you know?

I am loving all the comments from fans and people who have just discovered your music for the first time. It’s an amazing amount on YouTube of people, especially women who are thanking you for speaking out on topics such as domestic violence, and people realising they are in a toxic relationship and are finding the strength through your music to find a way out of that.

As a songwriter and artist you kind of want to connect with people and I always say that if I write a song and it helps one person then that is good enough for me!

And that’s a beautiful attitude to have!

It does feel good to me to be that kind of person that someone needs in a dark time. I am glad to do it!

Country music is one of the few genres that do that. I have also been listening a lot to ‘Bible Belt’ which I believe is one of your favourite songs that you have done?

It is yeah! It hits real close to home. That one is about a hooker in my hometown and it’s told from the perspective of her daughter who is hoping one day that she can break the cycle of doing what her mum has to do. I don’t know if it is a problem in your area but in Eastern Kentucky the opioid crisis is absolutely insane. It’s something I have grown up watching firsthand from people close to me even just being addicted to pills and they have kids and they get addicted and the cycle is never ending. That song is a nod to that and how everyone is so judgmental of those people when they just don’t understand the situation of these kids that they have been put in.

Yeah it’s something that I haven’t experienced but of course know it goes on. It’s a beautiful music video too, really emotional!

‘The Green Truck’ is another song that stands out – is that based on reality?

Basically what had happened, my dad passed away and we did not have a great relationship, especially towards the end of his life. I went in for a write exactly a week after he passed because I was just trying to treat everything as normal and go on with my life in a way. I got to the write and my co-writer said that he had this idea about a green truck that his dad used to drive and I was like “oh my gosh, my dad used to drive a green truck” they were both Fords and we kind of meshed our stories together. So some of it’s from his childhood about how his dad was absent and then some if it is “your dad’s not the best, he doesn’t really treat your mum good” it’s like this whole mesh story between me and Richie (Sessions). It’s based on true events.

I am sorry about his passing and that you didn’t have a great relationship! It’s all too common unfortunately.

It is and it’s sad but I have come to terms with it now and actually writing those songs have definitely helped me in a way and getting to connect with other people live. The band leaves the stage in this song and it’s just a really intimate and acoustic moment! A lot of people come to me after the show and tell me how they have connected to this song. Hearing that you’re not going through it alone has definitely been helpful for me.

It’s interesting that you say that because I as a listener find music healing and that songs have helped me as it’s helpful finding someone else who has been through it but I never really thought about how fans telling the artist they have been through it too is actually healing for them!

It helps all around, it’s a whole full circle thing. It helps me to write it, it helps people to hear it and then it helps me to hear people tell these stories. I mean even the same with ‘Rest In Peace’ and ‘Bible Belt’, there are all these people telling their stories back to me and it’s so healing in a way!

I have noticed, now that I have joined your fan group Facebook page ‘Ride or Dyes’, that you include a lot of your Ride or Dyes in your music videos?

Yes! I have a lot of opportunities for fans to make an appearance in my music videos. I actually just shot one last week for ‘Poison in the Well’. I put a cattle call out for my ride or dyes and 21 showed up for the video and they all got to take part in the video.

That’s amazing!

We are really excited about that. I always like to give the opportunity to involve my fans any way that I can, it’s really important to me.

That is really kind! I do love that and it makes the community so strong and what I love about solid fanbases like yours is how it helps build friendships amongst each other.

Oh we have people that have just met through my music and now they are travelling together to see me, they stay in hotel rooms, they’re going out for dinner, celebrating birthdays together, it’s just become a huge family!

That’s really nice and I hope that Ride or Dye family gathering can stretch across to the UK when you come over here one day!

Oh we want to so much!

Because I read somewhere that you wanted to come over this year?

We were hoping to, I don’t know if it’s going to happen this year or not. If I get the opportunity we would absolutely love to! There haven’t been any opportunities come up so far with my booking agency.

So you know about C2C Festival!

Yes but I don’t know if I’m big enough to play there yet!

Oh you are! It isn’t just the main stage at C2C, the whole weekend in London has various stages across the O2 Arena that artists who are at different stages of their career play! We discover so many new artists during C2C weekend so you are absolutely big enough and I know the C2C attendees would love to have you! There is a die hard fanbase here just waiting for you!

Good! I hope we get to come!

Back to the music! Your album ‘Out of These Hills’ is great, please tell us about the album.

‘Out of These Hills’ is obviously the first line in the song ‘Bible Belt’ so it kind of was inspired by that but it also has kind of a double meaning. The stories and songs come out of these hills I lived in growing up and kind of mean that I was able to get out these hills, moved to Nashville and followed my dreams. The songs came from out of these hills and I also got out of these hills.

Some of my other favourite songs from that album is ‘Tempt The Devil’ and ‘She’s Superman’! I would love to know more about ‘She’s Superman’ if that’s ok?

Oh yeah that is super special to a lot of people. Just because whether you’re a single mum or not, mums kind of have this whole weight of the world on their shoulders and somehow they don’t feel appreciated or what have you. I just wanted to write a song for all the mums who are doing it all and let them know that their kids love them and appreciate them.

Well as a mum, not a single mum but as a stay at home mum, thank you! We can all say that even though some of us aren’t single mums, it can feel like that sometimes when your husband is at work and you have no support network.

Exactly! That’s kind of what I wanted to encapsulate in that song.

Was it important to put it as the album closer?

Yeah! Most of the album is kind of rockin’ and has a lot of big production but that song is really simple and stripped down and I thought it was a nice, simple and happy closing to the album to wrap it up!

I agree!

When you moved to Nashville, I know you had visited there before you moved, but as a working artist, what was it like living there for the first time?

It was crazy actually the way that I first started playing Broadway! I don’t know if you’re familiar with Broadway but it’s just a bunch of bars up and down the street and there is live music all day from 10am to 3am. So I go down for a talent search. They happen to be having this talent search in Margaritaville which is a bar down there. I think I ended up getting second place but the manager that booked the music for Margaritaville was there and they approached me after the show and asked if I would like a full time position playing there. So that was kind of what made me have the confidence to make the leap from Kentucky to Nashville and from then I started playing all the time. I was playing like ten shows a week. Those are four hour sets so I was kind of burning my voice out but I got so much great experience doing that and learning how to work the crowds, deal with the drunk people because if you don’t make your tips, you don’t make your rent. I always tried to interact with the crowd and it really taught me a lot about stage presence.

Four hours?????

Four hours at a time yeah! Sometimes I would work doubles and sometimes I would even work triples which was yeah, 12 hours of singing a day which is horrible. A lot of artists do it, it’s a grind but I was fortunate, it’s been my only job since I moved to Nashville. I did clean Air B&B’s during covid a little bit but I have been fortunate enough that thats been my only steady source of income so I have just been able to really grind it out and work hard for it.

Wow, that is amazing! Here I am thinking Taylor Swift doing three hours is a lot but my goodness. Much respect to you!

How do you put a set list together for shows like that? Do you have to include covers? Improvise?

Yeah that’s really important if you can do things on the fly because you’ve got someone about to hand you 20 dollars for a song that you kind of know. You’ve got to be able to kind of pull it out your ass in a sense and make it happen. You learn how to do stuff on the fly.

You have just been announced to play CMA Fest on the Hard Rock Stage…

I have!! It’s going to be my first time playing that stage and we are really excited about it!

Silly questions now – how many tattoos do you have? If you don’t mind my asking of course?

You know what? I don’t know!! I stopped counting around 25!!! Probably got 30 maybe? I don’t know hahah. It could be anywhere between 30 and 40 I don’t know haha!

Do you remember your first tattoo?

Yes! When I turned 18, I got the outline of a guitar on the back of my neck. I had to think about it because I can’t see that one and I forget that I have it haha! So when I have my hair up and someone is like “my gosh what’s that on your neck?” It’s like a little reminder! I started getting them when I was 18 and I have always loved body art as long as I can remember. I particularly love the American traditional black and white style. I found a guy who has been doing my tattoos since I started getting them. I am really loyal to him and he’s like a brother to me now! He knows what I like! Even one day, I went in there and I didn’t know what I wanted and I just told him “hey, give me a tattoo today” and he did a cowboy hat!

I love your fashion sense – where do you shop?

I pretty much strictly shop vintage. I don’t think I have bought anything new in a long time. I do thrift stores, I do vintage shops, vintage markets and get stuff from the 80’s and 90’s. I source everything vintage, it’s ethically great but I also just really loved the style back then, so it goes both ways. Even the vintage t-shirts, I’m super into those.

Thanks for bringing those styles back, the 80’s were always looked at as a joke fashion wise!

Oh I think it’s all about how you style it. The 80’s was an interesting time for fashion but you can take some of those pieces and really make them you and make them today or even make them modern. It’s always better quality than the new stuff anyway!

Thank you so much for taking with me today Taylor and I hope we get to see you in the UK soon, your fan base is waiting!

Thank you and I hope so too!

Taylor was so much fun to talk with as she has so much to talk about with her very interesting life and brilliant music. Before I knew it, I had taken up 30 minutes of her time! I truly appreciate her generosity! We here at BOON really hope that she can make a trip across the pond to the UK soon, we know she has a fanbase here and that the UK country fans will fully embrace her! Let’s hope it happens soon!