Tristan Horncastle is a Canadian country artist known for his energy boosting sets at Calgary Stampede. Growing up, Horncastle had always dreamed of performing on the infamous Nashville North stage and now, all these years later, the Nashville North stage welcomes him back every year as part of the family.

After navigating some tough years of almost getting his big break, Horncastle took some time out from releasing music. This year, he’s back with his new music and latest single, ‘Closer Than We Think’. During the second half of the iconic Calgary Stampede, Horncastle and I sat down to talk about his experience with the industry, what it’s like to do four back-to-back days at Stampede and where his journey is taking him next.

OK, so you just came off your set. It’s Friday, we’re on day 8…how is it out there?

It’s amazing. Yeah. They call this The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth and as a kid growing up, I always wanted to come to Calgary, and I didn’t really have anything to come for except just someday come and take it in.
And then I started playing music – when I was 11, I got my first guitar.

What guitar was it?

It was a Segal (?) made in Quebec Canada about five hours from home and I just took lessons for a year – I didn’t really learn anything from the guy, he was more into showing me what he could do. So, I just learned from my uncle. I learned three chords from my uncle and I went from there.

That is the country story isn’t it.

Yeah! And just campfires and I met my wife – we’ve been together for fifteen years – I met her basically around a campfire with friends and family and they kind of pushed me to pursue my dream. And this was always what I wanted to do, so they pushed me hard for it, so I ended up starting a band in 2008 called Southern Drive and it’s just been a whirlwind ever since. I had a guy from back in PEI move to Alberta and started an entertainment company and he heard three songs that I’d recorded just live off the floor and he called me up and was calling me Ronnie Dunn from Brooks and Dunn.

Wow. What an accolade!

Yeah. And I was like, who are you? Anyway, he explained, and he flew me to Alberta for two weeks to see the scene and wanted to start working with me. They kind of hooked me up with a label that came out to watch me during CCMAs and we ended up doing a deal. I did my first record in 2014, released it and had a top 40 Canadian single on radio – my first single – and yeah kind of went from there.
Stuff with the label kind of turned sour at the end. I did my last record in 2016 and in 2017 I took a step back.

Yeah – I saw that you have 2016 and then a big old break

Yeah so, I basically stepped away from the label, found some greasy stuff that they were doing. I had taken a loan to do my 2016 album, and the interest turned out that from 2015 until about three months ago I paid $900 a month. It was pretty rough for a couple of years. I have a 15-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy that, you know, I have kids to feed it was a hard go for a while.

Then I got signed with a management company out in Nashville. I went to Nashville, and we cut four new singles, and then they pitched me to Warner Canada. They contacted back like we love the four singles, we’ve picked two to put to radio, we want to fly him to Toronto to play for the staff, sign a deal and I’m like, nine years finally it’s coming. So that was supposed to be March 24th… March 13th COVID hit and shut everything down.
Anyway, so we got an email from them that basically you know, everything was shut down and on hold. When things started coming back around, they worked from home, they cut all genres basically in half with staff and so yeah, that’s kind of where it dead ends.
It was in arm’s reach, so that was tough. Then I just kind of took a back seat for a while, still played lots of shows at home and around the provinces and I’ve been here seven years at Calgary Stampede.

Seven years! Wow.

Yeah! And three years in they just loved us so much, it’s like a little family here.

It does seem that way. And you see the times of like four o’clock, five o’clock like opening the show and you might think like no one will be there…it’s packed. Every day.

I know it’s insane. It’s like a 2pm to 2am tent.
So yeah, seven years and they’ve told me it’s my gig as long as I want it.

I love that. I like the loyalty and they you all look after each other. How does the crowd change each year – or does it?

It doesn’t, they’re just always wild. And I’ve said that like I mean, I’m 38 years old now and I can remember being 20-30 years old and being like yeah straight up partying!

You never did Stampede before you played?

No, no.

So, you didn’t really know what to expect?

No. I think we were out here for CCMAs and some other shows, and it worked out that I got a set to play Nashville North. The stage used to be in a different spot, and it just went really well and everyone here was like, wow that was an amazing set and I was just so taken by it. I asked to come back the next year and I was with the booking agency then and then we parted ways so I was like, probably going to lose Stampede but Adam, the head dude here privately emailed me and was like we would love to have you back at Stampede and I was like – I was pretty much in tears – and I replied to him like man, you have no idea.

How do you bring the energy each night because you’re here for four days? What do you do look after yourself to bring that fire every day?

Definitely the bigger the crowd the better. We’ve had days at four o’clock sets where there might be 100 people in front of the stage and the people at the back just sitting, listening, which is very nice too because you can’t make any mistakes then. I mean when you get 5000 people in that tent, jammed, all they want is that kick drum (taps his feet) that’s all they want, but it’s kind of nice to have that little crowd because they’re listening.
The big thing I learnt the first two years, having so much fun and partying and meeting people and so many of these – points to his beer – by day three I was like losing my voice, I was horse – the air at home to here is night and day. So, we have humidity at home – there’s no humidity here. It’s dry. My first two years here I couldn’t breathe, I was so stuffed up. So, after year 2, I learned that a pile of those waters, and lots of sleep is my thing. Six or seven pm set here kind of puts me to 11-12 o’clock, that’s loads for me, and then it’s back to sleep. As long as I have tonnes of fluids in me, I’m fine.

And how do you decide which songs are going to hit?

It’s kind of a gamble. The big thing now is I’m so old school country that I would play George Jones and Alan Jackson all night long and they’ll eat it right up. The big thing now is the young crowd is so into the new stuff. And nothing against it, but I feel that country has changed so much, I don’t even know if you can really call it country anymore.

I love this conversation because I feel like part of being in country – fan, media, musician – is this teeny tiny debate about what is or isn’t country and how far we can stretch the parameters of what constitutes as country and some people are so passionate about it.

Yeah, for me, for here, I used to bring my guitar player with me, but flights are so expensive and by the time you pay everybody to fly, it’s so easy for me to hire guys here. For me, a true country setting stage, with me as a four piece out there, I would have one more lead guitar, a steel guitar and a fiddle. And to me, there’s no other country way around it. There’s no steel barely in stuff – there’s some, like, Jon Pardi is bringing steel back, you know there’s some older stuff starting to come back. And we’ve had so many bands that we’ve opened for, and they’ll come up to us like you guys are a four piece? You sound like there’s six players up there.
I’m so thankful for these guys – my bass player, that was his twentieth set this week. So, he plays for the other girl who just did the two sets before [CHECK NAME] and the closing show.
Alan Jackson is my all-time favourite. Brett Mason [CHECK] is his guitar player and my guitar player today, Dustin, reminds me of him like same style he’s got a telecaster and I just think that’s where country is at.

Your latest song, ‘Closer Than You Think’, I love the line that’s like, ‘chasing dreams that are closer than you think’. What was the inspiration behind that song?

Just kind of where I’ve been in my life. Just starting out with this is what I always wanted to do, I always told myself I would never get screwed over by a label – that happened – and then I guess it’s just always been my dream. But I don’t think I would have pushed it if my wife hadn’t been there pushing me and she just, she was like ‘you need to go do this’ and I owe everything – she’s been like no ifs ands or buts, you’re doing it. It’s hard for me at times like how do I even keep going?

My two favourite questions to ask people are: favourite song to perform and hardest song to write.

Ooh. My favourite song to perform would be…it’s a tough one…there’s one I’ve been doing for years by Travis Tritt called Driving Her Country. We started our second set with it. It’s just a full blown, southern rock, country. One of the guys in the band who is playing now, apparently, he came backstage while we were performing and was like ‘holy shit I thought Travis Tritt was here’.

Is that because you enjoy it or because it gets the crowd going?

I really enjoy it and it also gets the crowd going.

What’s your favourite song of yours to perform?

Favourite song of mine to perform is probably You Want. It’s a song I cut by Randy Hauser. We opened for him here and we opened for him in Big Valley Jamboree.

Hardest song to write, I’m going to go with the one I just wrote. I’ve been probably three or four years writing it. It’s about my wife and it’s called ‘The Richest Man Alive’ and it has nothing to do with money.

Has she heard that song yet?

Yes. I played it for the first time probably two months ago around the fire. That’s just been one – I’ve tried so hard for so long to write it and then one night I went out and it just spilled out. I’d get a line and I’d be like ah I really like that, and I’d just say the next line. It was so weird. It’s just all about being the richest man alive but nothing to do with money because of everything she’s given me and the kinds.

That’s beautiful – and they say about being the girl in a country song. That’s the girl in the country song you want to be. When is it coming out?

I need to go record it but I have one single right now I’m probably going to register in the next week and then six weeks from now it’ll be out. It’s called ‘People Drinking Beer’ and it’s really cool. It’s got a great hook, a good jive to it.

Can you sum up Stampede in three words?

Wild times. Yahoo. It’s not a Yeehaw…

What is your must have item in your bag for a first time Stampeder?

Deodorant. It’s so darn hot here.

Have you tried any of the weird food this year?

I’m waiting to go try the cheeseburger ice cream but last night I went for a piece of pizza and they had dill pickle pizza. It was actually delightful it was really cheesy, it had some parmesan garlic in it and the dill pickles were delightful – you have to do it!

Do you have anything you’d like to say to your fans in the UK?

Absolutely. I hope I get to come there some day, I hope I get to play on the radio over there. Supposedly a few of my singles have played in the UK. My last name ‘Horncastle’ on my dad’s side and my mum’s name ‘Chase’ both go back to Scottish roots – I think it’s meant to be. They say Calgary Stampede is The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth and I would have to attest to that.

Tristan Horncastle has an infectious energy both on and off the stage. His voice and presence ensure the crowd is having a great time and he continues to make everyone feel welcome and part of the family backstage, too.
With a turbulent few years behind him, Horncastle has definitely got both the experience and the resilience – along with the talent – to make sure his next chapter is a successful one.