Tyler Farr Brings Nashville to the TCMF

July 16, 2015

He’s a classically trained musician turned country recording artist. What do you get when you combine those two things? You get to hang out with legendary musicians, record a No. 2 country chart single and a brand new album, and you get the honor of being locked up in a glass box.

Meet Tyler Farr, this year's Traverse City Music Festival headliner.

HONEST TUNES

Farr grew up in Missouri, a hometown boy to the core. He sang tenor in the All- State Choir in high school, going on to attend Missouri State University, where he studied voice, but the country-western sound was always on his radar.

"Country's always been my favorite kind of music," Farr said. "And then my mom married George Jones’ guitar player and I got to go on the road with George when he was still alive, just to ride the bus and play guitar and hang out. So I was immersed in country music early on."

Now on his sophomore album, Suffer in Peace (2015 Columbia Nashville), Farr's well into the groove of things and said that this album was far easier to record than his debut set, 2013’s Redneck Crazy.

"Well, I knew more about what I wanted to say on this one and there's more of me on it," he explained. "It's a very honest, real album. I wrote a couple of the songs myself and spent a lot of time looking for the other ones, which were by a bunch of different songwriters, but all of them are songs I could've lived."

EMOTIONAL VIDEOS

Farr’s new single, "Withdrawals," is getting just as much attention for its edgy music video as for the song itself, which on the surface may seem like a message about drug use, but is actually about trying to get through a romantic breakup.

The video for one of Farr’s self-proclaimed favorite songs, "Withdrawls" puts the singer (and his guitar) in a large glass box that gradually fills up with water while he sings.

""˜Withdrawals’ has a lot of angst and tension, and it’s a heartbreak song, so the video couldn’t just be a normal video," he said. "I wanted it to be significant and to stand out."

The shoot for the video started at 7am and ended at 7pm.

"That was a long day made even longer by being in a big box of water with lights glowing over your head," Farr laughed. "That was the most physically taxing thing I’ve done and it was definitely weird, but the producer did a great job of capturing the range of emotions in the song with the video."

LIVE AND LOUD

Another of Farr's favorite tracks from his new album is "Damn Good Friends," a buddy song he recorded with country superstar and longtime pal Jason Aldean. Farr’s also touring on Aldean's current Burn It Down tour.

"Jason was kind enough to put vocals on it for me. It's a good, gritty tune," Farr said, "and now we're all on the road together. We actually just got back from a run overseas in Italy and Spain, where we played for the troops. And I’ll be on tour, mostly with Jason, until the end of this year."

This tour – minus Aldean, who will be playing two shows in California that weekend – will bring Farr to Traverse City.

"I’m definitely looking forward to coming up there," he said. "I look at it as though I'm hosting a big party and putting on a show. And the point of that is to make people leave thinking "˜well now, that’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.’ That's my job as a country music artist."

Tyler Farr will be performing as the closing night headliner of the Traverse City Music Festival at 8:30pm on Sunday, July 26.

THE REST OF THE FEST

Tyler Farr may be the big name at this year’s TCMF, but he’s not the only show in town.

Also appearing July 24-26 are The Journey and The Spragues on Friday, for Retro Night, and the Van Halen tribute band Panama on Saturday.

An entire day’s worth of country music will lead up to Farr’s Sunday night concert, including Missy Zenker starting the show at noon, plus sets by local Levi Britton, and additional performers Fabled Faction, Cliff Cody, Mandi Layne, Ty Bates and Stolen Horses.

The Rock N’ Ride car show and the Battle of the Bands add to the fun. Get the full schedule and snag your tickets ($10-45) a traversecitymusicfestival.com.