Bryce Leatherwood
“I want people listening to walk away knowing country music is not going anywhere,” he says. “Country music’s here. The next generation’s here – people who believe in country music. Let’s do this thing.”
Injecting new vitality into the country tradition, 24-year-old Mercury Nashville talent Bryce Leatherwood is a next generation traditionalist plugged firmly into the modern mainstream, with all the hallmarks of a rising star. But while he’s come a long way in a short time, the singer-songwriter won’t forget his raising.
“My music is a true representation of where I came from,” he says with simple pride. “The early times in my life are my most fond memories, and really, I guess my life now is a translation of that. I want to live it every day, so I go and write it, I go and sing it when I’m on the road. It’s just about keeping a connection to that place.”
Gifted with a stop-you-in-your-tracks vocal and the warm, rumbling twang of his Woodstock, Georgia roots, that connection to home gives Leatherwood a deep reverence for the past – and also an open mind about what comes next. Now chasing a dream that began in the eighth grade when his father handed over a much loved Greatest Hits CD by Conway Twitty, much has changed, but some things have stayed exactly the same.
Solidifying his country-music obsession while bumping along in an old pickup on his granddad’s farm, legends like George Jones, Merle Haggard and Conway Twitty crooned through fuzzy speakers, with their passion and conviction striking a chord. Those idyllic days set the stage for all that has followed. “There are a lot of influences in my life – but you can’t hide the voice,” Leatherwood says. “It’s going to come out country no matter what.”
Attending college in Statesboro, Georgia, it would be years before he discovered his own formidable voice. Leatherwood finally put it to use in 2021 (just four short years ago), forming a band and booking local gigs to pair country covers with flashes of his love for Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Allman Brothers Band and more. Soon, his booming vocal pushed the band out on to the Southeastern tour circuit, and as graduation neared, a fork in the road loomed. Enthralled with the rush of the stage and beginning to write his own songs, the future star could either put down his guitar and go get a job, or take a less-traveled route. He submitted his name for NBC’s The Voice soon after.