<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be fooled by the combination of baby\u2011face innocence and \u201cold soul\u201d musical instincts\u2014Ty Myers can command any stage with Texas\u2011football\u2011level swagger. He\u2019s already earned that right.<\/p>\n
Myers has been sharpening his songwriting skills since before the age of 10, which helps explain why his mature, soulful lyrics have already drawn comparisons to icons like John Mayer. At 18, he\u2019s just dropped a new album, Heavy on the Soul,<\/a><\/em> a highly anticipated follow\u2011up to his gold\u2011certified debut, The Select,<\/a> which featured the platinum\u2011selling \u201cEnds of the Earth.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n His music has already surpassed a billion streams, another line on a young r\u00e9sum\u00e9 deeper than many veteran artists. What looks like pure prodigy\u2011level talent might seem like the obvious explanation for his near\u2011overnight rise, but ask Myers why things took off so fast and he might just point to the scarred, once\u2011calcified knee he wrecked on the Texas gridiron as the true catalyst for his faster\u2011than\u2011expected country career.<\/p>\n And for the young athlete who grew up near Austin\u2014home of the Texas Longhorns\u2014he wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a culture here, that even if you\u2019re not expected to play professionally, it\u2019s just a way of life,\u201d Myers says. \u201cIn Texas, there\u2019s just two types of guys: People who play football and people who don\u2019t play football.\u201d<\/p>\n You could say the former high school defensive back left it all on the field before he started leaving young female fans swooning\u2014and having critics label him the \u201cnext face of country music.\u201d Myers chased down a receiver for a touchdown\u2011saving tackle and shredded nearly every ligament in his knee. The moment abruptly ended his football days, but it instantly changed the trajectory of what now looks like an inevitable rise to country stardom.<\/p>\n Even for the \u201cThought It Was Love\u201d<\/a> singer, the speed of his success was a happy surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew my whole life this is what I wanted to do,\u201d he says. \u201cThe only thing was, I didn\u2019t expect it to happen that early. But in a way, I\u2019m so glad it did.\u201d<\/p>\n Surgery, hyperbaric therapy,<\/a> and nearly 12 months of rehab brought his knee back to almost 100 percent. While the two\u2011sport athlete was mentally preparing himself for never stepping on a football or baseball field again, he\u2014and his family\u2014were already two-steps ahead when it came to pivoting to his next chapter. His mother helped him start a TikTok account, and soon his video for his song \u201cTie That Binds\u201d<\/a> became a viral smash. The surge in social media popularity led to label calls, and suddenly future college plans gave way to a packed concert schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cMy plan was to go to Belmont in Nashville, so I could maybe shave off years of grinding on Music Row,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then, thankfully and luckily, this kind of fell into our lap.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, the teenage Texan whose bedroom was once a shrine to both fastballs and fast guitar licks\u2014Nolan Ryan in a Rangers uniform on one wall and guitar icon Stevie Ray Vaughan on another\u2014has successfully swapped shoulder pads for a six\u2011string. Recently, he played the halftime show at the UFL\u2019s Dallas Renegades home opener. \u201cI was so pumped when that offer came through,\u201d he says. \u201cI just like to watch football, and I get to do it as part of my job now.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Myers is gearing up for a pair of simultaneous summer tours. For the first time, he\u2019ll hit the road on his own U.S. headlining run while also stepping into a support role behind one of his idols, Luke Combs, on a massive stadium tour. There, he\u2019ll get a different taste of his football fandom as he takes over stages on some of the sport\u2019s most sacred fields, including Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n He still maintains ties to his football roots, using his old program as a loose template for the strength side of his training. But his conditioning goals are now very different from chasing down receivers. Heavy squats and power cleans have been replaced by traininb that prepares him to cover Combs\u2019 extra\u2011large stage and still belt out each encore with the same energy he had on the opening song.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not CrossFit, but it\u2019s a lot of endurance\u2011type workouts because you\u2019re singing and running around,\u201d he says. \u201cLuke\u2019s stage is huge. It has four mics, so you have to run around during your set and sing, which is a constant workout on the lungs.\u201d<\/p>\n In just three years since his viral music moment, pop culture pundits have been heaping nonstop praise on Ty Myers, calling him a \u201cgenerational talent,\u201d an \u201cundeniable talent\u201d with a voice that \u201chas a weary scrape beyond his years.\u201d<\/p>\n And while songs like \u201cDrinkin\u2019 Alone\u201d and \u201cThought It Was Love\u201d\u2014each with over 100 million streams on Spotify\u2014showcase his musical maturity, Myers is still an 18-year-old at heart who may be just as happy turning his buddies\u2019 stomachs as he is pulling at the heartstrings of some of his fans. All he has to do is pull out the post-op pics of his damaged knee. \u201cAfter they did the surgery, they send you pictures of the inside of your knee while they were working on it,\u201d he says. \u201cI still have them on my phone if I want to gross my friends out.\u201d<\/p>\n As if the pain of that moment weren\u2019t enough, the uploaded images are a permanent reminder of Myers\u2019 final snap on the field. As a sophomore safety, he took an angle and chased down a wide receiver from nearly 30 yards out. The fundamentals were as precise and as well practiced as possible: Myers ran him down, wrapped up, and made the tackle. But as both players went to the ground, the receiver landed awkwardly on him, causing Myers\u2019 knee to buckle inward.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the worst pain for like a minute or two, but then your adrenaline kicks in,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI stood up and was able to walk in a straight line. It was the lateral movement that was impossible. But I started to jog off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with the agony and the strong possibility of severe knee damage, the Texan still held out hope he\u2019d return to the game. Helmet in hand, he says he stood behind his coach until, he says, the coach saved him from himself. \u201cAfter about a minute, [Coach] goes, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019 I said I figured I was gonna go back in the game,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThen he told me to go see the trainer.\u201d Once he headed to the trainer, the severity quickly became clear. Then reality hit in an excruciating way. \u201cThe pain hit me like a ton of bricks,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was always bad. I took some Advil that didn\u2019t work really at all, and then my knee swelled.\u201d<\/p>\nRehab, Hyperbaric Therapy, and a New Life Direction<\/h3>\n