Gareth has been making waves in the industry, recently signing a publishing deal with BMG and releasing his single ‘Last Thing I Do' via Walk Off Entertainment. His new song, ‘Quiet In This House,' (co-written with Shay Mooney from Dan+Shay) was written as his family prepared for their first visit to his new home in Nashville.
Born and raised in Castlederg, Northern Ireland, Gareth has gained significant traction with his unique blend of Irish folk and country storytelling. His breakthrough came in 2024 with a viral cover of Noah Kahan’s ‘Stick Season,' which amassed over 25 million views and 15 million streams. This success led to his projects Covers (From Across the Pond) and his debut original EP ‘Changing Seasons.'
Signing with BMG marks a major milestone for Gareth, setting the stage for the next chapter of his career. “I feel very fortunate to be in such great hands at BMG,” he said. “They see my vision as a songwriter and artist, and I’m ready to get to work.” You will be able to see and hear Gareth play at the C2C festival in London next week and he's just been announced as support for Kip Moore's upcoming UK tour in May as well. We were thrilled to catch up with him to talk all about it.
Thanks for speaking to us today Gareth, how's things?
Really good – my family just flew into Nashville from Ireland last night. My brother and his girlfriend are staying at my place and my parents are staying in an AirB&B – were gonna have a fun weekend. No-one but mum and dad has been to Nashville before so I'm their guide for the weekend! (laughing) It'll be a culture shock for them!
You're making your debut at the C2C festival in London very soon. Tell me how excited you are about that?
Yeah, man, it's going to be sick. I've been there as a fan for years and we can't wait to play it, it's so cool. We're playing the Berlin C2C first and then Rotterdam and then we'll be coming in to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday in London.
The big one will be playing the Indigo Stage on the Sunday, which is great. It's just going to be me and my guitar player, he's from England but he lives in Nashville now as well. Whilst I'm over there I'm going to be writing some new music and prepping for the headline tour, which starts in April – I've only just moved out here to Nashville in January but I'll be spending March and April back in Europe and the UK!
Moving to Nashville can be quite overwhelming. How have you coped with it?
It's been great. I didn't ever think I would make the move because leaving family was such a big thing for me. I've never been independent from them before or not had them around to rely on for these first 25 years of my life but I'm loving it so far. I live in West Nashville, which is about 15-20 minutes out of Downtown Broadway.
It's not full on hectic – it's in the city, but not IN the city, if you get me? I've got a car now and all my team, my manager and everybody, are out here too so I've got a good foundation and support network here.
For people who are new to you or people who see you for the first time at C2C – can you tell me a little bit about your journey to where you are today?
Originally I started doing gigs back home in bars in Northern Island when I was 14 years old. Some nights were fun and some nights there were less than 5 people in the whole place! It was a humbling experience, I can tell you that! (laughing)
I've spent all my time playing covers in bars until about, literally, 18 months ago. Since then it's been crazy. I started posting videos online a few years ago but nothing really caught on until I dropped my cover of ‘Stick Season' by Noah Kahan in January 2024. That cover went crazy viral and I followed it up with a cover of ‘Coal' by Dylan Gossett which also exploded. It got about 20 million views. People started contacting me, asking me to write songs – I hadn't written a song until last March!
My first few writing sessions were in London and I was lucky to get in a room with some really big hit songwriters straight away. A lot of the first songs I ever wrote went on to form my ‘Changing Seasons' EP and then I signed with BMG publishing in November, announced it in January. They have been great to me, both over in London and in Nashville too.
We got the C2C festival in March, my headline tour in April and we'll also be playing The Long Road festival in August too. It's going to be such fun – I'm bringing the full band over for the headline tour and the Long Road festival. It's been crazy how fast the last year has gone! (laughing) My life has changed so much, crazy.
It's a classic rags-to-riches story! What a whirlwind!
Yeah, man, especially when you consider I've gone from playing to 5 people in a bar to being out on tour with Chayce Beckham! We were playing rooms around the 2,500 mark and they were all full! I've got another announcement coming this week which is also huge, that's going to be amazing. (Gareth was announced as support on the Kip Moore UK tour for May soon after this interview.) I love playing live, it's my favourite thing to do.
Country music has had a bigger presence in Ireland and Northern Island, arguably, for a longer time than it has in England but a lot of homegrown artists don't tend to cross over into the American market but you're doing it – why do you think that is?
I don't know. I think I was lucky to post the right videos online at the right time, so they went viral, which is really out of anybody's control, right? I was trying to be very unique, so I think that helps. I want to stay true to my roots and who I am so you won't find me writing songs about trucks or dirt roads – I'm from Northern Island so I write stuff that is Country but it's not American southern Country, it's Country where it fits in a space that is global. My music is not localised to Ireland or about life in America either, I want my songs to have a message that anyone in the world can relate to.
That's going to keep you both authentic and unique…….
That's my goal. The song that we've just dropped recently, ‘Quiet in this House,' I co-wrote with Shay Mooney from Dan + Shay. It also features Tofer Brown who is a great writer – the song is literally about a phone call between myself and my mum about me missing home and her missing me. I feel like that is the type of song that anyone can relate to, no matter where you are in the world.
You know ahead of time that you are going into a room with someone like Shay Mooney. How do you stop yourself from getting imposter syndrome?
Man, it's crazy. I've been a huge fan of Dan + Shay for years. I think I've seen them on every tour of the UK that they've done and it was crazy that Shay literally hit me up when I was writing in London and said ‘Let's write together!' He said he was a big fan of my voice so I said that I was coming to Nashville in June and we got a session set up! For someone with so much success, Shay is so down to earth and everyone is like that out here in Nashville, it's crazy! You can't underestimate just how nice people out here in Nashville are – you expect all the stars and people with success to be all stuck up and aloof but that couldn't be further from the truth.
I really enjoyed listening to your ‘Changing Seasons' EP, particularly the title track. There's some powerful lyrics and messages abut male mental health in that song. Tell me about the inspiration behind writing it.
That song was written in my second ever writing session. I went and said that I wanted to write a song focusing on men's mental health – there's definitely been a stigma around that that is changing right now. I wanted to send a message in a song and it was a good introductory EP for people to begin to see who I am. I've had some nice messages at shows and online from guys who have said how much that the song has helped them, which is really cool.
Which of the songs that you've released so far are you the most proud of?
I would say alongside ‘Changing Seasons' it would be ‘Quiet in This House.' I love the message in that song between me and my mum, we've always been very close so this move to Nashville has been hard on both of us but it is also something that all parents and children can relate to. Mum broke down in tears when she first heard the song so I think it might resonate with mum's everywhere!
We had producer Zach Crowell work on ‘Quiet in This House' and he really took me under his wing last year so we've got more songs on the way with him as writer and producer coming out this year. He's a great guy and the music is just going to get better and better.
You've mentioned covering ‘Stick Season' and ‘Coal.' I also thought your cover of ‘She Will Be Loved' was great too. If you were putting together another covers EP now which song would be in contention for your to cover?
That's tough! I always spend ages figuring out which songs that I should cover and post. (laughing) I wouldn't mind doing The Fray's ‘How to Save a Life.' I'm a big fan of theirs. It's important to find the ones that fit my voice the best so the stuff that I automatically lean towards is music from the 2000's which is what I was listening to growing up. You know, so that's why I covered Nickelback, The Calling, Maroon 5, right?
Thankfully all the producers and players that I am working with know how to make this sound as good as it does. It's been such a fun thing to do.
You've mentioned being over here for C2C, you headline tour, (the Kip Moore tour) and The Long Road festival. What else is on the schedule for the rest of 2025?
In terms of music I want to drop a new song every four to six weeks, to keep feeding people new music. Hopefully that will then build up to a full album release. We're trying to plan some American shows for the Autumn so it's going to be year full of me playing live music, which I love. I'm hoping that this year can be even bigger than last year, that's all you can ask for.
Check out Gareth at the C2C festival: Download the official C2C app to get all of his exact set times. Tickets for his April UK tour are here.
