Bornin 1995 in Burlington Township, New Jersey, Daniel Gerard Breland, known mononymously as BRELAND, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer celebrated for his innovative fusion of country, hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and soul music. Raised in a musically inclined family, he was deeply influenced by his parents, both ministers and talented vocalists. BRELAND’s musical journey began to gain significant traction with his 2019 single, ‘My Truck,' which garnered widespread attention on social media. The track’s unique blend of country and hip-hop elements propelled it to No. 26 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and earned a platinum certification by January 2021. Following this success, he released two EPs under Bad Realm/Atlantic Records and his debut full-length album, ‘Cross Country' in September 2022, further establishing his reputation as a genre-blending artist.
In October 2024, BRELAND unveiled his EP titled ‘Project 2024,' a deeply personal collection reflecting themes of resilience, family, and self-discovery. The inspiration for this project stemmed from a transformative visit to Selma, Alabama, where his great-grandmother once resided. Witnessing the community’s enduring challenges and unwavering faith profoundly influenced the EP’s narrative. BRELAND described ‘Project 2024' as his “musical agenda,” emphasising creative freedom and expression. The EP showcases his signature genre fusion, incorporating elements of country, hip-hop, soul, and Afrobeats, with tracks like ‘Icing' and ‘Motion' highlighting his innovative approach. We caught up with his to talk all about it as he looks forward to the start of his European tour in Glasgow on May 29th.
Thank you for your time today, Breland, it's nice to re-connect with you again.
No worries, man, hope you are doing well. It's all good.
The big news for us in Europe is that you are coming over very soon – starting in Glasgow on May 29th and finishing in Hamburg on June 12th. How's the tour prep and rehearsals going?
It's been good. We've got some new music for folks and some unreleased music to debut on this tour. It's our first time coming over in a good year and a half and I feel like there has been a lot that has happened between then and now in terms of my development as a performer and the tastes of the audience over in Europe – there's even more Country music and more diverse music that y'all have been exposed to since I was there last.
You've been a frequent here on and off over the last few years – playing shows with Russell Dickerson, co-hosting C2C with Bob Harris – Do you have any specific fond memories of your previous European trips?
Oh there's a bunch! Most of my favourite memories as a performing musician have intersected with my time over in the UK! It's a different experience in Europe and this is no shade to American audiences but I think American audiences sometimes take for granted American artists. It's really easy for them to just focus on the bigger hits that artists have because there is so much Country music available to them here. They don't really do their due diligence with the deeper songs. They can also be a bit like, ‘Hey, what are you going to do to entertain us?' You know?
When I come to the UK I see people showing up early, they buy merch, they learn the deeper songs and the B-sides! There's a different level of appreciation for the fact that we came over there and made them a priority. I always feel really well supported when I play in Europe. Russell Dickerson, C2C, coming over with Shania Twain – they have all been career highlights for me.
The tour is called ‘The Truth Telling Tour.' Can you share a little more about why that is the title of the tour?
I have a song of the same name that we are hopefully putting out soon that we will be playing on this run. Sonically, the direction of the song has been a cool jumping off point for me in working on this next project I'm working on. It felt like a good title.
I think with the UK and Europe – these are audiences that really value a level of vulnerability and honesty from their artists so I always feel an additional responsibility and a freedom to be myself on stage and kinda just tell truths and tell stories that I might not share elsewhere because I know you guys will allow me that freedom and will understand it. I'm at a point in my career where I feel like I can be 100% myself now and I think that's what an audience wants to see – that level of freedom and comfortability.
I've been having a little fun on my Instagram feed dropping a few truths ahead of this release! We have some new music coming down the line as the year progresses and I'm excited for that. I love testing new songs out with good crowds and I feel like I can do that with crowds in the UK and Europe – there are songs that have literally only been released in the past because I have played them in front of a live crowd and it's gone down well. You can post something new on social media and see how that does but then you are relying on algorithms and a bunch of other reasons that it might not work but if you play something for a bunch of people live, in person, you really can't fake that.
You've had quite a quiet 2025 so far compared to last year and I guess that's because you've been working on new music. Last year we had the live album, the Twisters song, the ‘Project 2024' release. I really enjoyed ‘The Project' and songs like ‘Run' and ‘Same Work' – do you have a favourite song from that EP?
Yeah! ‘Same Work' is just one of those songs that has a great message and is based on a true storiy. I got to work with Tenille Townes in writing it and sing with The War and Treaty when recording it so that one will always be special to me. I also think about a song like ‘Motion' from the project that has quite an Afro-beats flavour – it well be the first Country / Afro-beat fusion that there has ever been. I wrote that song in the UK last year on a Korean K-Pop writing trip that I was on, of all things! (laughing) I appreciate all of these songs that I get to put out are special to me in different ways – whether it's the meaning of the song, who I wrote it with or where I was at the time.
‘Icing' is a lot of fun and we've been playing that one out on the road – it's got a big Gospel energy similar to a song like ‘Praise the Lord' and people love hearing that from me. We'll be playing as many of those songs as we can.
You recently hosted the fourth incarnation of ‘Breland and Friends' at the Ryman in Nashville and I noticed that Graham Barham was on the bill. We loved him at C2C this year – he took so much flack for ‘Oil Money' from so many platforms in the States. As somebody who is pushing the boundaries of Country music themselves, does it still disappoint you when you see platforms come out against artists who try and do something a bit different?
Yeah. I mean, look, I don't think every song is meant to be enjoyed by every single person, right? There's songs that come out all the time that I am not the audience for but that does not mean they are bad songs and you don't have to go out of your way to make people who do enjoy the song or even the artist themselves feel bad about themselves.
There were a lot of people who didn't really like ‘My Truck' or some of the other songs that I've put out – maybe they didn't feel it was authentically Country enough to their definition of what Country is and I've dealt with those people the whole of my career, like Graham is. Art is subjective and there is a lot of music, especially if it doesn't fit super-cleanly into one box, out there like that. People just don't understand it or seem willing to live alongside it sometimes. There isn't anything different with Graham's ‘Oil Money' song, fundamentally, to things I've heard from artists like Morgan Wallen or Jelly Roll even and people don't seem to have any problems with them doing it so I don't see why it should be any different for Graham.
One of the reasons I had Graham on the bill for ‘Breland and Friends' this year was because I really love that song! It's super catchy and we both respect the ways in which we are both trying to push the genre forward. I've told him that he has to keep going because if people don't like it it means that you are doing something right – the alternative is that no-one has any opinions on it at all because it just hasn't landed anywhere or said anything different. That's even worse – I'd much rather have a song that was polarising than a song that no-one had any reaction to at all!
You've worked with, toured with and collaborated with such a wide range of artists in your career. Is there someone that you'd like to write a song with that you haven't managed to get into a room with yet?
Yeah – I've never made any music with Bailey Zimmerman and it's funny that you would ask me this question because he literally just texted me a couple of minutes before this call! I think we're just going to hang out but I hope we get to make some music together. We've been friends for a few years now but somehow we've never made any music together! I've got a couple of ideas floating around in terms of what that collab might sound like.
Of all the collaborations you have done – is there one that you look back on think ‘I still can't actually believe I did that'?
Most of them! (laughing) It still blows my mind that I am here and doing this at all! Probably Shania was the one that was the most surprising. She lives out in Europe and she doesn't really collaborate with many people. She's kind of like a mythical creature here in town because she so infrequently comes to Nashville, very intentionally I think. To be one of the few people in town to be able to work with her was very special.
That's not to take anything away from any of the other collabs I've had – Keith Urban was cool – he loves collaborating with new artists and that's something he really prides himself on and that music we made together was special but a lot of other people get to make music with him whereas Shania doesn't do that very often.
Grab tickets to see Breland in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, London, Amsterdam, Cologne and Hamburg right here.
