Nineteen-year-old Bayker Blankenship from Livingston, Tennessee, is quickly becoming one of country music’s most exciting rising stars. In just a few whirlwind months, Bayker has gone from playing small hometown gigs to signing his first record deal and making waves across the country music scene with his breakout single, ‘Maxed Out.'
‘Maxed Out' has been a game-changer for Bayker, propelling him into the spotlight at an astonishing speed. The single hit #2 on the Spotify Viral charts, climbed to #43 on Apple Country, and inspired over 100,000 TikTok creations, earning him widespread recognition. With over 40 million streams in just a few months, Bayker’s infectious energy and relatable lyrics have resonated with fans far and wide, cementing his place as a new voice in country music.
Fans are drawn not only to Bayker’s talent but also to his bright personality and warm heart, which shine through in his music and social media presence. His debut EP ‘Younger Years' released in July 2024, further showcased his range and depth as an artist. Featuring heartfelt storytelling and catchy melodies, the EP accumulated over 4 million streams in its first week, solidifying Bayker as far more than a one-hit wonder. He's also heading to Europe in March to play a series of shows that culminates in a Spotlight Stage appearance at the prestigious Country to Country festival in London, Glasgow and Belfast. We caught up with him to talk all about it.
Great to talk to you today Bayker, thank you for your time.
Oh, absolutely dude, thank you. We're just getting ready to head out on tour tomorrow! We're scrambling everywhere, going over the checklist 400 times, making sure we've got everything, you know? (laughing)
What an amazing 2024 you had – the year must have exceeded your expectations by some way?
Oh boy, it definitely exceeded my expectations for sure! (laughing) I never thought I'd be going from playing in little bars to be travelling to Europe in a couple of months! It blows my mind to think about it.
Did you have time to soak in the different milestones and things that happened or did the year pass in a blur?
I didn't get as much time to do that as I wanted, there was definitely a ‘blur aspect' to last sure, yeah. All I have now are videos to go back and watch because the year passed so quickly.
Was there one thing that you did or that happened to you that sticks in your mind as being the coolest thing that happened last year?
Oh man! At the beginning of the year I had bought tickets to see a band I like called Ole 60. I went and watched the show and on December 29th I got to play a writers round with Jacob Young, the lead singer. That was cool. After the concert I'd talked to the band and said that I hoped to open for them one day and here I was sharing the stage by the end of the year.
Opening for Willie Nelson was also a pretty big highlight. I got to come home and tell my dad that I played with one of the legends he listened to growing up. As many people as I met last year, I can't imagine how many it's going to be this year – I'm excited to get out there and start doing it.
‘Maxed Out' was really huge for you in terms of getting everything going. Tell me about the inspiration behind that song and the impact it had on your career.
I'd been writing songs and playing shows and I'd met a guy, Trevor (Daniels), through my brother, Jarrid. He was a guitarist. We got together in the midst of it all and just tried to get something down on paper at first. All of a sudden we were halfway through ‘Maxed Out' I started to think we might have something right there. I brought it home and worked on it – I wanted to write a love song – tinkered with it on an old Alvarez guitar and posted it up on TikTok and it just went from there!! (laughing)
How important was TikTok as a platform? It's so important now in a way that it wasn't 6, 7 or 8 years ago.
Well, 8 years ago I was 11 years old playing Fortnite in my bedroom! (laughing) TikTok changed my life, I talk to my parents about it everyday, it's insane. It has given me the opportunity to get a shot at doing music for the rest of my life, you know?
Some states in America have banned TikTok and there's an important decision looming over the ownership of that platform that could have major implications on musicians if it was banned everywhere. Does that worry you?
I've been talking to all my friends about this. My fans are my biggest supporters ever! I read their comments on my posts and there are never any bad words! I have a firm belief that they would come across to Instagram and support me if we had to exist solely on there. It does worry me because TikTok is my baby, it's where it all started for me and I know how to work it – it's gonna be sad, I guess, more than it would worry me I think. I'm hopeful it will be OK in the end.
Did you grow up in a musical family? Where did this interest in music come from?
Nobody in my family really played any instruments when I was growing up. My mom sang in the church choir and I would always sing along. My dad would always listen to bands like ZZ Top and the Eagles in the truck and I never understood that – I would be, like, ‘Dad, this sounds like garbage,' you know? (laughing)
I got my first job at 16 years old and my boss, at that time, Rhonda, was a Tyler Childers fanatic. Man, she was upset because Tyler had stopped touring at that time and I started listening to him and got a guitar and played along to his stuff. From there it just snowballed. My buddies were so encouraging and one dude, Colton Bowlin, showed me how to get better on the guitar and here we are three years later! I just keep truckin' along! (laughing)
When I listen to songs like ‘Lost Time' and ‘Young Wild Free' there's a lot of wisdom I'm hearing in them for such a young guy. Have you always been a wise head on young shoulders?
My dad, who's an older guy, in his 60s, has always had a lot of sayings that I think I've picked up on. He's got a lot of wise things to say and I feel like he has helped me out a lot with things like that. It was him that helped me become a young man – he's taught me how to work, how to get jobs and earn money – he's the one that has given me this old head! I also love telling stories so when you put those two things together………. it works pretty well. (laughing)
You released, what I think is my favourite song of yours, ‘300 Miles' right at the end of last year. Tell me more about that song.
That was definitely a cool song to work on. I got to write it with some great people – like Scott Krueger, my producer Joe Costa and my buddy Nick England, who is from Glasgow! He's now my lead guitarist. I wanted to get out of my hometown and see what else is out there and I wanted to write a song about what I'd been doing and how crazy everything was and how my mom had been missing me and telling me to get my ass home! (laughing) ‘300 Miles' was the outcome of that and a really cool thing for us to do.
How many songs have you got recorded or stored away in your phone right now?
Oh man! Double digits, man. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm still gonna work on some of them, maybe throw some away and add some new ones in, but there's plenty to be thinking about right now! Music is weird because when it comes time to release something new that you're excited about you might just have written a song that you think is better! There's a lot more to come from me, I've been taking my time to make sure that everything we release is good, you know?
Have you adjusted to co-writing OK? A lot of artists I speak to have to learn how to co-write when they arrive in Nashville but given you haven't been doing it it for very long I wondered if it was something that came naturally to you?
I do like to write by myself a lot. I've only written with Scott, Joe and a couple of other buddies right now so it's not like I've done a whole bunch of co-writing with strangers as yet. I need to be able to click with someone if I am going to write with them – it is weird and different because you are not just the only person pouring your heart out into a song in the room, there are other hearts involved. Another person might start using words or phrases that you have never heard before too. I like it because you learn and experience things from other people so I think it helps more than it hurts. It's fun too, you can shoot and cut up a little with other people and then get back to the writing! (laughing)
You're coming over to Europe in March to play a series of countries before you end in at the C2C festival in London. How excited are you for that?
Very excited but I'm also a little nervous because I have never left America before. I'm more excited than anything, I've always wanted to travel and see other parts of the world that aren't my hometown, right? I can't wait to meet everyone over in Europe and listen to you guys speak, I love your accents! (laughing) I hear that you like songwriters over there in Europe, that you guys are a listening crowd, I love it.
I'm gonna go with the flow. We'll do a little research on each city before we get there. I'm a big scooter guy so if any of the cities have those electric scooters I'll go ride them and look around and hang out.
Don't forget you'll be able to drink over here – you're old enough in Europe!
That's crazy to me! (laughing) Crazy. Someone was telling me that but I wasn't sure if it was real. Hey – I'll have to sample some of those beers, man. We need to meet up and you can recommend which ones to have! That's wild.
So what's the plan for the rest of 2025?
Oh man! It's crazy. I really want to release a big project this year, a debut album. I want to put something out there that says that Bayker Blankenshhip is here to stay, you know? He's on the record forever. I want to play as many shows as I can and meet everybody now that I have a band too. There's a bunch of festivals coming in the summer, so we have a big year ahead but the biggest thing for me to focus on is my health and my music, that's 2025 for me.
The road to the C2C festival starts right here: grab tickets here and listen to Bayker Blankenship across all the usual streaming platforms and social media outlets.
