By David Muscari By David Muscari
Catch ‘em on the way up Three hot Texas performers are getting a ton of traction with their original music, growing impressive fan bases, wooing critics, and creating a frenzy among industry executives. What’s next for Troy Cartwright, Mickey Guyton, and Randall King?
TROY CARTWRIGHT
“Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana … it’s a whole other world,” says rising country star Troy Cartwright, “You can leave, but it never leaves you.” And he should know. Growing up in Dallas, Cartwright gravitated to country music at an early age. While his career has been inspired by a range of artists, including the late John Prine and contemporary singer-songwriter Pete Yorn, his musical identity is clearly rooted in the heart of Texas. Cartwright won the esteemed B.W. Stevenson Songwriting Competition in 2013 at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas, which set a definitive tone for the singer-songwriter.
FOUR YEARS LATER, ROLLING STONE NAMED CARTWRIGHT ONE OF "10 NEW COUNTRY ARTISTS YOU NEED TO KNOW.” Four years later, Rolling Stone named Cartwright one of "10 New Country Artists You Need to Know,” extending his reputation among fans as well as influential music executives. He was also named the Sirius XM Highway on the Horizon artist with his track, “Love Like We Used To” Cartwright is a member of an elite group that includes many of the biggest names in pop, such as Quincy Jones, John Mayer, Wyclef Jean, St. Vincent, Charlie Puth, and Natalie Maines. They are all graduates of Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. Intense, extreme, and exacting, the academic experience supercharged the young Texan and solidified his path as a singer-songwriter. He says that years of listening to established acts like Hayes Carll and Ray Wylie Hubbard at Poor David’s Pub and the Kessler Theater in Dallas and Tulips and Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth inspired him. “I realized there were people who lived lives like mine, who loved music the way I do, who have the same stumbles and
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