Cale Tyson - Okay (2021)

In 2014, Cale Tyson performed at a Ones to Watch showcase presented by Rolling Stone Country at Nashville’s Exit/In opposite future star Margo Price and RaeLyn Nelson, Willie’s granddaughter. Tyson, a Texas native, sang country music songs that night, emphasizing a hillbilly hiccup in his voice and even flirting with a yodel. He sold it well and looked the part too — hat, boots, Pendleton jacket.

But over time, Tyson became tired of country music’s hang-up with a mythologized authenticity.

“It got to a point where I was playing shows and people were like, ‘You drive a truck at home, right?’ I’d be like, ‘No, I drive, like, a 4Runner,’” Tyson says. “‘But you grew up on a ranch, right?’ And I’d say, ‘No, in a suburb.’”