Country Next: Ethan Garner

Ethan Garner is back with new music, returning with his second single, “Messed Up Over You.” This marks the latest step in a fast-building career that’s already taken the rising star from Georgia Southern University to Nashville, where a viral cover helped open the door to his dreams.

Garner’s path started quietly, between college classes and moments of writing and performing just for fun. But even as he pursued a degree in business, music never really left the back of his mind. This eventually turned into leap of faith, one that led him to chasing a full-time career in country music.

That decision to head to Nashville a little over a year ago quickly proved to be a turning point in his life. Garner found himself with new opportunities beyond what he ever could have imagined, including a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music before even releasing his own music. He later signed with WME for booking and RECORDS Nashville/RCA for his record deal.

Fans got to hear the 23-year-old Georgia native’s timeless storytelling and pop country sound come to life first on his debut single “Red Wine Stains” and now on his latest release, “Messed Up Over You.” Written by Jamie McLaughlin, Matt Warren, and Dave Pahanish, and produced by Brett Truitt, the new track finds him leaning into the complicated emotions and uncertainty that come with a relationship, capturing both the highs of love and the inner doubts that can come with it.

Keep reading to get to know Ethan Garner in our exclusive Q&A, and learn more about the path that led him to Nashville, his musical influences, and the songs shaping his sound.

What kind of music did you grow up hearing around the house, and how did that shape your love for it?

When I was growing up, my dad, he was singing in churches, leading worship. He came to Nashville and he even kind of recorded an album. We’ve got a bunch of CD’s of it. He hates when we play it around him, but it’s pretty banger stuff. But yeah, so he always has been very musical and great singer. And he even would dress up as Elvis and come to my family Christmas party. So I kind of grew up with that. My whole family has energy like that. But anyway, so I would always sing in the car. The song my mom always references is “When I was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. I would just be belting in the car and all kinds of songs. I grew up with a lot of classic music, like The Eagles. I love Bob Marley. He’s my favorite. Elvis, Beatles…a lot of country guys, Luke Bryan, the classic Georgia guys.

At what point did you realize that you really had a talent for singing?

I think my dad always just kind of, I felt like he was A&Ring me, but in a supportive way. He’d be like, “You got to sing, try to use your vibrato right here.” And just was kind of teaching me how to do it and taught me some guitar chords. And then my junior, senior year of high school, I always enjoyed singing and my parents always told me I could. And I had a couple buddies tell me the same thing, but I remember I was singing at lunch. It was like a field day… I was singing “Tennessee Whiskey” and my friend was playing the guitar and people had videoed it. And the two drama teachers at my high school, I was in the English class in the back and through just the small little tiny windows on a classroom door, I just see both of their faces in it, squeezed up against it. And they were like waving me to come out there. And I was like, “Me?” So I walked out there and they were like, “Okay, so follow us.” And I was like, alright. So I followed them to their office. I’d never been to the drama office. It was cool in there. And they said, “We want you to audition for the play.” And I was like, “no, I’m not going to do that, but thank you for the offer.” And looking back, I probably would’ve done it just because why not? That’d be cool. It’d be funny. But I thought I was too cool for school probably or something. I don’t know. So I didn’t do it. There was kind of affirmations along the way like that.

When did songwriting come into play for you?

So I would always freestyle in the locker room for fun, freestyle rap. My buddies would say that, but songwriting genuinely, probably my freshman year of college, I started dabbling. Yeah, I wrote this really silly song called “Outdoor Symphony” or something, and all my friends knew the words. That was fun. But yeah, so freshman year was kind of when I opened up that journey. 

What did those dreams start to look like once you got to Georgia Southern University?

I joined Sigma Chi and I started playing guitar at the bars. I was like, “You know what? I’m not doing sports anymore. This is fun.” So I played as hard at the bar, all the Statesboro bars, same bars that Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Dylan Marlowe, a lot of guys came up from Statesboro, Gavin Addcock, I’m good buddies with him…Didn’t have any music out there, but I knew that, I mean, social media is a great asset now. In my mind though, I was just like, “Well, I need to be in Nashville if meetings happen.” So I didn’t really get the bug till my sophomore year of college I got to open up for Gavin. And I, again, didn’t have any originals really, but that was really cool. And just seeing Gavin make it, and I was a Sigma Chi, the same as Luke Bryan and Cole Swindell. It just felt achievable. I just felt led to visit Nashville.

Even though you went into college to pursue business, was music always in the back of your mind? Was there ever a backup plan?

I feel like I always had an intuition and in the back of my mind, whenever I would listen to music, I would just always imagine myself performing and being in studios. I just was so fascinated by all of that. I love the lifestyle of a recording artist, being in a recording studio, being on a bus, just that whole lifestyle I sort of romanticized always as a fan, but I also just saw myself doing it. So even though I was studying business at Georgia Southern, and I probably feel like I would be okay at sales or something. I really didn’t know what I was going to do, but it was something in business, probably not a finance bro but something where I can talk to people and maybe travel a little.

Talk about how you navigated that transition period from Georgia to Nashville.

I was partying a lot at Georgia Southern and then I got an opportunity to go on a mission trip to Panama Central America for a week and it was really moving for me and just what I needed in that transition phase and got really close with the Lord and we just spread the gospel every day for a week straight. And we would set up water filters for those people that didn’t have water. So being out there just isolated in a way with the Lord was really cool and such a unique experience. And then after that trip, a smaller group was going to go to Thailand for a month and a half, 35 weeks. So I went and did that right before I moved to Nashville. So I lived in Thailand that summer, and after that, hit the ground running.

What were those first few months in Music City like for you? How did you get your foot in the door there?

I was told I need a music business internship to be a music business student. I transferred into Belmont my junior year. And so I called my friends over at River House, Zebb [Luster] over there, and I was like, “Hey, Zebb, I need an internship.” And he was like, “Boy, shut up and start posting on TikTok. Better start singing.” And I was like, “Okay, Zebb, I will do that. ” So I started posting some stuff and just out of nowhere, I had this Katy Perry cover go, I think it did close to a million or something, and I’d never had that happen. That was when I met my awesome manager, Matt Musacchio. And I had a couple of DMs from people, management and some people over at Warner and just so many great people. The day I met Matt, who was my first meeting, I think this was two months into Nashville, he was like, “Alright, I want you to follow me over to Big Yellow Dog to meet this publisher.” And I had never even, I thought I knew what a publishing company was. I really had no clue.

I walk up in there with Matt, I just met him about an hour ago and sat down with Carla Wallace over there, and I played her three songs I had written that were garbage probably. And she was like, “Well, I’m going to sign you.” She said, “Let me get your phone number.” And I said, “Okay.” And I was sitting right next to her, and then she just texted me. She said, “I want to sign you.a” And I was like, “No way.” And Carla is amazing. So I’m so thankful for her and Matt. That’s the core of everything that we’ve gotten to do so far, so super thankful for that team.

Getting signed before even releasing music is a very impressive feat. How were you feeling in that moment?

It was crazy, especially songwriting-wise for publishing. I think it was exactly what I needed though, because I spent my whole first year here just writing every single day. So it helped me develop a lot in that way and start developing a sound and building that catalog. 

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Like you mentioned, you opened for Gavin Adcock. What did you take away from watching him on the road?

In the early days, I mean, he was just playing the Statesboro bars all the time. I really asked advice for him….He’s so good at his social media, his fanbase, I mean, he knows how to really build an audience, and that’s why they all love him so much. And they show up, he ready to go because he’s just good at it. So I’ve always looked up to him in that way. I feel like he’s really smart and he’s really funny on the stage and he’s real rowdy, but he’s really a genuine, very loyal person, I feel like, from the time I’ve been around him. But yeah, that was cool. And then got to open for Travis Denning last year, I guess last January. And we’ve actually been writing a lot of songs together recently and he’s been a great mentor too, so he’s had a lot of good advice as well. 

Talk about writing “Red Wine Stains” and why it was the right choice for your debut single?

Well, I wrote it with two people that I work with a lot who I’m really good friends with too. So that was cool, Cecelia Castleman and Daniel Hashing. I’m actually in his house right now, but yeah, it was fun. Just writing with him, he’s got this screened in porch and it just feels very grounding from being in some office building, just jamming out on a song. He’s got this whole strategy where you walk in, we’ll have just guitars or just piano, and we will sit down in the kitchen or on the porch and we’ll write the song. He’ll type it all out and he’ll go print it off and come back with a lyric sheet, and then we’ll go into his recording studio after we’ve already written it…I think I just got out of relationship and my personality’s very much like, I don’t love having bad blood with anybody. I just think it can be resolved. It’s just kind of my mindset around it. So I think it’s just playful. My personality in that song I feel like shows, even though we might’ve ended things like that chorus, you know ‘I missed the way your lips taste when I talk in the dark,’ it’s kind of this whole playful energy about it. So I think it’s just, I try not to take myself too seriously or when the time is needed, I feel like it’s good to be serious, but in terms of things like that, that song is just this fun, a relatable feeling. It’s okay to miss somebody after you end things, but yeah, I just love the playful energy in it. 

You just dropped “Messed Up Over You” which offers a sadder take on heartbreak. What led you to want to record this outside cut?

Very sad. I think sometimes in my songwriting, I can write fun songs all day long, but my publisher challenges me to, she says, “Be more vulnerable and talk about yourself.” I was like, “Okay.” So the song shown to my A&R guy over at record, Joe Fisher, and he texted me and Matt, my manager, and was like, “check this out. ” And so we both listened pretty quickly after he sent it and we’re just like, “Okay, yeah, this song is amazing.” So I think it was a great fit for me just vocally and just the way the song is in general, I think really spoke to where I was at out of that relationship. Again, I think someone else writing it makes it more meaningful because I could just really relate to it. But yeah, I think it’s a good perspective on the relationship that I can relate to and that I would say is very true to where I was at, but the fact that someone else wrote, it’s almost like I wouldn’t be able to say it unless the way they said it. So I think it’s cool that I can have the chance to perform that and tell that story through my own way.

What goals do you have for yourself next as you continue on this journey?

Well, I got a pretty intense bucket list. So I’ll tell you for this year, I would love to just get a batch of music and out and that’s where it starts. My main thing, I feel like my dream is to win Entertainer of the Year. I think just my band and I on stage, that’s just I feel like our whole bread and butter. These songs are great, but when we get in front of a crowd, we really know how to engage and just make people have a good time and want to come back. So that’s the goal, just being with them and them being with us, the live performance is my favorite part. But I would say just I want to play shows. I’d love to meet some of these Georgia guys, all these guys I look up to. There’s so many great Georgia artists. I mean, Zac Brown Band, Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Kane Brown, Jason Aldean, Megan Moroney, such a great group of people from Georgia. So it’d be cool to just connect with those people. I would love to play a Grand Ole Opry. That’d be a dream. And yeah, just keep diving into this music and getting out there.