Country Next: Sunny Black

Sunny Black’s path to country music was the most unexpected journey, in the best way. Growing up in the small North Carolina town of Lawndale, he was surrounded by gospel, R&B and hip-hop before discovering country music in sixth grade. Luke Combs was the artist who first caught his attention, eventually leading him to explore the music of Randy Travis, Hank Williams and Keith Whitley.

Black’s love for country music remained steady even as he committed to playing college football after high school. After picking up a guitar one day in a college dorm room, his priorities quickly shifted. He fell in love with the instrument, started writing songs and began sharing videos on social media that garnered attention.  

Three years later, Black has completely poured himself into music. Since leaving school to follow his dreams, he has auditioned for American Idol, toured with Jelly Roll and signed with Atlantic Outpost. He recently introduced himself in an even bigger way when he dropped his 12-track label debut project, Hard Times, which features his fan-favorite single, “Turn On The Radio” and the soulful standout track, “Does To Me,” among a slew of stories that pay tribute to his roots and showcase his clever songwriting.

Plus, fans will have plenty more chances to catch the emerging act in 2027 when he joins Blake Whiten for the Blake Whiten Tour, beginning February 20.

Get to know Sunny Black as he reflects on the music that shaped him, the unexpected decision that changed his life and what this new album says about the direction he’s headed as an artist.

What was the kind of music playing around the house when you were growing up?

Obviously Whitney Houston, heard a lot of her…was a lot of gospel, R&B, trap rap. I didn’t really find or fall in love for country music until I was in sixth grade. And I just fell in love with country music. I mean, music in general, I just love music. Music is a love language to me. 

So what was it about Luke Combs’ catalog that made you really want to explore country music more?

To this day, a lot of his music is just very therapeutic. He’s very therapeutic and he’s just real. I’m a big lyric guy. I’m a melody guy too, but I remember the exact song I heard first from him. It was “Beautiful Crazy.” When I heard that song, I’m like, oh, this is just beautiful. I’ve heard all these other kind of genres of music and when I heard this, it took me away. So I just started listening to him. And plus he’s a Carolina native, so that made it a lot better. So since then, I’ve been in love with country music.

What led you to want to pick up the guitar for yourself in college?

It’s so crazy because I’m still surprised to this day. I grew up just playing sports and stuff like that, just like any other teenage boy wanting to be in the league and stuff. I was committed to playing college football out of high school. Graduated, I was committed to go start going to play football at this university. I ended up throwing that all away…I don’t know why I did it, but something told me to do it. So I did it and I wanted to try to get my education academically at Lenoir-Rhyne University, a D2 School in Hickory, North Carolina. I stayed there for about three months and literally I fell in love with the guitar in college. I got close with a guy. I’ll never forget him. He changed my life. A guy from Afghanistan, he barely even speaks English and he don’t even know he changed my life. I got with him and one day he had a guitar in his dorm and I picked it up and I started playing it. I just fell in love with it. I kid you not, I dropped out the next week. I went to go get my guitar, started playing it and posted on social media. And after two weeks it just blew up and I just kept going and it’s been three years now. 

Did you start writing songs as well pretty soon after picking up the guitar? 

I kind of did because I was cool with doing poetry and stuff like that. I liked writing poems. So I was like, if I can write a poem and I can play guitar, I can write a song, so why not? So that’s what I started doing.

How did it feel to see that people were starting to connect with your music through social media? 

I’m going to be so, so real here. In high school, which is a part of the reason I didn’t go play football, I pushed that to the side because it was a D3 school. I could have went D1, but I didn’t take school serious at all. I was a class clown and always wanted attention and stuff like that. But now to actually do something beneficial, do something that actually makes sense, playing guitar and entertaining people is just insane. It’s insane to me. And I’m finally getting what I want the right way. 

You took that a step further when you auditioned for American Idol in 2025. I know that you chose not to move forward with the show, but what can you share about that experience?

I mean, it was just amazing. Just growing up, watching it on TV, being able to live it in real life, just getting that opportunity, I couldn’t let it go. I had got an email about wanting to come audition. I was like, “I can’t give this up.” And then they flew me out and everything to LA. And it was my first time in LA just seeing a different environment and just being out there and seeing the judges, being able to see those big idols, a lot of other people look up to, musicians as myself, Lionel, Carrie, Luke Bryan, being able to show my talent and show what I have, what I got going on to them. I mean, it was amazing. 

Talk about your debut project, Hard Times, and what you wanted listeners to hear from you across these 11 tracks?

I feel as if I’m so unique. It’s different tastes of country music on there. I mean from pop to modern, to classic country vibe, southern rock, country vibes on there. And people, they like to keep this distinctive sound just because the audience likes it, they expect their next record to sound this and that way. And for this being the beginning of my career, I want people to know that I may have a distinctive sound, but I can also do this kind of vibe. I’m everywhere, versatile. But Hard Times, I think it’s going to be a great project. I think it’s amazing. I think it’s going to be the one that gets us skyrocketing. 

“Turn on the Radio” has already sparked major buzz among your fans. Where did the inspiration come from for this song?

Well, we were down at Warner Chappell and me and my buddy Cole Miracle and Sam [Martinez]… I usually go into writing sessions with maybe a half-written song, an idea on my mind of what I want to write about, but I came in with an open mind that day and I’m like, “Cole, what are we feeling today?” And just us bonding over the past few times we’ve been writing together, we just got a little closer. He knows my story now, probably more than me. So he says, “Maybe let’s talk about, how can we…give them the image of what you come from and what are you trying to achieve someday?” And literally I said, “I was eight and a half sat way in the back of a 94 Chevrolet.” I said that literally, and we started right from that and we just made the banger. 

When fans listen to this project top to bottom, what do you hope that they take away from it?

Well, first of all, hopefully they accept it. I think it sounds great. I think it sounds amazing. Hopefully they think it sounds good, but hopefully just be yourself, mainly get that from… And I write music for people, say somebody’s having a bad day… I want that to change their whole mood, now they’re in a good mood. Literally, that’s what I tell people….to feel some type of way, in a good way.

Earlier this year, I know that you were out on the road with Jelly Roll. What did you learn from that experience?

My first ever show was the Jelly Roll tour. That was my first ever show. What did I get from it? Obviously he’s a boss. Just to see the kind of team and the work ethic and everything he puts in behind the scenes to get up on that stage at night in front of 20,000, 25,000 people. He’s a figure to me that I look up to. So just seeing that, that gives me a head start because a lot of people, it takes them 10, 15 years to have that opportunity to go on tour with somebody that big.

What are some goals that you have in your career right now? 

I mean, my main goal right now is to get my family where I believe they should be at a small town and living in a better way, get mama what she wants, just help the family out. Some more goals, obviously, I want to step in a circle with the Grand Ole Opry someday, which that’s a long way to go, but hopefully that comes. That’s really my main goals right now. Family and continue to make country music and hopefully go down to history.  

Fans can keep up with Sunny Black on Instagram.