From Slapout to Nashville, Tyler Braden is making moves

SLAPOUT, Ala. (WSFA) - The drive from Slapout, Alabama to Nashville, Tennessee is about 265 miles. The road to get there and make it in country music is a lot longer that.

Somehow Tyler Braden did it.

“I was born in Montgomery and grew up in Slapout, Alabama,” said Braden. “My parents sang their whole life and I’ve been singing since I was like three years old. I just started singing with them. As soon as I could walk and talk I was singing.”

When someone asks where he’s from, it usually comes with some smiles.

“There’s always a little bit of a chuckle when I say Slapout,” Braden said. “My running thing I always tell them is, I don’t laugh at the name of your hometown. But yeah it always gets a laugh and you always have to tell the story.”

Braden graduated from Holtville High School and then went to work for the Montgomery Fire Department while doing shows on the side. Turns out that a firefighting career may have been the key to the country music world.

“That’s really what helped me get to Nashville because I was able to find a firefighter fighting job here in Brentwood, Tennessee. If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t be here,” Braden said.

Braden learned plenty of lessons responding to emergencies. Some of those he still uses today on stage.

″Just learning to, you know, keep calm under pressure, stay level-headed, and be disciplined are huge lessons I learned that helped me when I moved to the music industry,” Braden said.

Now he’s touring arenas, his song “Try Losing One” is top 15 on the country charts, he’s on the NBC show American Song Contest, and he’s about to get married. The guy is busy. Networking and grinding are two big reasons he is where he is.

“We always say there’s room for everyone at the top. So as long as we push each other and support each other, it’s a great town,” Braden added.

He loves Nashville but never forgets where he came from. He’s always getting messages from buddies back home.

“I get videos and pictures and everything from people’s car radios all the time. It’s awesome to hear from high school friends who say I hear your songs on the highway. It’s really cool. Just to have people thinking of me and reaching out and letting me know they’re hearing it, and that they’re excited, that’s cool,” Braden said.

Just a singer from Slapout doing big things in Nashville.

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