On The Row: Bryan Martin Boldly Recounts Real Experiences In His Music

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Bryan Martin. Photo: Julian Mendoza

Singer-songwriter Bryan Martin has turned heads with his bold, gritty and unapologetically authentic style. Following the Platinum certification of his top-10-and-climbing country radio single “We Ride,” and the release of his latest tune “Wishbone,” Martin took some time to share his story and some of his work with the MusicRow team.

Pictured (L-R): MusicRow’s Madison Hahnen, Liza Anderson, Sherod Robertson, Bryan Martin, MusicRow’s LB Cantrell and John Nix Arledge

The 36-year-old recounts real experiences in his music and, as his songwriting signifies, is no stranger to struggle. Martin briefly served in the U.S. military as a young adult. After returning home, he continued to fight, but in a different kind of war, and attempted to take his own life at the age of 19. Martin shared that the first song he ever penned came from the suicide note he wrote. While battling to break down mental barriers, he got married, became a father and accepted a job in the oil fields in his home state of Louisiana, where he worked for 15 years. During the pandemic, Martin dealt with family conflict and moved into a camper behind his father’s house with his guitar. While living there, he started soul-searching and wrote close to 800 songs by himself within a year—including tunes that fans are hearing today.

Martin continued to power through hardships, as he later suffered a brain injury from an almost fatal car crash in Kentucky. Due to the head trauma, the songsmith couldn’t remember how play any of the music he’d created, and doctors told him he’d likely never be able to write songs again. Martin reunited with his family after the accident, and was contemplating selling his guitar and returning to the oil industry. But he was soon talked out of it and began playing again while consulting with medical professionals. After receiving medication, Martin relearned his music and picked the pencil back up.

He released his debut project titled If It Was Easy in 2019, and had composed nearly 3,000 songs by the time he made the move to Music City in 2021, the same year he signed a record deal with Average Joes Entertainment. Once in Nashville, Martin was told by various industry members that it would take a him a few years to make it big and advised him to trust the process. Determined to take care of his family, he felt as though he didn’t have a few years to wait and wrote “We Ride,” which was released in 2022 after his sophomore album, Self Inflicted Scars. The chart-climber was featured on his third studio collection, Poets & Old Souls, that dropped last year.

Average Joes CEO Shannon Houchins and Martin then made a deal that if he reached five million streams per week on Spotify, Houchins would give him his truck. Martin’s social media followers tripled the two weeks that followed, and he ended up signing with WME. Six months later, he had garnered more than five million Spotify streams per week and found himself in Houchins’ truck.

MusicRow’s Sherod Robertson & Bryan Martin

After brawling with addiction, Martin is now over 140 days sober and tries to write five to 10 songs a week. A recent free agent in the publishing world, he has around 1,500 co-writes under his belt.

“I’m all my family has to depend on. My happiness and motivation comes from seeing them comfortable and happy,” said Martin. “I’ve almost died a couple times, and [since then] I’ve thought about what my legacy is going to be. I had to ask myself ‘Am I going to be known as someone who just kept bailing and giving up or someone who got out of their own damn way and made it happen?’ and I decided to get out of my own way.”

With fingers strengthened by hard work, he poured his heart into the viral smash in addition to the powerful “Goin’ For Broke” and unreleased tunes “Don’t Come Lookin’ For Me,” which seeks to give a speakeasy vibe, and “What About Me” as well as “Ain’t That My Ole Man,” a beautiful ballad about Martin’s dad that he wrote alongside Lee Thomas Miller and Nick Walsh, and newly-penned “Home Sweet Livin’ Hell.”

He expressed his immense gratitude for the established artists he has toured with, including Morgan Wallen, who reached out to Martin personally about joining his “One Night At A Time World Tour,” and shared how he hopes to help others.

“We’re all human, and we all come to this town with dreams. But we put so much pressure on ourselves that we ultimately set ourselves up to fail, and I’m just trying to change that trend,” expressed Martin. “I want to show people that they don’t have to be scared of falling off the deep end, that they can come here and enjoy their time chasing their dreams.”

He is set to open for Wallen this Thursday (July 11) and Friday (July 12) in Tampa, Florida.

Liza Anderson
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