Oliver Tree joins Hanuman Welch on the latest episode of ALT CTRL Radio on Apple Music 1. Oliver Tree discusses his new single “Cowboys Don’t Cry” from his forthcoming album ‘Cowboy Tears’ and what inspired the new project.
Oliver Tree Tells Apple Music The Inspiration Behind His New Album...
So I grew up going to my grandparents ranch every year. For about maybe a month out of the summer, I would live on their ranch and feed the cows, feed the horses. They have a cattle ranch and a horse ranch. It was a big part of my childhood, a big part of my upbringing and my roots. So when I was working on what I was going to do during COVID, I took six months, lived at their ranch and just got in touch with myself. And I had an acoustic guitar there and I had retired from music. I was taking a break away from the industry and I was just making songs for myself. I had my heart broken and I was entering into making some art, really processing. I've had my heart broken many times and I was really picking up the pieces .It's just really looking inward and picking up the pieces of the broken heart and making art that is just a true reflection of where I was in my life.
Oliver Tree Tells Apple Music About Making “Cowboy Tears”...
I put this album together, based around getting in touch with my roots. And the thing was, I would never have guessed in a million years that I would ever make a country album. I never would've guessed that that would be part of my trajectory. When I announced it to my fans, a lot of people turned on me. A lot of people said, "Keep your country, man." And the truth is, I don't make this music for them; I make this music for me. And I know that there's millions, if not billions of people who are just like me, going through all the same emotions. And I knew there would be people out there who could hear some of these stories. And so for me, it was just an obvious progression, but also the most unlikely one at the same breath.
Oliver Tree Tells Apple Music About Getting In Touch With His Emotional Side With The New Project...
And in this process of making the album, I got very in touch with my emotional side and I have been in touch with my emotional side. I really, I let the tears reign, and I let it pour. And I found that in general, I think tough guys like you and me, people don't think that we should cry. We pent up that emotion and let it out in anger and violence. And I wanted to make an album that just says that that's a bunch of BS and it's not necessary. Everyone should cry, not just tough guys like us. But really, everyone needs to cry. But specifically, men are taught not to cry and to just toughen up. And the truth is, yeah, you got to be a tough cookie, but inside that cookie, you need a very soft inside cookie that's just been cooked in the oven. You need to have a very, very sensitive side that comes with that hard exterior.