Mickey Guyton is the epitome of ‘girl power’ and it’s time to take notice. This summer you can catch Mickey opening for Brad Paisley on his Crushin’ It World Tour, all while promoting a healthy self-image for girls of all shapes and sizes.
The beautiful Waco, Texas native got her start in singing with her church choir when she was a young girl. Her mom, a deaconess, and her dad, a deacon, allowed her to develop her vocal chords through their religious surroundings. The story on how country music specifically drew her in, is even better. “My church was driving from Waco to Arlington to see a Texas Rangers game and I’ll never forget it,” explained Guyton. “The announcer says ‘please rise, as 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes sings the National Anthem.’ She mesmerized me and that’s where it all started.” Mickey, who has never met Rimes but has some mutual friends, also shares the same drummer as the GRAMMY Award winner.
The then-9-year-old Texan never looked back.
The most recent chapter for Guyton opened when Brad Paisley called her management company to see if she wanted to tour with Mr. Paisley and the answer was an obvious and resounding “hell yes!”
It was Mickey who turned heartbreak into hits when a breakup prompted her debut single, ‘Better Than You Left Me.’ Co-written with Jennifer Hanson, Jenn Schott and Nathan Chapman, Guyton left the song’s writing session not feeling like they had made a number one song, but that she finally got everything off of her chest. She first realized the magic they had made when she sang the song’s emotional demo. “First of all, they’re so successful and the nicest people,” raved Mickey. “I just had an awful conversation with my ex-boyfriend. I went in there and told them my whole story. It was my first co-writing session out in Nashville.” Sorry, ex-boyfriend.
Her single is supported by a strong, self-titled EP, filled with her moving lyrics and empowering voice. The EP was released in May and quickly became the anthem for girls of all ages. With songs like ‘Why Baby Why’ and ‘Somebody Else Will,’ Mickey uses her country music platform to teach women to be strong, independent and love the body they’re in. All of Guyton’s songs come from personal experience, ‘Pretty Little Mustang’ included. A ballad that Mickey drew up when she was working at Nordstrom, ‘Pretty Little Mustang’ is inspired by her department manager who didn’t see what others saw. “She was this beautiful girl who was always so hard on herself,” raved Guyton. “I wanted to write something encouraging to love on themselves.” Women, take notice. “You just meet so many women from different walks of life [working at Nordstrom]. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are we all still have these stupid insecurities that we keep inside of ourselves and it’s so stupid.” This, coming from a girl who gets the adrenaline and privilege to walk up on stage and sing her heart out each night, can show even the youngest girls we are all the same in one way or another.
This summer’s tour has exceeded expectations for the Paisley opener. Mickey has the honor of joining Brad on stage for his song ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ each night. Taking Alison Krauss’ part in the duo, Guyton hits each note with beauty and grace. That doesn’t mean there aren’t butterflies and nerves inside of her, however. “First of all, the pressure,” Mickey laughed. “You put a lot of pressure on yourself because Alison Krauss has just an angelic voice. I just wanted to not screw up and mix up the song. I wanted to sing the song how they designed the song to sound.” With supportive words from Brad himself, Guyton’s anxiety lessened. “I remember when we went and rehearsed it. Brad said ‘I can hear your voice on this, you’re going to sound fine.’” Boy, was he right.
Rolling Stone has even hopped on the Mickey train. The company listed Guyton as one of their 10 New Country Artists You Need to Know. “I was in shock,” Mickey laughed. “I’m with myself everyday. It’s just funny what other people think about you versus. what you think about you.” Comparing her to the likes of Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill and Martina McBride, Rolling Stone had nothing but good things to say.
Need another reason to love her? Mickey Guyton is a girl’s girl. She is authentic. She is kind. And she is just trying to pay the bills like the rest of us. “It just doesn’t feel real.” With the rare downtime she gets, Mickey told NECM that she loves to sit on the couch and catch up with ‘The Housewives’ series. See? Just like us. Except she has sang on the Grand Ole Opry stage and is anticipating putting out an album this year. Gracing the Opry stage was surreal for Guyton, even if she doesn’t remember much until she walked off the stage. “It was an out of body experience. It was before my single was dropped and I got to debut it there. I was a nervous wreck.” Singing ‘Why Baby Why’ and ‘Better Than You Left Me,’ her life changed forever in that venue on January 10th, 2015.
Needless to say, we are all rooting for her.
Your chance to see Mickey this summer with Brad and Justin Moore hasn’t passed yet. The trio will be in Hartford, CT at the Xfinity Theatre on July 25th, followed by Gilford, NH at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion on August 9th and September 25th in Mansfield, MA at the Xfinity Center.
Get your copy of Mickey’s EP on iTunes here.
This was written by Lauren Rose, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter here.