{"id":48052,"date":"2021-03-11T15:42:45","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/international-magazine-features-la-plata-countys-rising-star-tyller-gummersall\/"},"modified":"2021-03-11T22:42:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T22:42:45","slug":"international-magazine-features-la-plata-countys-rising-star-tyller-gummersall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/international-magazine-features-la-plata-countys-rising-star-tyller-gummersall\/","title":{"rendered":"International magazine features La Plata County\u2019s rising star, Tyller Gummersall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tyller
Tyller Gummersall, who grew up in the ranching community near Allison and has gone on to become a popular country-western singer and songwriter, stands outside Spring Creek Hall east of Ignacio on Tuesday. He says the hall is where he got his start.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Country Music People <\/em>magazine highlighted La Plata County\u2019s own Tyller Gummersall in its February issue with a full feature covering his decade of independently making country music.<\/p>\n

The feature, by Duncan Warwick, followed Gummersall\u2019s career, his days growing up in the ranching community near Allison, his first forays in the Nashville music scene and his decision to \u201cpull a Willie (Nelson)\u201d and head to Texas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not his first time being featured in the award-winning, international magazine. The first review in 2020 happened organically \u2013 it was a fun surprise, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t exactly know how they found out about my music,\u201d Gummersall said. \u201cIt was a nice reward for focusing on making music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tyller
Tyller Gummersall grew up in La Plata County&#x2019;s ranching community. His roots influence his music, which he describes as traditional country.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tyller
Tyller Gummersall, from the Allison area, has been highlighted in the international County Music People magazine multiple times, including a long feature in the February issue.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The magazine\u2019s January issue lauded him for a song called \u201cHeartbreak College,\u201d saying Gummersall is \u201ccontinuing to prove himself one of the brightest new traditional names.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gummersall is known for his traditional country style, which he describes as neo-traditional or Americana rooted in songwriting with acoustic instrumentation. He said he draws writing and instrumental inspiration from Hank Williams Sr., Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say country music, oftentimes people will think of what\u2019s played on popular radio, which is not necessarily what I do,\u201d Gummersall said.<\/p>\n

He recorded \u201cBeer and Rose\u201d in 2011 with his \u201cNashville Dream Band,\u201d made up of members from Ryan Adams\u2019 and John Prine\u2019s bands. His third studio album, \u201cLong Ride Home,\u201d was produced by Grammy Award winner Lloyd Maines.<\/p>\n

His sound has been influenced by the Ignacio area, where he grew up in a ranching community and was exposed to a unique Western and bluegrass sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I know, so that\u2019s what I write. I\u2019m lucky that I like country music, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He got his start when he was 8 years old, sitting in with bands at Spring Creek Hall, east of Ignacio. There would be a family dance in the wintertime where everyone would get together, dance and hang out, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Tyller
Tyller Gummersall, a country musician, draws inspiration from Hank Williams Sr., Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gary Cook, the twice-named national flatpicking champion guitar player of the Bar D Wranglers, was his guitar teacher. Cook said he saw Gummersall grow up, quickly catch on with the guitar, compete in talent shows and take on the music industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a young man, it was obvious to me he had great talent and a passion for music,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a fun journey for him I\u2019m sure. \u2026 To work with him in the studio, then see him go to Nashville and Texas, his talent just continues to grow. His songwriting is on par with what we\u2019re hearing on the radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also collaborated with Chris Bettin, a musician and Durango City Council member. Bettin and Gummersall met every week for two years to work on their collaboration, The Wrecking Balls. They\u2019ve continued collaborating even as Gummersall\u2019s career has moved forward, Bettin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to do any of that stuff, but he cares about music and the people that make it,\u201d Bettin said. \u201cHe has every talent in the world \u2013 he could do anything \u2013 he\u2019s picked his chosen art form because it reflects his lifestyle. He doesn\u2019t just dress the part, he is the part. That\u2019s really refreshing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pandemic and next steps<\/div>\n

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Gummersall was living in an RV in Texas, with his girlfriend and their two dogs, and playing four to five shows a week. When touring went away, so did a lot of his income-making opportunities, Gummersall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of negatives out there throughout this whole thing. Artists have been hit very hard,\u201d Gummersall said. \u201cThe silver lining has certainly been that it\u2019s forced me to be more creative and find creative ways to keep creating music.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started releasing a song a month in July. He needed a way to keep his creativity going and \u201clet people know I\u2019m still alive.\u201d As an added plus, the new releases have helped boost his streaming audience by 300%, according to the Country Music People<\/em> feature.<\/p>\n

\"Tyller
Tyller Gummersall is from a family of artists. His father is a painter and his mother, a photographer, captured images for his Country Music People feature.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He has also continued to do collaborations with musicians from Texas and Nashville \u2013 at a distance because of the pandemic. He has a new duet with Kinsey Rose, a singer-songwriter from Nashville, coming out soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good for you to take a second to reflect and think about what you want to leave here with the world in terms of recordings, and also how you want to get back to work when it comes to playing out, playing live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This weekend, Gummersall is playing his first gig since last summer at Motel SOCO in Pagosa Springs.<\/p>\n

Although his work might take him out of the La Plata Mountains, Gummersall said the mountains never really leave him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get weird when I\u2019m in places that are flat for too long. \u2026 There\u2019s a familiarity to this area that is super strong, that I love,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool to be able to know these roads. \u2026 Living here is special, and when you travel, you definitely don\u2019t take it for granted as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singer-songwriter\u2019s traditional approach rooted in Ignacio area<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[938,13,28,1235,559,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-country-music","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-ignacio","tag-music","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48052"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}