AmericanaFest 2024: Talking With Wyatt Flores

Wyatt Flores is all smiles on a sunny August afternoon in Nashville. After a photo shoot on the East Side, the widely loved 23-year-old singer-songwriter will head to rehearsals for what’s becoming a regular thing: an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, his third since his debut on the venerable program in January. 

His second Opry appearance, which took place in July, was marked by the live debut of “Oh Susannah,” a poignant song about suicide dedicated to a young fan who took her life last year. Frank discussions of mental health haven’t historically been part of the stereotypical perception of a “rising star.” But Flores and other artists, especially young ones, are making mental health a priority and erasing the stigma around it in the process. Amid extensive touring and recording early this year, Flores forced himself to take a lengthy break to care for himself, something he discussed at length with The New York Times.

The Oklahoma native moved to Nashville and began playing around town in 2022. One milestone in his development as a seasoned touring musician was his 2022 debut performance at The Basement; two of his last gigs in a long run of 2024 dates will be back-to-back headline shows at the Ryman on Dec. 13 and 14. On Oct. 18, Flores will release his first album Welcome to the Plains, a follow-up to April’s acclaimed Half Life EP. Produced by Beau Bedford, Welcome to the Plains is a vivid, emotional portrait of life in flyover country, with musical flourishes that nod to the songsmith’s Mexican American heritage and lyrics that dig into the painful history of the region.

It’s hard to imagine an artist who better fits the definition of an Emerging Artist of the Year nominee. Flores stands among a strong slate of nominees for that award at this year’s Americana Music Association Honors & Awards, whose Sept. 18 ceremony at the Ryman is the keystone event of AmericanaFest. Ahead of the festival, the Scene caught up with Flores about his new LP, Americana in general and more.

The past few months alone have surely been a whirlwind for you. You released Half Life, were profiled by The New York Times and found out you were nominated for an Americana award. Have you been able to take a moment to process any of it?

It’s been hard to keep track of everything. It definitely gets overwhelming, because I want to be present for everything that I possibly can be. And honestly, there’s so much happening that it’s hard for me to keep my head screwed on straight — and it’s all a great feeling. 

Could you feel things building as you prepared to release Half Life? How did the experience square with your expectations for the project?

Honestly, for a little while I thought that it was going to be a really big struggle to get back up and moving, especially since I took a break. And then, about the time that the EP was coming out, we were having a hard time with Universal, not being able to really promote our stuff on TikTok. I don’t like to claim myself as a TikTok artist, but at the same time, I’ll use any tool, and that was one of our big ones. 

So it was definitely a weird feeling — not having that as a tool, and also trying to come back into music while also recording an album, while the EP is also dropping. It probably isn’t how most people would do it, but I enjoyed it. I learned more than I ever have, putting out the Half Life project and then going into this album. I never really understood what it took to make an entire album, and finally getting to do so, I’ve learned more than I ever possibly thought I could.

The EP seemed to connect with fans really deeply. What do you think resonated with so many listeners?

A lot of people, when they sit down and try and write music — especially here in this town — they’re like, “What can I sit down and write that’s sellable?” That’s just the hard, cold truth. A lot of it is melodies, or earworms. But a lot of the messages that I got — and just from people that I’ve talked to, as far as fans go — [Half Life] has just helped them. Because the one thing that’s always happening in this world is someone is being born and someone is dying. And I’m glad that resonated with people, whenever they lost someone, and that it was helpful for them to be able to listen to that music and not be alone while they go through their grieving. I just hope that people see me as their friend, even though we’re not friends. I hope that my music is able to talk to them like I am a friend.

You’re up for Emerging Act of the Year at this year’s Americana Honors and Awards. What does being recognized within the Americana community mean to you?

It’s hard for me to stop and take a look around — like what we first talked about, just with how fast everything’s going on. And it’s weird, because I still feel like I’m fighting every step of the way to just try and keep this thing moving. To see people actually give us recognition and say that we’re doing a good job is kind of a tough one for me, because I hardly ever give myself a pat on the back or let myself be proud of my work and the things that we’ve accomplished. It’s a huge deal to be a part of it too, because I’ve always been an outcast wherever I went. So to be accepted in this scene means the absolute world. There’s not a whole lot of times where I’ve been told I’m allowed to sit at the same table.

Every year the festival works toward representing a greater diversity of artists, and you’re one of a handful of Mexican American artists to be part of the awards over the years. How does your identity factor into your music?

It’s a weird feeling, because my mother is embracing the paste — she is white. I didn’t grow up speaking Spanish, just because all my Mexican family lived in South Texas, for the most part, so I didn’t grow up around them a whole bunch. 

But what I loved was the stories. I’d ask anyone in my family on that side [about] all the stories. So I carry the heritage and where we come from, all the struggling that went on generation after generation. And I’m proud of my last name, more than anything. But I won’t ever try and tell people, like, “Oh yeah, I speak Spanish.” My music, on the other hand — I really don’t know where that comes from. I don’t know why, when I take a lead solo on acoustic, I play a Spanish lick. When I go to California or Texas and I do meet Hispanic fans, they’re like, “You’re the one.” They’re rooting for me on a different level. And that’s a weird feeling for me, because I never put that pressure on myself. I don’t think about race too much. But I’m proud of where I come from, and if I’m one of the first to do it, hopefully that’ll give the next kid the opportunity. 

The record opens with “Welcome to the Plains,” which feels like a great snapshot of your backstory. You manage to fit so many details into just one track, and it really sets up the listener to have a better understanding of the rest of the record. How did that particular track fit into the making of the album?

I’d been heavily influenced by Killers of the Flower Moon, after reading the book and then watching the movie. … You always hear “cowboys and Indians” tales and stuff like that. But for me, I’ve always wanted to talk about things like that. I’ve been saying it ever since I got here to Nashville, and this is my first step in talking about it. I want to do more talking about it, but I feel like I’m not educated enough. So I’m doing the best that I can, just trying to learn as much as I possibly can. 

But that song — you don’t have to scratch the surface of Oklahoma to know that the history is just downright awful. And that state and the character of people that come from it, you would think that we’d be some harsh people, but we’re some of the nicest people. We’re all in a struggle, for the most part, and it’s hard to make it out, so everyone is hardworking as all get out. With “Welcome to the Plains,” it’s trying to find the beauty in a place that seems to have none.

Earlier you mentioned that recording this album was a major learning experience for you. What was your time in the studio like?

I was just sitting there scared because I’d never done an album. And I felt the pressures of the EP already coming up, and then being like: “Oh, now we’re recording an album. That’s a lot. Oh my gosh.” And so that time period was really hard for me, because while we were recording, I was mostly just going through all these lyrics of old songs and trying to make them better, and I just kept on beating myself to shit. 

I was happy with the things that we made there. But what really turned the page on this album was going to L.A. for two weeks at EastWest Studios. Before we recorded Half Life, I’d never really been inside a real studio with real producers. And I’m like, “Oh, this is the big leagues.” When we went out there, I had three extra songs. And then I had one with Aaron Raitiere, a damn good friend, and we wrote it there in the studio. At that point, that was when I started to ease off on stressing over the lyrics and to just be like, “Whatever I said then, I must have been feeling it.” So I’d keep it the way that it is, instead of just trying to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. I’m a perfectionist, at the end of the day, is what I found out.

Has your overall songwriting process changed since that experience?

I don’t know if it’s changed. It’s just helped me stay out of my way. One of the things is something that I learned from Aaron Raitiere. He’s writing a book and it’s called How to Write a Song in 30 Minutes — and then it says, “Disclaimer: This book will not teach you how to write a song.” He really changed my way of thinking about writing. And it’s not that you want to write as many songs as you can in 30 minutes, but more so of just finding a different practice. You know, everyone says that you just keep writing and keep writing, just to keep your head in the game. But with that, it’s like, “Say what needs to be said.” That taught me how to be simple. Stay out of your way because you set up a timer, and you make sure that that clock is right in your face. It allows you not to get in your editor’s mindset.

AmericanaFest Preview 2024

Ahead of AMERICANAFEST, we talk with Emerging Act of the Year nominee Wyatt Flores, run down our favorite shows and more