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Staying true to himself

Craig Wayne Boyd puts on a ‘real’ show

By ZOË WATKINS - zwatkins@t-g.com
Posted 2/11/23

Nearing 10 years since his big win on Season 7 of The Voice, country music singer Craig Wayne Boyd is sharing his limelight with the small towns. 

Which is why Capri Theatre in Shelbyville, …

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Staying true to himself

Craig Wayne Boyd puts on a ‘real’ show

Posted

Nearing 10 years since his big win on Season 7 of The Voice, country music singer Craig Wayne Boyd is sharing his limelight with the small towns. 

Which is why Capri Theatre in Shelbyville, as their first concert, hosted Boyd on Thursday night.  

“I’ve been all over the country and it’s the small towns that are always fun for me,” said Boyd. “Not only to see the history but to see the history being revived and being renovated is really cool for me to be a part of that.” 

Boyd will also be performing at Wheeler’s Raid Distillery in Nolensville on Saturday, March 4, at 8 p.m. Tickets can be found at craigwayneboyd.com.  

Being the first show at the Capri, Boyd said he went in with open expectations and did what he does best: entertain and give a good show. 

“I’m looking forward to getting back out. I’ve spent the past couple of years being in a vocal group [Texas Hill] and now I’m stepping back out solo again. So, it’s fun for me being my first show back,” said Boyd. 

He described the show as intimate — lending itself to the theatre’s atmosphere — as he focused on acoustic performances of his hit songs, such as “I Ain’t No Quitter” and “My Baby’s Got a Smile on Her Face” as well as new songs and covers he did on The Voice.  

From Dallas to Nashville 

Boyd is originally from Dallas, Texas. As evident in his abilities today, Boyd said he was “well-rounded” with music. His dad was a lead guitar player and a “bluegrasser,” his mom was a southern gospel purist, and his grandmother was into honky-tonk songs.  

They didn’t have TV, so they played music instead. From the ripe old age of four, Boyd learned mandolin and sang in his church choir, even becoming director.  

“I think in my pre-teens I realized it was a gift I wanted to share,” he said. “It’s always been a lifetime thing for me. 

“When I opened my mouth to sing, I realized there was just a little too much twang in my voice. So, between the gospel and the twang, it makes for good country music,” he said.  

So, country music—and a little bit of southern rock—pulled Boyd to pursue a career in Nashville beginning in 2004. 

He recalled how he spent his first night in Nashville in the parking lot of an Exxon gas station off Broadway. He was in his red Chevy truck, which was packed with everything he owned covered with a tarp.  

From there he began to make connections, performing anywhere he could. “I was playing songwriter nights immediately, meeting people, networking. Within six, seven months I signed my first publishing deal as a writer,” Boyd said. 

So, it was quick success as far as landing the job. But then you have to get cuts. Boyd said he was close to getting those cuts, but not all the way.  

“I figured out during that time that my voice and my ability to entertain was pretty strong, so I wanted to go out and hone in on that. That’s when I went on the road,” Boyd said.  

He started playing 230 to 250 days of the year. “Anybody who let me play, I was playing in their honky-tonk, their VFWs, anywhere.”  

But what kept him motivated was seeing the expressions on peoples’ faces and seeing them moved by the words he had to say, whether it was about heartbreak, hard or good times.  

Staying authentic 

Ask any musician and they’ll say one of the hardest parts of being in the music industry is staying true to oneself.  

That’s because putting out music does make a statement about you, according to Boyd. 

Boyd’s advice for anyone aspiring to go into the music industry: stay true to yourself. 

Over the past decade, since his appearance on The Voice and since his song “I Ain’t No Quitter” debuted, Boyd says, “I’ve grown up a lot. I realized you make a statement like ‘I ain’t no quitter’ and you’ve gotta stick to it.”  

As for his music, it has “taken its journey.” But for the most part, his music has stayed true to where he was at the time.  

“You’re forever changing, and life changes you. So, you do morph into different things as you go,” he said. 

Every song and every album represent a different place in his life. Like his song, “Gospel of the South,” which is one he wrote in 2007 and one he never sang in public, until this past week.  

“Because I outwrote my age at the time,” he said.   

Today, “I’m kind of coming back to the roots of the honky-tonk, country stuff again with a little bit more of an adult twist to it because I’ve experienced life since the “I Ain’t No Quitter” stuff,” he said.  

Since then, Boyd has had four more kids — for a total of five — and married his wife, Taylor Borland, in 2016 in addition to settling outside of Nashville.  

Boyd describes growing up around music as “happy.” That is, “music was life,” he said. Today, with five kids of his own, music is continuing in the Boyd household.  

“I think I have about four or five years left in me before I have to be manager,” he said with a laugh.  

Navigating a career, and raising a big family, Boyd said he wears many hats — not just the one on his head. 

Limelight 

Boyd said he felt very fortunate to be a contestant on The Voice, while mentally, it was a “rebuilding time.” That is, a time to reassure that all the hard work he was putting into his career was worth it. 

Then, coming off of The Voice, Boyd said he lived life in the limelight. “Every single thing going on in my life was public,” Boyd recalled.  

It’s one of the reason why he and wife Taylor married quietly and away from paparazzi.  

New song 

So his new single, “One Line Away,” set to drop Tuesday — Valentine’s Day — is a song he said he’s been sitting on for a couple of years. Without revealing too much, it was inspired by him and his wife, who are coming up on seven years of marriage.  

“It was like, ‘Yeah, this is the song we should be putting out,’” Boyd said.  

“That is the biggest thing, is staying true to yourself. Because there’s only one you...and it may not be the easiest thing to do; it may not be the easiest road, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”