Go Behind The Scenes For Ben Burgess’ Grand Ole Opry Debut

Ben Burgess country music

Ben Burgess has been around for awhile.

The Dallas, Texas native made quite an impact behind the scenes of the music industry, writing for some of the biggest pop and country stars since making music a fulltime job. During his stint in Los Angeles, he penned songs for the Jonas Brother and Lil Wayne, but even though he grew up in a city, the big lights of LA never felt right and he moved to Nashville in 2015.

That’s when things really took off.

He signed with Big Loud and began working with Morgan Wallen, Hardy, and Ernest, co-writing some of the biggest tunes in the genre’s history, but still, there was something missing.

He always had a dream of being onstage himself, so last year he took that leap, releasing his debut album Tears The Size Of Texas and hitting the road with Koe Wetzel.

To say it’s gone well is an understatement.

The album was fantastic, anchored by the title track and “Started A Band”, a true story of him losing a girlfriend to the lead singer of a band he took her to see.

He gained more fans each time he hit the stage, made an appearance on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, and then, at the end of February 2023, was called on to make his debut at the most iconic venue in Country Music, The Grand Ole Opry.

The Opry just shared some behind the scenes footage of his experience that day and it’s clear that the excitement and nerves he has are absolutely real and he’s just doing his best to fill the big shoes of those that came before him.

He spoke about what this meant to him during the video.

“It’s like I’m on a ride at Six Flags, but I had to pay for the ticket with 15 years of blood, sweat, and tears. It’s beautiful to be here… 

All the history of all the songs, musicians, artists, producers, managers, publishers, janitors… If you think about everybody and everything that’s a part of this, it’s like a million people. Probably the biggest stage I’ve ever stepped on.

When I came to Nashville, they welcomed me with open arms and this feels like an even bigger Nashville to me. I feel like I’ve been accepted as an artist and as a songwriter in the Country Music community, which, you know, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

He goes on to tell the story of how he grew up. His father was a fireman and local musician/songwriter and there was plenty of music around the house, from Frank Zappa to Willie Nelson, The Beatles to Al Green.

“Tears The Size Of Texas” was his song of choice for the performance and he also spoke on how it came to be during the video.

“That was the first song I wrote after I got offered the record deal… The young lady I was dating at the time, I think she knew it was going to keep me away from her, so there were some tears… It ended up being the first song we recorded in the studio.”

Chasing dreams is a tough line of work, but it’s easy to root for a guy like Ben Burgess.

Check out the video below and if you haven’t yet, get listening to Ben. You won’t regret it.

 

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