Living in Texas, it’s difficult to escape the power and influence of country music. It’s everywhere - dripping steadily out of the speakers of restaurants, grocery stores, honkey tonks, even gas station intercoms into the subconscious of each lone star resident.
Hayden Haddock marks no exception. Growing up in Dallas-Fort Worth, and on his brothers’ and fathers’ music tastes, the infectious melodies of 90s country worked their way into Hayden’s own musical preferences. Though a musician’s spark didn’t catch until age 14, when Hayden attended a Kenny Chesney concert at AT&T Stadium.
Instead of obsessing over the headliner, Hayden found himself transfixed on the opener, Eric Church.
“After leaving there I told my parents that I wanted to take guitar lessons, and… the rest is history,” said Hayden.
Upon his first several requests, Hayden’s dad remained unconvinced, certain that money for a brand new guitar and adjoining lessons would be wasted on fleeting teen interest.
But with persistence, Hayden eventually received a $200 Yamaha and with it the foundational inspiration for what would become his career.
Secretly chipping away at his vocal and instrumental talent, Hayden kept his skills mostly to himself. He hardly sang for anyone, until his college roommate at Texas A&M goaded him into singing, as college freshmen do, to impress a girl.
Unbeknownst to Hayden, his roommate secretly recorded the 2018 mini-performance and posted it online. Suddenly, family, friends and complete strangers wanted to hear more.
Encouraged by demand from others to step into his confidence as a performer, Hayden began playing gigs across DFW and College Station. Through sharing his own songs and hard-practiced covers on stage, Hayden captured an audience and realized his future lay in Red Dirt country.
He began balancing a fast-growing music career with studying construction science at Texas A&M. This feat proved challenging, especially with the pandemic interrupting both pursuits.
The same determination that earned him his first guitar landed him connections with vital bandmates and producers, and by graduation, he emerged with not only a degree, but two fully fledged records, First Rodeo and Red Dirt Texas.
Since graduating, Hayden has given music his full attention. He boasts more than 6.5 million streams to date, and earned his first Texas Country Music Chart No.1 this year with the single “Front Porch in The Rain.”
Hayden tours Texas heavily, playing over 100 shows a year and has shared the stage and collaborator status with notable names, such as Steve Wariner, Kevin Fowler and Trent Willmon.
Further sharpening his collaborative skills, Hayden even spent a year in Nashville, jamming with other artists in countless writers’ rounds. “Living there really helped me grow,” Hayden said. “I feel like my writing’s on a whole different level now.”
Despite his time in Tennessee, Haddock remains firmly rooted in Texas. He currently lives in DFW and frequently performs at local staples like Love and War in Plano and Rhinestone Saloon in Fort Worth. The energy of Texas crowds, as he puts it, is “something special,” and his calendar reflects it — Texas cities make up roughly 70% of his tour lineup.
Musically, Hayden is focused on the road ahead. He recently signed a new management deal with Good Company Entertainment and is gearing up to release new music this summer. Studio time is booked for mid-June, and he plans to record three new tracks, including some co-written during his time in Nashville.
As he looks to the future, Haddock’s goals remain grounded. “I want to be able to hold my hat high on having a good live show and a great band,” he says. “I hope people connect with the music, have a good time at the shows and maybe even see a bit of themselves in the songs.”
With his boots planted in Texas soil and his eyes set on a wider horizon, Hayden Haddock isn’t just chasing country stardom — he’s building something authentic, one show, one song and one story at a time.