Meet Hudson Westbrook, the New Voice of the Lone Star State
Photo by Sydney Riley.
At just twenty years old, Hudson Westbrook is living the kind of breakout story most aspiring musicians only ever dream about. His rise to country music fame began less than a year ago after he took a day off from work to record his first single. At the time, Westbrook was a freshman at Texas Tech, juggling online classes while working every day of the week.
“I told my boss I was sick, and then I went and recorded my first song,” he recalls. After his studio session, Westbrook teased the track, “Take it Slow,” on TikTok, where it quickly amassed more than 2.2 million views. “About a week later, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m probably not going to be able to do this job anymore,’” he says, laughing.
Like many of today’s greats, Westbrook, who hails from Stephenville, Texas, grew up singing in church. Yet, he wasn’t born into a musical family, and it wasn’t until the pandemic that he taught himself how to play the guitar. “I was such a sports guy that music was just something I was doing for fun, like it was not very serious,” he shares. “I think everything I did in high school and in college led up to me doing music, but it was never purposefully aimed towards that.”
Photo by Sydney Riley.
On the heels of his overnight success, Westbrook released “Two Way Drive,” a windows-down anthem that he penned in his dorm room about a failed relationship with a girl from his hometown. Upon receiving another overwhelmingly positive response, Westbrook was scheduled to embark on his first headlining tour in his home state of Texas in August before opening for Midland on their fall “Get Lucky” Tour.
“I ended up having to drop out of college because we were touring sixty cities in the next six, seven, eight months,” Westbrook says. “But my college experience was great. It was like a classic go to work out in the morning and then go to class, and then go out with the fraternity or hang out with your buddies after.” (Westbrook was a Phi Delt, in case you were wondering.)
Photo by Sydney Riley.
In November, Westbrook released his self-titled debut EP, replete with six original songs and a cover of fellow Texan Jacob Stelly’s “Johnny Walker.” The EP features “5 to 9,” what Westbrook calls a “perfect reflection” of the time he spent back home building barb wire fences and mowing lawns so that he could afford to treat his mom and girlfriend in his off time, as well as his biggest hit to date, “House Again,” a nostalgic ballad inspired by his parents’ divorce.
“A kitchen that used to be a dance hall/With music on and the lights off/But now it's just four empty walls/Where I lay my head and get no rest at all/The porch swing don't swing/The doorbell don't ring/And now it's just wood on concrete,” Westbrook sings on “House Again.”
“It’s really cool to see people relating to songs like ‘House Again’ because my crowd is younger and they’ve never bought a house, but they’re still relating to it,” Westbrook says, laughing.
And while Westbrook’s newfound life on the road hasn’t been easy, it’s been good for at least one thing – inspiring the EP’s Chris Stapleton-esque “Take Your Time” and the infectious “Pray Your Name.”
“Time is so valuable and, being out on the road, I haven’t been able to see my girlfriend, so I feel like I cherish that moment or moments with the band or my family are so much more important now than they used to be – or, I guess I realized how important they are and I didn’t ever have the chance to prior to that,” he reflects. “The one thing that’s constant in your life is your family and the people that raised you, and I feel like praying for them is honestly the most powerful thing that you can do, while being on the road or just thinking about them.”
Although Westbrook has been touring across the country, he’s still based in Lubbock, Texas (the home of Texas Tech), and he isn’t planning on relocating anytime soon. “I want to feel like a normal college kid,” he explains. “I want to go hang out with my buddies and drink back home. I don’t have to leave everything I ever knew just because it’s changed,” he says.
Westbrook then astutely adds, “When you’re in a small town, you can’t wait to get out, but once you leave it, you realize why they’re so important and why people know how to raise animals and harvest their crops. All that happens because of small towns. Like why is the bread on the shelf in the WalMart? Well, because someone in Iowa had to harvest that wheat and then turned it into bread and sold it, which is making a living for them.”
When I ask whether there was one moment from his whirlwind 2024 that made him think, “I can’t believe this is my life,” Westbrook says, “Every day – it’s really weird.”
Luckily, fans won’t have to wait much longer for more new music. Westbrook, while adamant that he will never rush an album, shares that he plans to adhere to a consistent writing schedule until the spring and then head off into a summer album release, followed by a fall tour. Until he releases his full-length debut record, however, he’ll be touring across the country on his “Take Your Time” Tour, which kicked off earlier this week in Colorado. The album lead-up will also include the release of a new single each month.
In a world where many are swept away by fleeting fame, Hudson Westbrook stands out as an artist rooted in tradition and humility, who understands the importance of hard work, cherishes his roots, and doesn’t shy away from the responsibility that comes with building something meaningful – whether it’s a career, a relationship, or even a barbed-wire fence. Westbrook is proof that staying grounded doesn’t mean staying stagnant. Rather, it’s the foundation for a life – and a career – that’s built to last.
