Breland’s first trip to Nashville few weeks before the pandemic hit: “Unfortunate timing”

Breland’s one of country music’s hottest rising acts today, but the pandemic nearly conspired to keep his career from taking off.

“I first visited Nashville to work on the ‘My Truck’ remix with Sam Hunt, back, like, a few weeks before the pandemic hit,” he reveals during a new interview on Trailblazers Radio With Fancy Hagood.

“My Truck” — and the version featuring Sam — was Breland’s breakout hit and launched a career that quickly grew to include duets with Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, and his chart-topping “Beers on Me” collaboration with Dierks Bentley and Hardy. But back then, Breland says, he felt like he was on the cusp of big developments in his career.

“It felt like a lot of things were about to happen in a good way and then a lot of things globally happened that were quite the opposite. I don’t blame Nashville for that. It was just an unfortunate timing,” Breland says.

But on the flip side of things, the timing couldn’t have been better: If Breland had visited Music City just a few weeks later, he never would have gotten to meet some of the people who inspired him to return to Nashville and keep working on music.

“I got a really good vibe when I was here, spent a few days, met a bunch of people, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ The way that people write out here was really fascinating to me,” Breland says.

In fact, he got such a good vibe from the city that he moved to Nashville full time just a few months later.