Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville - Tristan Tritt: His Musical Journey from Country Roots to Rock Music

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

In this episode, we sit down with Tristan Trit, a country southern rock artist from Georgia, who shares his journey in the music industry over the past five years. Tristan discusses his influences, the merging of rock and country music in his work, and his approach to songwriting and performing. He talks about his rise to fame with a viral TikTok video, his experience growing up with a famous father, and his efforts to balance authenticity, humor, and music in his career. Tristan also emphasizes the importance of live performances, future plans, and his commitment to consistently releasing new music. Tune in to get an in-depth look at Tristan Trit's life, inspirations, and aspirations in the world of music. Introduction and Background Musical Influences and Style Songwriting Process Nashville and Viral Moments Dealing with Expectations and Nepotism Guitar and Performance Style Influences and Inspirations Future Plans and Social Media Strategy Live Performances and Band Dynamics Daily Routine and Work Ethic Memorable Moments and Connections Authenticity and Final Thoughts INTRO/OUTRO Music: T. Wild Mantor Music BMI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars, or behind-the-scenes staff, have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories, which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information. on how they evolve into their chosen career.

We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes, and hear from people who help them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Joining us today is Tristan Trett.

He's a singer-songwriter who's carrying a legendary name while forging his own path with raw, soulful country vibes and a modern rock edge. His music hits deep, his story resonates, and his energy is electric. We will discuss his songwriting that he's poured his heart into for anticipated releases coming next year, and he will share his journey from Georgia to Nashville, some of his stories on the road, and everything in between. He has a great story to share with us, so before we dive into our episode, we'll be back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors.

Thanks for coming on. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. If you would, give us a little information on what you're doing. Sure thing. My name's Tristan Tritt. I'm a sort of a country southern rock-based artist out of Georgia,

though I do a lot of work in Nashville, but I've been doing it for about five years and loving every second of it. I think this is interesting. You do a lot of work in Nashville. your family is deep rooted in country, yet you decided to go more on the rock side. Can you give us how that transition happened for you? Just growing up as a kid, I think my generation is kind of the guitar era, you know, guitar hero era. So we really got a lot of influence from a lot of bands that were really my parents' era.

But because we kind of found it on our own, it really made us feel like we kind of had our own sound, even though, you know, these songs, some of these artists were, you know, 20, 30, 40 years, already in the making. But I just really resonated with the sort of the attitude and the aggressiveness of rock and roll. And I've tried to implement that as well as bringing a lot of the songwriting and the storytelling of country music and try to meld it together. Sure. That makes perfect sense. Now, you bring up songwriting. Do you do most of the songwriting yourself? The majority of I do. And, you know, occasionally, like I'll work with a producer. Typically, it's no more than just me and another guy. He's

creating the track as I'm building the song. But inputs always value. for me especially so when people can contribute to the song that's always helpful but for the most part i like to come with at least a foundation bill or the melody and then go from there so i really do enjoy the songwriting you know aspect of this whole career yeah absolutely i totally understand why you prefer songwriting yourself now do you do most of your recording here in nashville 99% of it i i'm always at least once or twice a month going up to nashville and you know throwing out new ideas or at least going up there for you know my band's space out of there so it's it's only a three-hour drive for me, so I'm constantly up there and kind of inundated with the what's happening in good old

Music City. I totally get that. It's changed over the last several years, but it's still Music City. Oh, absolutely. Especially if you still know the good spots to go to where it's not, you know, completely tourist crowded. It's still got a little bit of that old Nashville to it. Yes, absolutely. Now, I understand I'm not sure which song it is, but you and your dad did a video here a little while ago. Uh, yes, sir, about, I think a year ago, I posted a video of me and him kind of just messing around and playing best of intentions. And that was like the first viral video I ever had. And I checked it the next day.

And at this point, like I had maybe had like 600 followers on TikTok. And then this video had like 1.5 million views. And then by, you know, two weeks later, it's 5 million views. So it really, it helped a lot with a lot of people finding out who I was. But yeah, it was kind of a frivolous moment that we kind of didn't really think anything of. And I guess a lot of people resonated with it. That's the best way. Have it go organic as possible.

So how did it feel? What went through your mind that you was getting all these downloads and streams on something that you and your dad did? And now they're finding out who your dad is. So how did that feel? It wasn't too bad just because of the fact that I'd been playing music live for about three years at that point or going on four years. And it was, I already kind of had a sound already in place. So it wasn't like the expectations where people were like, oh, he's not released anything yet. I don't, you know, I wonder what he sounds like. You could. go check out my YouTube or Spotify and find out pretty quickly. But in regards to visibility, it really did help out. And, you know, people constantly throw in the NEPO baby thing and all and stuff. And I lean into it. The words don't affect me like that. And it's like my expectations of what I'm here to do versus what you think I'm here to do just based off the name, you know, Trit, if you think that I'm going to come out and have long hair and sing a ballad, well, there's already a guy with the last name Trit that does that. And his name's Travis Trit. Yeah, that is a great way to approach it. I've had the opportunity to be around a lot of sons and daughters of music legends.

I've even produced and managed a few. I've always found it interesting to see their perspective of their parents, given their fame and notoriety. You've already kind of given us a little insight. So if you would, expand on your perspective on what it was like to have a famous father in the music business that you chose to do. Even as a kid, I never really used it as something that, you know, to me it was no different than if someone's parents were a plumber or a lawyer or anything like that. Like, it's just the occupation that your family does or your parent does. But I've always been raised very traditionally where, you know, respect is always first.

So I've never walked around with some pompous kind of bravado to myself. I've always tried to treat everyone with respect. Even if that does come up or they find out, it's never like, oh, you're going to treat me differently. It's like I'm based off of merit and based off of how, you know, you just deal with people on a daily basis. That's how my parents have always raised me and my siblings to be. So in regards to having him as a parent in the professional standpoint, it really kind of opened the doors and gave me a lot of insight into the music industry long before I knew I wanted to do it. And even straight out of high school, I worked as a production assistant for him for two years and really got to be like entrenched in his business world.

And it was very eye-opening. And it gave me a lot of opportunities, not just in networking, but just with learning. And learning in the best way I know how to, which is hands on. And if people want to call that, you know, a Nepo baby because you're going into the same career path as your parents, so be it. But I've always been incredibly proud of my father. And he's one of the biggest role models I have. And every ounce of his passion that he puts into his work is something that I try to emulate

in the same way that he does. And he's been, you know, almost 40 years in the business. And every single show is like, it's like the last one for him. He plays it like it's, you know, like it counts. I think that's great. And I think that's great the way that you look at it because it really doesn't matter. If a plumber had a son and he went his way, no one would think twice about it. So why should it be any different in the music business?

FYI, somewhere, I've got a picture of your dad and me. We were at a function together. And it was taken back when we were both in our 30s. Oh, awesome. Yeah, it's always fun to go to these music functions and meet people and talk with people. And your dad was just one of several that I've talked with. He was a good guy. I appreciate that.

So you play a lot of different instruments. What is your favorite instrument that you like to play? I'm mainly a guitarist, if anything, and I say guitarist loosely, but I'm a campfire guitarist where I can play enough chords, do enough of the playing to build up an idea, but I leave it to the professionals. When I go on stage, for the last probably two and a half years, I've completely gone where I just use the microphone

and get to run up and downstage like an idiot. But it's still my favorite instrument just because of, I think the individual voicing on it that really good players can have. And that's with any instrument, but specifically with guitar, the fact that I can, for instance, my dad, I can hear a couple of notes and know that's his style of playing. I can hear it with Stevie Rayvon, you know, Jimmy Hendry, Slaps, any of these guys. There's a really unique tonality and voicing that you can have through guitar. It's a very emotional instrument.

It sings just as much as a voice does. So I've always had a deep admiration for guitars and guitar playing. Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I've had a chance to listen to some of your music. The last video you just released. I can't remember the name of it right now. Southern accents. That could be it. I'll have to look it up, but it definitely reminds me of BTO and bad company.

Yeah. What were the influences that led to the style of music that you perform now? Well, I started off. I went like hardcore 70s, so it was like really big into Sabbath, early Sabbath, really big into Motorhead, guys like that. And then I found my way, obviously, through the glam rock and all. those years. But, you know, free and bad company were a huge inspiration to me in the beginning, because I wrote a song probably back in 2021 called Ride On Time. And if you listen to that song, it's very much Paul Rogers. Like, it's got that style. He's got such a beautiful voice and just that old-school analog sound. Like, I've always wanted to record into, you know, just a straight

tape and edit it the old way and all that stuff. But that songwriting and just that singing is so, it's so visceral and so real. So, yeah, bad company has always been a major influence on me. So I'll take that as a compliment. Yeah, absolutely. You need to because I really like bad company as well. And actually, that may be the song that I heard because it had bad company, BTO, all that style, just written all over the production. I loved it. Awesome. Okay, let me throw this out. If you were to pick someone that you'd like to collaborate with and they can be alive or dead, who would it be? 100% Ozzy Alsborn. That's the easy one. Okay. Very easy. Okay. So tell me,

What draws you to Ozzy? I mean everything. His personality was one thing, but just the singing ability. It's truly incredible. And watching, after his passing in July, I really started watching old videos of, like, the early Sabbath tapings and, like, top of the pops and all those, you know, performances.

He's such an incredible singer. His range was just incredible, and it still translated over, even with, like, the collaborations with Post Malone and guys like that. Like, he just had a voice that spoke to me the same way it spoke to, you know, tens of millions of people. Yeah, absolutely. He was great. I had great respect for him as well. So, what's your goals? Where do you see yourself? Three, four, five years?

Just momentum. Keep expanding. Keep growing. Within the next couple of months, you know, we're leaning into 2026 as of this recording. Just having a lot more opportunities than doing opening slots for people engaging with new audiences that I haven't really met yet and just consistently releasing music. I'm trying to get at least a song a month for next year. just to keep the ball rolling and be consistent with that. But yeah, just like anyone else's dream in this business, if I can make a living off of just playing music and be able to support not only myself but my team,

then I'm more than happy. Yeah. You know, it's amazing you bring up the one song per month. I remember when it used to be that if you could get two to three songs out per year, that was good. That was really good. You hit the charts, then went through the motions. then it went from three songs a year down to two songs a year. Then it went to one, sometimes one and start another one before the end of the year, really one and a half.

That's a pretty ambitious thing to do a song per month. If you put out a song per month next year, how do you see yourself growing during the year from those releases? Just based off of what I've witnessed with combining your music world with your social, media following, just a sign of the times and how this generation and how most people are now, it's very, like their attention span is very short. And even if you do give them something of quality, which you always want to do, you know, I'm not trying to make the, you know, I call it musical McDonald's where you just go out there and you give them something and just say, okay, here. But yeah, the retention span, it goes away quickly. So when you're constantly having something to advertise

or something to, you know, promote and throwing a new videos, it just makes it a lot easier. And I get bored very quickly too. So like after about a month of having a song out, I get tired of having it in the background in every single video. Like it gets redundant. But a lot of these newer artists, like for instance, Gavin Adcock has really kind of open a lot of doors in showing people like me who have like decent followings online, how to really capitalize on that. And just, it's just satiating people's hunger. If people like you enough to follow you and follow your music, then the best you can do is just kind of supplement them, especially with the fact that like, I've only released an I haven't even done an album yet.

So singles just seem the easiest route to go. If that's 12 songs, that's basically an LP altogether. Yeah, that's right. That's one way of looking at it for sure. What kind of engagement are you getting with your social media? How do you see that building from this point on for you? It's a combination of the music and also just little stupid rants that I'll do occasionally where it's like, you know, it's one or two takes and it's something normally kind of silly.

But for some reason, I don't know if it's people just laughing, enjoying it or whatever, they just start comments on their own or start conversations. But it's one way or another, those engagement numbers kind of, they all trickle down back to the music, which is my main goal. So whether it's something that I'm posting as humorous or, you know, just actual lip sync or music video type stuff, it's all kind of cohesive now. Sure. Now, when you put something new out, what's the typical way that you like to do it? You put it on your social media. You put it on your website, you do all the natural things one would do, things that everyone would think about, what do you do that might be outside of the box, pre-thinking, that may be a little different

that others don't do? This way it separates you from everyone else out there. One of the biggest things has been really implementing humor into it, just because that's a big part of my personality, and it's a lot of how I just interact and interface with daily life is trying to make, you know, try to make light of things. And just be silly. and use myself really as like as the butt of the joke, not really going after anyone in particular, but just kind of just laying into myself about funny stuff, you know? But one of my biggest influences in regards to that,

Ozzie was obviously very funny dude, but from Tool Manor James Keenan, very, very funny guy, very dry sense of humor, but knew how to implement all these different humorous tactics and not taking yourself too seriously into his musical projects. I think that's exactly how I'm starting to kind of grow the audiences is just by implementing both those things, humor and the music together. Make sure both of them are genuine.

Sure, that's great. Now, when you're performing, if I was standing behind the stage, looking out at the audience, what am I going to see? A lot of energy, a lot of, you know, getting involved with the crowd, a lot of running up and down, a lot of movement. I can't stand when artists, you know, there's a lot of different type of performance tactics, and some people are all about the song and really just wanting to make it. kind of a listening kind of audience, but I like it rowdy, I like it loud, I like it,

just an event. I want to turn it, whether it's a, you know, a small kind of hall or something larger like a county fair or a festival even, I want the energy there because I think that really feeds the artist and it feeds my band and everyone just, you know, we try to play off of that and that really makes the show all the more fun. Sure, feeding off the crowd's energy is a dual purpose. It helps you. It helps them and it just turns out to be really great for everyone. Now, tell me a little bit more about your band. They're basically all based out of Nashville, and most of them are either Broadway guys or working music in some other facets.

So they're basically on with me anytime I'm going on the road or something like that. I don't necessarily use them for recording or anything, but they're my guys whenever I'm doing any kind of live. Perfect. So what kind of instrumentation do you have on stage? It's a four piece. So it's me, vocals, bass, drums, keep it simple. Yeah, that sounds really good. Also, sounds like it got a great rhythm section. Absolutely. Absolutely. And my guys are all absolute killers. They're fantastic. Yeah, when you have a great rhythm section, it makes everything flow and it just really falls together well. Absolutely. I can coast off of that.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And the beauty of it, if you make a small little oops, because the rhythm section is solid, you can just flow off from it, improvise. And you may know there was an issue, but no one else will. And that's the great thing about live music. Absolutely. And that's one of the things I love about, like, just the tradition. analog band is the fact that like the mistakes are going to happen whether you like them or not and it's just the ability to kind of play off that and improvise that's where some real magic happens and it also tests your will to see how good you can you know recover in a in a short amount of time and hopefully where no one even notices yeah absolutely that's the beauty of music now what's the typical day look like for you whether you're working or you're planning on working for something

like a possible tour. I'm very much a creature of habits, so I like to wake up early, you know, make my bed, get started, go work out. I'll typically handle, like, the administrative stuff that I have to do, the not-so-exciting, sexy part of the music industry, where it's, you know, answering emails,

trying to plan for upcoming shows, booking hotels, or anything like that. But a lot of it is just trying to kind of soak in everything else around me and try to find ways by whether it's writing down, just journaling or anything like that, just finding the next song. and finding the next real topic of discussion, and that's kind of just how I go along with the day.

Okay, you just brought up the administration part of it. Are you just a one-man gang? Do you have others that help you? Not at all. I have a great team. Most of them are either based out of New York or Nashville, and I'm based out of Georgia, and I'm still like a micromanager and a bit of a control freak.

I like to stay on top of things and at least know what's going on, even if it's not necessarily my role. But every morning, like, I like having purpose and like having to have these responsibilities that I have to take care of. That's awesome. I mean, that's a very smart thing to do. A lot of people have lost their way because they gave all these things to other people to do and never paid attention to what they were doing. Absolutely. My dad always told me, one of the wisest things he's ever told me, was an artist nowadays needs to be able to carry a guitar case in one hand and a briefcase in the other and be able to use both well. I'm like, that's great advice.

Yes, that's some of the best advice that anyone could give because in today's world, very, very important. So tell me, what's your inspiration? What inspires you to do what you do? Because as you said, the music business is very tough. It's tough. It's rough. People will tell you what you want to hear, sometimes not what you need to hear, which sometimes will make it harder than what it needs to be. So what's your inspiration to go through all that and come out on the other side?

For me, it's really a thing about purpose, and I truly believe, like, this is what I'm here to do. This is something that I enjoy doing. And even when there's rougher moments, like having the responsibility and especially being on the road with my guys, like, I look at them and say, you know, me getting knocked down and not getting back up is not only like a hindrance to myself and my own ego, but it's also going to be a hindrance to them because they rely on me to a degree for, you know, other things. So having that purpose really is what keeps me going. And when the live portion kicks in, the joke is, you know, I play for free. You're just paying for the other BS that I got to deal with on the daily basis. But the live portion of it, too, when you see people for the first time singing back the lyrics that you wrote and really having some of these touching direct messages from folks where they really kind of pour their heart out

and tell you some stuff about, you know, whether the song helped them get through a lot or whether the videos or anything like that, that really motivates me and really inspires me to keep going with stuff. because at the end of the day, this is like one of the last universal languages where people actually come together or not, you know, trying to cut each other's throats. You know, everyone's in agreeance to at least have a good time for a couple hours. And that, to me, is one of the most precious things about the music industry. Yeah, that's a great thing about music. It tends to bring people together and that's a very, very great thing.

Now, tell me, what has been one of your better moments, something that's really memorable? It might be something that's noteworthy. or it might be something that's just noteworthy to you. What is something that stands out to you over the last few years or the last few months, but it touched you in such a way that it might have changed your path a little bit, or it might have given you the strength to just keep moving forward. Anything come to mind? There's been a couple of things.

I think about three years ago, I was probably on my fourth release at that time, my fourth single, and it wasn't making crazy numbers or anything. I was an independent artist and it's still, you know, just, it was very, very slow trickle. But we did a show in a place called Geneva, Indiana, which is a tiny little town, but they had a bunch of people come out for this thing because there's not much that goes on in this place and seeing these younger, basically like kids, teenagers, up near the front stage and singing my words back to me for the first time ever, that was, that was jarring in the best way possible and that will always stick out to me. And then just in recent months, I guess through social media

and through the music and all that stuff, having these opportunities to really build authentic friendships with people I never really thought I would have, you know, any connection with otherwise, people in completely different worlds. A lot of, like, YouTubers that now I talk to on a weekly basis and people who are really good at things, they don't understand what I do,

I don't understand what they do. But having the Internet actually do what it's supposed to do and bring people together that, you know, never would. That's pretty inspiring to. And I'm very thankful for that. Yeah, that's really good to hear. I just love it when people can connect like that. So let's take this a different direction. Let's get an on the road story. I've been on the road many times over the years, done things,

and there's always that one instance that something happens. It just stands out in your mind. Something like, that was really goofy or, man, I'm lucky I'm still alive. So everyone has one. So what stands out in your mind that happened on the road? I'm trying to think of something that's not too incriminating. I mean, in recent times, we were driving and everyone was ready to go, and we were going on the road for about close to three hours, heading up north, I think, to Pennsylvania. And then the cop pulls us over, and I was like, oh, God.

So I'm starting to have, like, to talk with everyone, like, who's got weed, who's got something on it? And, like, you've got to be honest with me. And no one did, but thank God the cop was cool. And it turned out, like, we just rented this van, and no one had the, I guess the guy who rented it to us didn't turn on the lights, which we should have done anyway. we were just driving with the headlights off. So he thought one of us was, whoever was driving was

drunk, and luckily no one was. So it was just a stupid mistake. But that was like, kind of got your heart pounding for a second. It was like, all right, if we're going down, who's going down first? It's going to be me. I know it is. That's pretty good. I've had a few cop stories myself that turned out good and a few other things that are just humorous as well. So what's important to listeners hear about you that you would like to tell them for those that might be hearing about you for the first time. What is important that they know about you. What you see is what you get. There's no BSing. There's no lying. There's no trying to put on a front. This is exactly, this is how I walk, talk, act, you know, it is me. Some of the stuff I post and some of the videos is like a, you know,

it's a caricature a little bit. You lean into it just for the humor of it. But I'm sick and tired of this facade that people are having, specifically in the music world where it's inauthentic and they're pertaining to be something they're not. And I'm more than happy once again to self-deafes. deprecate and call out my own flaws, but I'm very, very much someone who appreciates authenticity. So if that's something that you enjoy, whether you're a fan of my style of music or not, like, that's just, that's the type of person that I am and that I strive to be on a daily basis. Nice. Nice. I like it. How do people find you? Just check me out on Tristan Trit, Instagram, Tristan Trit 13, TikTok, and then Tristan Trit, anything, YouTube, Google, whatever, MySpace. Yeah, yeah. You've got your website too, right?

Absolutely. Tristantrit.com. what's coming out spring 2026? What are you working on through the winter that's going to be exciting and new for early spring for everyone to look forward to? So as of right now,

we're going into fall of 2025. I've got a new song dropping in just about a month. Brand new song. The last one I did was a Tom Petty cover, so this one's going to be an original. And then, like I said, I do my best to keep my word

and at least released from, you know, February onward and keep the songs going out as much as I can, and trying different things, collaborations with artists and stuff, but still kind of honing in that sound that I've been putting out. Do you have anyone currently that you're collaborating with? None. None so far. I've had offers and we've kind of, you know, talk shop, but I haven't gone through with it yet. Well, that's okay. You have to make sure that everything's right because that does fall on the business side that you have to take and watch out for.

Absolutely, absolutely. It's always nice when you have people coming up to you that want to work with you, want to collaborate, and even when you know someone, they've got a name and you're excited that they want to work with you, but you have to take care of the business because you have to do that before you can get up on that stage and perform. Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Now, one last thing, is there anything you would like to tell our listeners that we might not have touched on? Not necessarily.

If you haven't checked out Southern accent yet, please go check it out. And if you like what you hear, just be sure to follow me on Spotify, Apple Music, where every stream your music and yeah I'm going to have much more coming out soon well good this has been great great conversation great information I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today absolutely thank you so much sony it's been my pleasure thanks again thanks for joining us today we hope you enjoy the show this has been a tony mentor production for more information contact media at plateau music dot com