Castlederg country singer Gareth is set to embark on his “biggest tour to date” next year.
Despite gigging locally across Ireland for nearly 10 years, the artist - whose full name is Gareth Hamilton - says his career “skyrocketed” when he teased a snippet of Stick Season by Noah Kahan, which has garnered more than 25 million online views and 10 million streams.
This kickstarted a loyal and active fanbase which has streamed his debut cover EP, Covers (From Across The Pond), over 15 million times.
“Up until January of this year I was still playing bars in my area, no one was giving me the time of day,” he explains.
“But now we’re announcing headline tours and everything, which is just crazy to me – it feels like a dream.
“It’s crazy how one song, even it’s just a cover, can basically change your life.”
Gareth recalls how he grew up around country music and credits his love of the genre to his grandparents.
“My grandparents grew up listening to the likes of George Jones and it was always in the family,” he says, although he admits that it “wasn’t always cool to be into country”.
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“I grew up around it, I’ve been going to country concerts since I was a teenager – I always say I liked country when it wasn’t cool...I remember all my friends used to take the hand out of me for liking that kind of music, and it’s now funny to see them getting into it.”
He believes the current generation of country artists are helping to bring in new listeners to the genre.
“I think the likes of Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen coming on the scene have done amazing things for country,” he says.
“They are two of the biggest names in country music at the minute, and they just seem to be changing the game and bringing in a different audience.”
Gareth says Luke Combs in particular has been a “really big inspiration” for him over the last few years.
“I went through a stage on TikTok when I was posting covers and literally every video was a Luke Combs video,” he laughs.
“But there’s loads of other people that inspire me too – country is a massive genre and there’s so many different styles which is one of the things I really love about it.”
In October Gareth released his debut EP Changing Seasons, which allowed him experiment with his sound, blending his Irish roots with his passion for country and its storytelling element.
“I didn’t start writing songs until March this year it wasn’t something I realised I could do,” he says.
“I went over to London for a few days and was working with a couple of different songwriters and I just felt so under-qualified.
“But it was weird because they were able to draw this vulnerability out of me, which I didn’t know I had, and then the first song I wrote was Changing Seasons.
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“I feel very lucky that my co-writers and the sessions we’ve been having recently have been going so well, and I just can’t wait to release more music next year.”
2025 is set to be another busy year for Gareth, between heading to Nashville to “get a band together” and setting off on his first headline tour across Ireland, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.
“We found out we were going to do this tour months ago, so it feels great to be able to talk about it now,” he adds.
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“In June we did a mini-tour where we played five shows, but this time we’re coming back and the venues are double the size and it’s our first experience with a full band so it’s going to be amazing.
“And we’ve added some dates in the likes of Germany and Sweden because we played there in November when I was supporting The 502s, so I’m really excited to get back and blow them away.”
Gareth will be playing Belfast’s Limelight on April 26, and tickets are available via ticketmaster.ie. Changing Seasons is now available on Spotify and other streaming services.
