Entertainment

Tyler Farr Shows Off His Country Music Heritage

by Jodi Walker

Tyler Farr may be new to the country music industry when compared to the acts he was following at the iHeartRadio Country Festival (Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley... ever heard of 'em?), but before he got onstage to sing "Redneck Crazy," hosts Darius Rucker and Jennifer Nettles revealed Farr is actually something closer to country royalty than crazy redneck. As in, his dad was the lead touring guitarist for the late, great George Jones. That must have made for one hell of a Take Your Son to Work Day.

But don't worry, Farr didn't make it to Austin, Texas, performing in the country big leagues on the iHeartRadio stage from nepotism alone... or at all, it seems. Nettles and Rucker filled us in on a little more Farr family history in addition to the George Jones connection: Tyler didn't want to just cash in on his family connections to make it as country singer, so he moved himself to Nashville and started "working the door" at legendary Nashville lounge, Tootsies. Eventually he earned his way onto the actual Tootsies stage and the rest, as they say, is history (in the form of being signed to Columbia Records and having a slew of Top 10 Country singles to his name these days).

Farr didn't have to sing about being a redneck for the audience to know there's country in his blood, but nonetheless, he sure got everyone "off [their] hindquarters" at the iHeartRadio Country Festival belting "Redneck Crazy."