The Voices of Kentucky's Rising Music Scene: Gracie Yates & Brock Burton Podcast
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There's a moment in conversation when you realise someone has found their calling. It happens quietly, without fanfare—a shift in tone, a certainty in the voice. For Gracie Yates and Brock Burton, two Kentucky artists navigating the uncertain early stages of their music careers, that moment arrives the instant they step on stage. "Once I get up there and play the first note, I'm in the zone," Brock reflects, and you believe him entirely. There's no hesitation in that statement, no performance anxiety left behind. Just clarity.
What's remarkable about Gracie and Brock isn't just their talent, though that's undeniable. It's how they embody something essential about the current state of independent country and Americana music in America—a generation unafraid to blend influences, rooted in community, and genuinely committed to the craft beyond the promise of commercial success. At 22 and 25 respectively, they're precisely where the UK roots music community should be paying attention.
If you wouldn't talk to your friend that way, would you talk to yourself that way?
— Gracie Yates and Brock Burton
Both artists grew up steeped in music, though their pathways differed. Gracie came of age in a household where live music was as common as Sunday dinner. Her parents were travellers, musicians at heart, and they instilled in her an appetite for experience alongside sound. She was raised on Elvis—her grandparents were devoted fans, regular pilgrims to Graceland—mixed with the harder edges of classic rock, Joan Jett, AC/DC. There's something rebellious in that combination, and you can hear it in how she approaches her own work: rooted in tradition but unwilling to be confined by it.
Brock's journey arrived through an unexpected turn. A football injury in his teens forced him to redirect his energy, and he picked up a guitar instead. What might have been a mere distraction became a passion. His family had always been musical—his father's side particularly invested in playing and performing—but Brock needed that physical catalyst to take it seriously. He's spent the years since making up for lost time, and it shows.
Once I get up there and play the first note, I'm in the zone.
— Gracie Yates and Brock Burton
The pair recently spent a weekend at Sleeping in the Woods, Nick Jameson's Kentucky music festival, an experience that perfectly encapsulates what draws them to this life. They didn't just attend; they immersed themselves. Car camping without service, disconnected from the digital noise, surrounded by serious songwriters and a genuine community of musicians. There's something almost countercultural about that choice in 2024—the decision to unplug, to prioritise the actual human experience of making and hearing music together. It's where the best roots music still happens, in those moments between stages, around campfires, in conversations with other artists who understand the peculiar blend of ambition and acceptance that this life demands.
What's particularly striking about Gracie and Brock is their maturity around the psychological challenges of performance. Stage fright and performance anxiety are real obstacles, especially for young artists building their confidence. Yet their approach is refreshingly honest. Gracie has learned to distinguish between pre-show nerves and what happens once the music actually begins—that moment when anxiety transforms into focus, when the technical and emotional aspects align. It's not about conquering fear; it's about understanding it, working with it, letting the music do what it's designed to do.
Both artists are conscious of something deeper too: the importance of community in sustaining a music career. They speak about their experiences at festivals and with other musicians with genuine warmth. This isn't the cynical networking of the industry proper—it's people who genuinely love what they do, who lift each other up, who understand that independent music thrives when artists support artists.
For UK listeners interested in where contemporary American roots music is heading, Gracie Yates and Brock Burton represent something worth following closely. They're young enough to have no nostalgia clouding their vision, yet rooted enough in tradition to understand why these songs matter. They're building something real, one show and one festival at a time, in the small towns and rural communities where country and Americana music has always belonged.
The full conversation is worth your time—particularly if you want to hear artists speak candidly about overcoming performance anxiety, what draws them to festival culture, and why a community of serious musicians matters more than industry validation. Listen to hear two rising voices that deserve your attention.
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