Tayla Parx's Tractor Era: How Moving Back to the South Inspired Her New Album

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Tayla Parx has always been country. Originally from Dallas, the 30-year-old buzzer became just the fourth black woman in history to score a Country Airplay No. 1 with Dan + Shay's “Glad You Exist” (2021), and a few months ago, Parx moved to Nashville . .

There, she develops a sustainable ranch while preparing her upcoming third album, Many moons, many suns (out on her TaylaMade Records), which explores the unexpected end of her engagement and blends country, rock, house, soul and contemporary pop. “I buy goats, sheep and cows,” she says of her new home. “I'm already excited about the songs I'm going to create once I'm here.”

Below, Parx previews her new album and reflects on the queer pop star.

What's the first thing you did when you woke up today?

The first thing I did when I woke up today was load a tractor. I got a tractor for a living and my friend left it. I was working on my little ranch.

What drew you to Nashville?

I started coming down here last year, but maybe three or four months ago, I was official [here] full time. I'm still in LA once or twice a week, but this is my home.

What was the key moment in the journey to your new album?

I can last four years, I finally said, “I feel new again.” [We] go through those feelings of breaking down and building and tearing down the new version of yourself… I'm in that moment now. [That’s] when is the right time to create or finish the album.

Last year you co-wrote Troye Sivan“Got Me Started” and Janelle Monáe“Water slide.” Did you carry over any inspiration from these sessions to your own?

We have a problem in the songwriting world where you'll see a queer artist and they only have straight writers on the project, and that's a little weird. Or we see a female artist and they only have straight men for writers, and that's a little weird too. I'm not saying we can't have that perspective, because I've written about a lot of different people and I haven't lived their version of life. However, it's always important to have at least one part of the project who can see you in a very different way — and maybe that's because they're queer. So I chose to write with many artists [with whom] I can write from that perspective. I'm much pickier these days.

“Era” has a strong dancehall energy, as do the “10s”. How did examining your relationship affect your influences while recording?

We have this ballroom energy, New Orleans energy, all the things that I've experienced in my life that are such a huge part of queer culture. With “10s”, I played a lot with pulling from my community, the different sounds that inspire and move us. I really wanted to go to the extremes. A lot of the music that is the most innovative is ballroom. We've been forced to be off limits, or be seen as such, for so long that it was like, “F-K. Well, I might as well be the best version of myself — and make me the best.”

When you were coming up, who were the songwriters that made you feel the most seen?

I feel like I'm just now getting the chance in the last few years to have artists that really make me feel like I'm watching. Around 2015, I was listening to 'Boyfriend' by Marika Hackman, and it's a queer song and I'd never heard anything like lyrics [that.] This does not mean that there [aren’t] All the queer artists that have been out there are way ahead, I'm just saying what spoke to me. Being born in '93 and being a teenager in the 2000s is a very different thing.

If you had to pick three key tracks from the new record, what would they be?

I would say, “Standing Up to the Wind,” “Gentlewoman,” and “I Don't Talk About Texas.”

Aside from the album, what are your plans for the rest of the year?

We're back on the road. I'm very excited because it's been a minute since I've been on the road. I went from touring constantly to taking a break and really letting the music come. There's some crazy sustainable and biodegradable merchandise coming out, which is really cool. And more behind the scenes of the process — I make sure everything is reflected in the world of TaylaMade [my] values.

A version of this story originally appeared in the June 22, 2024, issue of Advertising sign.