Ty Herndon spent years singing the truth on Nashville’s most prominent stages long before he was able to embrace his own reality. Today, he meets audiences with openness and humor, serving as a vibrant and courageous role model. On August 15, he will bring his powerful, immersive sound and hard-won honesty to the Washington County Fair. As he prepares to engage with his fans, Herndon reflects on the evolution of his professional journey, his emotions, and how much his outlook has evolved since his early days in the industry.
Long before he topped the charts, Herndon honed his voice in an Alabama Pentecostal church. He performed at Nashville’s Opryland USA as a teenager and competed on Star Search before spending years on the Texas honky-tonk circuit, a road that eventually led to Epic Records and a place among the defining voices of 1990s country radio. Between 1995 and 2002, he notched three No. 1 hits and 17 charted singles, including his signature song, “What Mattered Most.”
He sold four million albums and earned CMA and Grammy nominations, all while privately battling addiction, mental health challenges, and a personal truth he did not yet feel safe sharing.
In 2014, Herndon became the first major male country artist to come out as gay, a decision that arrived with equal parts fear and relief. He has since founded the Concert for Love & Acceptance and become an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights, mental health awareness, and addiction recovery.
A 2020 relapse brought him to the lowest point of his life, one he now describes as the beginning of his true turnaround. The core of his new memoir, “What Mattered Most,” which was released this spring and co-authored with David Ritz, is built upon that personal journey, his unwavering faith, and the critical support of both his biological and chosen families.
Whether he is performing or navigating daily life, Herndon continues to be guided by a poignant lesson his grandmother taught him: to view others as “a thousand beautiful hearts on a table,” rejecting any barriers that may divide.
Three years into his marriage to Alex Schwartz, and with two new albums and a rebranded concert series on the way, Herndon says he has landed in a season of authenticity, gratitude, and a genuinely wide-open heart.
Herndon performs on Saturday, August 15, at 7 p.m. at the Washington County Fair, which takes place at 78 Richmond Townhouse Road in Richmond. The fair runs Aug. 12-16. General admission is $14 at the gate for ages 11 and up, or $16.06 online, with children 10 and under admitted free.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Herndon just before the 4th of July holiday.
Q: What have you learned about yourself as you’ve gotten older?
A: “I’ve learned to listen. If things get a little difficult, I’m able to have difficult conversations, and I learn from them.”
Q: What’s your healthy guilty pleasure right now?
A: “I’m really working on body, mind, spirit right now — mostly body — because I’ve got a heavy tour schedule in the next 20 months. But my mama is making banana pudding this afternoon. I’m like, ‘Oh mama - no, no, no…I’ll be there. What time?’”
Q: Were you surprised by the support you received when you came out?
A: “I had 360-something text messages by 8 a.m., and 25% of those were artists that I’d worked with, producers I’d worked with, record labels I’d been on, publicists that I had worked with who were just basically saying, ‘Oh my God, you must feel incredible. This must be a really good day for you.’”
Q: How do you approach your setlist for a fair like Washington County?
A: “I am very intentional about what we’re there for. A fair and a festival, we’re there to have fun. But we do do that moment where we sit down on a stool and have some feels. We’ll be doing some ‘Testify to Love’ for you as well.”
Q: What brings you peace right now?
A: “Once a week we do a little meditation group, and my mother-in-love (mother-in-law), she’s kind of a spiritual healer. So we get together, and we get really centered where we think our hearts need to be.”
Q: What is your favorite place to perform?
A: “If I’m in Texas, I love Billy Bob’s. I love Red Rocks. But quite honestly, these days I’m really digging performing arts centers. I get to be as fun as I want to be, as serious as I need to be, and as playful as I am.”
Q: What would you like fans to know before they come see you?
A: “It was my great honor to do this book. There are no great big answers. There are no great big aha moments. There’s no mess too big that you can’t clean up. Get the book, come to the show. We’ll have some books at the show, and we’ll autograph them.”