The Lone Star State has no shortage of country music performers, and some of the best up-and-coming artists are being featured in Stonewater Sessions, streaming their newest and most popular songs on Facebook while giving viewers an inside look behind the music. The latest artist in the spotlight is Whitehouse native Tyler Dudley, who is about to release a new album.

Dudley spoke with Stonewater Roofing at The Robot Cave recording studio in Tyler, before his performance at Coach’s & Cowboy’s last month.

“I worked at Cavender’s for years. It was really my only real job,” Dudley recalled. “I was a manager there, and I just didn’t like the whole 9-5 thing.”

That is when Dudley turned his back on retail and decided to pursue his true passion in life. “I’ve always just loved music,” he said. “I had something and wanted to use it. And that made me happy. That’s what it’s all about to me, just doing what you love.”

Dudley is quick to credit others for his success, notably JB Patterson from JB & The Moonshine Band. “I was playing at a sports bar years ago, and we were playing one of JB’s songs and they came up. I think it’s just funny. I feel like that’s just how this industry works is you just meet people. That’s what it’s all about. You just slowly make connections, you meet people, the right people.”

Patterson helped lead Dudley on his journey into the music industry. “He really took me under his wing and just showed me the ways and the routes. He’s produced the album. He’s told me what steps to take. Without him, this would be a whole lot harder to process. So, to have someone like him in my corner to help, it’s kind of crazy.”

But it’s not just famous names that helped Dudley get his start. Perhaps the most influential force behind Dudley’s career was his grandfather. “My grandfather was probably the one that really,” Dudley started. “He used to play guitar a lot and sing around the house. He was the one that really motivated me and wanted me to do it. He passed away a little over a year ago and we wrote a song. We got a song that’s coming out on the EP soon.”

However, the first single from that EP is “Heart the Size of Texas.” Dudley performed the song live for Stonewater Sessions. “It’s another one of those songs that’s pretty self-explanatory, about a girl that I met that had a heart the size of Texas, had a really big heart, and just cared more than she probably should have about a lot of different things, about other people and myself.”

Dudley also performed “Wastin’ My Time,” which he said is about “a relationship that I felt was just going nowhere.”

“I definitely think that music is a great way for anybody that’s going through anything like that can listen to something and know that someone else is going through kind of the same thing,” Dudley said. “I think that’s the wonderful thing about music.”