Corey Kent has spent years trying to explain what kind of music he makes.
Country was technically correct, but never specific enough. Rock 'n' roll covered another piece of it, but still missed the Oklahoma roots, Texas influence and wide-ranging soundtrack that shaped him.
Sitting inside historic RCA Studio A on Music Row, where he put the finishing touches on his upcoming album, Kent finally had an answer: "Heartland rock and roll."
"The thought was we finally kind of have a name for the sound," Kent told The Tennessean, adding that he sees rock 'n' roll getting a "second wind" in country music. "And when you hear that, when you hear the album, it takes you to a different place than just saying country music or just saying rock and roll."
Kent
will release his 15-track album on Sept. 25, 2026, through Sony Music Nashville. The project features collaborations with Koe Wetzel and Jason Aldean and arrives after Kent surpassed 1 billion career streams.
"My inspiration and influences were all over the place," the Bixby, Oklahoma native said.
He grew up listening to country artists like Willie Nelson, George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Chris Stapleton and Eric Church, alongside rock legends the Eagles, John Mellencamp, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin.
"Rock and roll ain't dead, it just moved to Texas," he said.
His listeners also blur those genre lines. Kent said fans regularly tell him they don't listen to country music, but they do like his edge.
"We're basically like the gateway drug to country music," he joked.
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A life built around playing live
Kent picked up a guitar at 8 and by about 10 was singing while playing. There was a classic rock band that would let him perform during breaks at the block parties near the shopping center where his mom owned a dress shop.
He wasn't particularly interested in formal music lessons.
"I didn't have any interest in learning music theory," he said. "I didn't have any interest in reading music. I was like, 'Show me how to play 'Paradise City.'"
Eventually, he found an instructor willing to teach him that way.
At 11, Kent performed at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa as part of a nine-piece band made up of musicians 15 and younger. They opened for Asleep at the Wheel and the Texas Playboys.
He remembers walking offstage knowing he had found what he wanted to do.
"That was the coolest high that I've ever been a part of," Kent said. "I just knew I had fallen in love with live music."
That relationship with performing became the constant as Kent built his career. He said there were years when he lost money playing shows but kept doing it anyway.
"If I couldn't play live, like if I could write and record, but I couldn't go play live, then I would just do something else," Kent said. "For me, writing songs and recording is kind of a means to an end for me to get to do what I really love, which is play live."
Kent has since performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and is opening for one of his musical heroes, Eric Church, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. His next goal is seeing his own name at the top of the marquee at venues like those.
Texas through-and-through
Weeks after sitting down with The Tennessean at RCA Studio A, he drove his motorcycle into Urban Cowboy Bar downtown for an Aug. 11 album preview. Guests received portable fans amid Music City's scorching summer heat, Whataburger catered and Kent played songs from "Heartland Rock and Roll" under yellow lights.
The album reflects a new willingness to trust his instincts. Kent and Wetzel quietly recorded "Rocky Mountain Low" in Cisco, Texas, without first navigating the usual logistics of a collaboration.
The gamble worked. Three days after its release, the song went to country radio and became Kent's fastest-climbing single, he said.
"Empty Words" surprised him even more. He expected it to be a deep cut before listeners embraced the song. Instead, radio stations began playing it early.
"I did not think that the masses would connect with the song in the same way that I did," Kent said. "I was super wrong."
The response to both songs reinforced how little control an artist has once the music leaves their hands.
"I wish I could make things go viral. I wish I could make them big hits by pushing a magic button," he said.
The album also captures Kent's life away from the stage. He and his wife, Dayna Lou White, have four children: daughters Steelie, Capri and Ivy Love, and son Canyon. Ivy, the youngest, was born in November 2025.
His kids' voices can be heard at the beginning of "Everyday Life," recorded during a family gathering at La Rosa Ranch in Texas.
Producer Austin Goodloe was in the living room casually asking the kids questions when their voices were recorded. The family chatter eventually became the song's intro.
"They're like, 'That's me, that's me, that's my voice,'" Kent said. "And it's their favorite simply because their voices are on the beginning of the song."
Bryan West is a music reporter at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Corey Kent reaches 1B streams with 'Heartland Rock and Roll' sound
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