About Trent Willmon

Born March 6, 1973, in Amarillo, Texas, country singer/songwriter Trent Willmon was raised on a ranch near the tiny West Texas town of Afton .

The son of Dean Willmon, a school teacher and cattle rancher, and Billie Willmon, Trent began playing the guitar when he was 16.  He was also active in the 4-H Club and the FFA (Future Farmers of America) for livestock judging, cooking skills, and speech-making, which earned him a scholarship to South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, where he initially majored in animal science toward earning a degree in agriculture.

By his second year, however, he had switched to the music department, and then he dropped out to play bass in a bluegrass band. In 1995, he moved to Nashville , where he found work caring for horses while trying to get his songs heard.  In 1998 he signed a song-publishing contract, organized a band and began playing in honky tonks.   It was in 2004 that he finally was signed to a contract by Columbia Records and released his first single, "Beer Man," followed by "Dixie Rose Deluxe's Honky Tonk, Feed Store, Gun Shop, Used Car, Beer, Bait, BBQ, Barber Shop, Laundromat." His self-titled debut album appeared in October 2004.

	Even though he chose a different path in life, he still credits cowboys and their stories as one of his primary influences. "All the real cowboys I grew up with were just real good at telling stories," he says. "It's just part of who they are, almost like a tradition — like fancy saddles and cowboy hats. Part of it comes from spending a lot of time alone on the range — time to really think about things — and part of it's because of the colorful life they lead. Ty Murray (seven-time World Champion "All Around Cowboy") is a friend of mine, and I overheard him flirting with this girl once. He said, 'You know why they call us cowboys, ma'am? It's because we never grow up!' And that's true. The cowboys I know can be 70 years old, but they've still got that great sense of humor ... and they've still got that boy side of them, too." After the success of his first full-length album, Willmon headed to The Castle Recording Studios in Franklin , Tennessee , to record his sophomore effort, A Little More Livin', which was released in 2006. "The title comes from a line in the song 'A Night in the Ground,'" explains Willmon, "but it's also kind of my motto on life. I've learned to live life as if I didn't have tomorrow. I know that sounds kind of cheesy and mushy and all that, but it's a good way to keep things in perspective." "The guys in my band are my friends and my family, but honestly, I'd rather hang out with cowboys than most musicians," admits Willmon. "I'd rather sit around and talk about horses than talk about gear!" To wit, Willmon's band, Four Finger Nate, is named after one of his ropin' buddies, who's name-dropped in one of the new album's two cowboy songs, a paean to the joys of "The Ropin' Pen." The other, the closing "Good Horses to Ride," is a stirring salute to all the larger-than-life old cowboys Willmon grew up around in West Texas.

"In all honesty, because we didn't have a big hit off that first record, there was no reason why I should have gotten to make a second one," he says. "John is a guy who's just all about the music, and he believes in me. That's why I signed with Sony even though we got offers at that showcase from three different labels."

"One of the mistakes that I did early on when I first moved to town was trying to fit into the Nashville mold," he says. "Actually, that wasn't really a mistake, because it taught me to be a more poignant songwriter: I learned that I couldn't just write things that appealed to me. And then when I got my band back together and started playing the honky-tonks again, I found a happy medium and my own little niche where people would come see us and relate to what we were doing, but I could still be me. That's why, at the end of the day, even if this record flops or doesn't do anything, I'm still extremely proud of it."

"Right now, I think I'm on the path to being the best that I've ever been," he says. "I don't know what that means or what God's got planned for me, but I know for sure now that he definitely meant for me to play and write music."

With alot of livin' and learning under his belt, Willmon opted to name his third album Broken In, released February 2008.  Stocked full with great music from start to finish, it is his best work to date.