Boyfriend Country 2.0: How John Mayer’s Influence is Shaping the Next Generation of Country Stars

Country music has always had its sub-genres. From Countrypolitan and Cowpunk to Bro-Country and the Bakersfield Sound, fans have always found quirky ways to describe a particular moment in country music when like-minded artists, sometimes sub-consciously, come together with a similar sound and sensibility.

Boyfriend Country was a term used to describe a subgenre of male country artists who emerged in the late 2010s when the beery chauvinism, casual sexism and glorified machismo of Bro-Country suddenly felt out of step with a post Me Too world

Characterised by its focus on sensitive, romantic lyrics and vulnerability, songs by artists like Thomas Rhett, Brett Young, Dan + Shay and Kane Brown were marketed to be more relatable and emotionally resonant for female listeners, while still making sure that male artists dominated the airwaves.

Unlike the objectification of women that usually typified Bro-Country songs, the lyrics of Boyfriend Country would often focus solely on the subject of the song - the girl - in an almost worshipful way, with intimate and, seemingly specific, tiny details that still managed to hold a universal, transferable appeal.

The light, poppy production of songs like Luke Combs‘ 'Beautiful Crazy,' Dan + Shay’s 'Speechless,' Russell Dickerson's 'Yours' and Thomas Rhett's 'Make Me Wanna' only added to the universal appeal of Boyfriend Country, owing as much to Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes as it did to pop country.

It was perhaps no coincidence that Tumblr and wider culture was having a moment with the "soft boi" phenomenon around the same time - a more open minded alternative to its close cousin the "fuccboi" - with supposedly sensitive, gentle and emotionally available men embracing non-traditional masculinity, albeit with calculated, equally misogynistic motives underlying their behaviour.

Fast forward five years, and the original wave of Boyfriend Country stars have now become mainstream fixtures on country radio, but country music always has a way of shapeshifting for survival. Recently, a new wave of younger artists have relit the torch sparked by Thomas Rhett et al, modifying it just enough to make it feel fresh and to resonate with a younger Gen Z country audience, as well as their moms.

Artists like Max McNown, Vincent Mason, Ty Myers and Hudson Westbrook share a lot of traits with their Boyfriend Country forefathers with their smooth-tongued sensitivity and emotional openness. Songs like 'Better Me For You (Brown Eyes),' 'Ends Of The Earth' and 'Take Your Time' could have been hits at the height of Boyfriend Country, but something feels different.

The overly sentimental lyrics and vulnerability remain, but there is something less sexually charged and more youthfully awkward about their boy-next-door charm. It's leading us to dub this new wave of younger artists "First Boyfriend Country."

Like the perfect first boyfriend, he's a good listener, he's respectful and kind, and he's supportive of his girlfriend, doing his best to understand the world from her point of view, however difficult he finds it sometimes to adjust to what's expected of men these days. They're going out into the adult world together, hand in hand, and everyone can see how much he adores her. After all, he's singing a song all about her.

"All I ever do now is look into your eyes and wonder how I made it through the days before I found the right road," Adrien Nunez sings in 'ALL I EVER DO’, a song so mawkishly sappy it feels like a lift straight from Ken's heartfelt rendition of Matchbox Twenty's 'Push' in the Barbie movie.

"From the silence of the speakers to the bow in your hair / To the sweet smell of perfume that's hoverin' in the air," Ty Myers sings in 'Ends of the Earth,' an anthem of "First Boyfriend Country," one that could just as easily be sung by Dean from Gilmore Girls to Rory; and we all know how he turned out.

Perhaps the most notable difference of all, though, is that the sound and production draws from somewhere different too. The light, poppy production of Thomas Rhett and Dan + Shay is out, in favour of one guitar-loving figure in particular.

A somewhat controversial figure who has said his fair share of questionable things, one thing that John Mayer can't be scrutinised on is his talent. The Connecticut-born artist is far and beyond one of the most talented musicians rocking around popular music, and having released his now classic debut album Continuum back in 2006, he’s been around for nearly two decades. Whilst his musical diversity has seen him careening across pop, blues, rock, country, jazz, even reaching into jam band territory with Dead and Co. with a guitar in hand, there is still undoubtedly a distinct Mayer sound.

The ‘Gravity’ singer’s playing is distinct and recognisable: soulful, technical, rich in tone and with phrasing that gives his guitar playing his voice. Often starting solos with a simple idea, they progress into impressively detailed yet perfectly natural melodies that sink into an encyclopaedic exploration of chord progressions. For any young guitarist, it would be difficult to watch Mayer play and not be inspired to replicate. When paired with the often self-confessed, pain ridden, simply structured lyrics that make up the other side of Mayer’s work, he’s laid down a blueprint. With this latest country trend settling in, that blueprint is being studied in close detail.

Mayer’s influence on country music spans over a decade, blending country, folk, and Western sounds into two successful albums. The sunshine-soaked ‘Born & Raised’ released in 2012 opens with ‘Queen of California’, a track that sees his acoustic abilities shine, the phenomenal Greg Leisz stepping in with some glimpses of pedal steel, and finished off with vocal harmonies that tap into the country sound just a little harder than he had done before. He ties in country tropes and traditions on tracks like ‘Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey’, yet doesn’t lose his alternative-pop roots, and a track like ‘Something Live Olivia’ brings something a little grittier percussion wise.

Although testing out a new sound, even giving 70s Laurel Canyon a try, the themes of the title track lay down another stone in the pathway towards what’s connecting the new young male stars now: “it gets hard to fake what I won’t be / ‘cause one of these days I’ll be born and raised / and it’s such a waste to grow up lonely”. It’s a search for honesty in a sea of youthful confusion - it’s the sound of growing up and the hurricane of thoughts that come with it.

‘Paradise Valley’, somewhat of a sister album to his last country effort is riddled with heartbreak, and on album highlight ‘Dear Marie’, the slower acoustic number sees Mayer reflecting on early love in the midst of an expanding celebrity profile: “Remember me, I’m the boy you used to love when you were fifteen / Now I wonder what you think when you see me in a magazine”. For the young artists that are navigating this exact same experience, it’s a voice with a decade or so more wisdom to follow, like that older brother that you long to impress.

Mayer’s confessional lyrics, like those in 'Shadow Days'—'I’m a good man, with a good heart / Had a tough time, got a rough start / But I finally learned to let it go'—may seem cliché, but their simple honesty resonates deeply. These new “first boyfriend country” artists that are finding their feet in the music industry, relationships and the “real” world, will hear words like that and grasp onto them. That inherent relatability to an artist that would otherwise seem untouchable is what’s bringing about a Mayer revival.

It’s not just the youngest stars that have found a link to the ‘Sob Rock’ singer though. In 2024, Texas-born country megastar Parker McCollum covered Mayer’s iconic ‘Perfectly Lonely’, a year before that the country star replied to a fan on social media saying “every song I’ve ever written has been a little influenced by John Mayer”. McCollum made his debut back in 2015 and is often a name that the newcomers look up to, so this Mayer-idolisation isn’t exactly new, it’s just reached the next generation.

McCollum’s self-titled album, released in June 2025, is his self-proclaimed most personal album yet - so it’s no surprise that the sound of his musical inspiration is all over it with blues guitar work and vocal deliveries. Interestingly though, McCollum - the artist, the husband, the father - is at a different stage of life to those connected to him on the country music family tree. In a recent interview, he spoke about Mayer’s influence on him, noting that Mayer has been open about how he “wishes he had a wife, wishes he had kids.” For McCollum, an artist moving into a more grounded era in both life and career, “that really resonated with me… it completely changed my entire perspective on my future,” so an admiration for the musical legend turned into a grasp on reality, one that led McCollum to a (somewhat) more conventional future.

This isn’t the case for the newest country boys though. Finding their feet in their teenage years and early twenties, something else about Mayer’s identity has caught their attention. It’s got them singing with a longing pain, and painting all their guitar solos with various hues of blues.

Ty Myers, the 17-year-old Texas prodigy, released his latest single ‘Leaving Carolina’ on July 11. The rising country star has been hailed as John Mayer 2.0 since he released his monumental debut album, and it’s not something he’s denying. “He’s my number one biggest hero ever,” Myers said in a recent interview, having released his impressive debut album at the start of 2025, it’s obvious that Mayer’s influence was present throughout the process. “He did what he wanted and made the world bend to what he wanted to do,” the confident versatility of Mayer’s sound and the success he found with it evidently being somewhat of a comfort for an artist who’s diving headfirst into the music world.

Hailing from Oregon yet establishing his name in Nashville is Max McNown, his latest EP release ‘This Side of Heaven’ kicks off with a title track drowning in Mayer’s classic smooth sob-rock. The melodically falling guitar intro is reminiscent of the ‘Gravity’ days from Mayer, the conversational section of a mid-song guitar solo soulful enough to fit with the simple sentiments of genuine young love. Progressing to a track titled ‘The Cost of Growing Up’, McNown leans into that “young man figuring himself out trope” that riddled Mayer’s early (and not so early) work.

Catching the same ‘Last Train Home’, Noah Rinker is making his way into the campfires of the country-folk world, his latest EP ‘Burning Light’ an undeniable blend of Zach Bryan’s writing style, and Mayer’s ‘Wildfire’ era sound. ‘Ripple’ kicking off with the lyric “a boy like me never needed much / But a couple good friends around the fire and a lady’s well timed touch,” that classic Mayer descending melody following up each verse of innocently heartfelt ideas and dropping the song off with an electric solo.

Texas prodigy Hudson Westbrook, who’s dropped out of college, left work behind, and left it in the rearview for a life on the road gets his early twenties sentiments tied up in his songs with a signature Texas twang. Although his sound is much more neo-traditional and red dirt than Mayer has ever ventured, the inspiration is still there; on latest release ‘Damn Good Taste in Whiskey’, he’s found that balance of cliche and clever, the hook of “gotta bad taste in women, but a damn good taste in whiskey” would’ve happily come from a young Mayer.

Myers, Rinker, McNown and Westbrook? They’ve all posted covers of the ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ legend’s work too. From the days they started in the social-media rooted music world, to now releasing debut albums, follow up EPs and sellout headline tours, they’re remembering what it is that may have connected them to music in the first place, incorporating it into their own sounds. As they settle into the same life stage as the one their musical idol recorded such legendary albums in, we’re getting an all night John Mayer revival.

“Me and all my friends, we’re all misunderstood,” Mayer sings in one of his earliest hits, ‘Waiting on the World to Change’ - in just a few words, he’s captured the very basics of young male thinking: targeted, downtrodden and confused, but wanting to be someone that can prove they’re capable of growing. Ultimately, these new rising country stars have found a way to be ‘Waiting on the World To Change’ whilst making their own way. They’ve got a sob-rock blueprint to follow.

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Words by Jof Owen & Daisy Innes.

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