"I'd Die A Little Slower In Wyoming": Ian Munsick Pays Homage To The Cowboy Way of Life, His Home State & The Modern West on Stunning New Album, 'Eagle Feather'

"Lord, I'd die a little slower in Wyoming
That wild and free puts me at peace
If I draw my final breath when I am roaming
Lord, let Wyoming be where they bury me"

Ian Munsick's long-awaited third album ushers listeners in with the atmospheric homage of 'Prairie Lament', a touching tribute to his home state, the cowboy way of life and all of the moments that brought him to the precipice of Eagle Feather.

Serving as a tribute to his sacred way of life, which has been slowly but surely dying out with every new generation, the 20-song project is steeped in Munsick's personal experiences, almost reading like an autobiography of the crooner's journey thus far.

Sat in a cozy gaming room in Warner Music Nashville's office on Music Row, Munsick explains, "When we played Red Rocks last year, I got adopted into the Crow tribe. They gave me gifts to welcome me into their community and an eagle feather was one of them.

"For me, that was probably one of the top three moments in my life behind having my son and getting married. Whenever one of those moments happens in my life, I feel like it's important to really feel that emotion as heavily as I can. As a writer, that's where the best ammunition is," he adds.

Enter: Eagle Feather.

Where his 2023 record, White Buffalo, spread his Rocky Mountain gospel to the masses, his 2025 follow-up finds Munsick sharing intimate depictions of the landscape, its people and the stories that have long inspired him. From the yearning 'Too Many Trees' and expansive 'God Bless The West' featuring Flatland Cavalry's Cleto Cordero, to the sizzling 'Firewater' and the high-flying atmospheric feel of the title-track, there's a common thread that runs through all 20 tracks of this expansive piece.

“With Eagle Feather, I wanted to make an actual album, not just cut 18 tracks, throw them all together and call it an album,” Munsick says, noting that the same musicians, producers and engineers run across its entirety. “My goal was to make it feel like a cohesive album that you really have to listen to from track one all the way to track 20."

"We have interludes in there that tie a thread through the whole thing, and I really wanted to make you feel like you were in the modern West. Not the west from 100 years ago, because we don't live there."

Underlining the importance of that region of the US, Munsick shares, "I feel like we're so enamored with the west because it takes us back in time, even if it's just 20 years ago. I wanted to accurately represent the modern Western culture in a package that is today."

Throughout his career thus far, Munsick's driving force and life motto has been to "bring the west to the rest."

Inundating listeners and fans all around the world with his fiddle-laden sound and signature coyote cry, it's been a mission that's served him well, but also one that's been necessary for the Wyoming native.

"The ranch I grew up on is just so magical, it's an incredibly spiritual place. I feel like that's the way that God intended all of us to live, but we keep on getting further and further away from that with technology, money and striving to climb the ladder," Munsick opines. "For me, I can always go back there and say, 'This is where I am supposed to be.'

"I always felt called to play music because it brought people happiness, but I knew that I would have to leave that special place. Luckily, I'm able to take that place with me through my music and I can share that place across the country, which has been my goal from the beginning."

He adds, "Being able to spread that through my music has always helped me stay in Wyoming, even when I'm 1,000 miles away."

Munsick goes on to discuss touring with three of the biggest acts in modern country music, collaborating with his longtime friend Lainey Wilson, his viral tour antics and more.

"I really feel like we hit the jackpot being with the best in the industry, from Cody Johnson, to Lainey Wilson, to Morgan Wallen.

The thing that I learned the most from Morgan was that the sky is the limit. Country music isn't just a room in a building, it's the whole thing. You can go as far as you want, and you can't hit your head on it.

From Lainey, I learned how quickly things can happen. She had a No. 1 on the radio, but wasn't doing what she does now. Then she got on Yellowstone and there was this perfect storm for her. She's able to do what she's doing now, and she has remained the Lainey Wilson that I met eight years ago. It really gave me hope that good people can break through in a very, very competitive industry.

Through Cody, I learned how to treat people that you're on the road with. He treated us so well, he gave us advice and gave us a lot of tough love when we needed it. He taught us how to tour the right way, and he's never changed who he is for the industry. The industry has caught up with who he is. Even when we were on tour with him, before he had any hits on the radio, he was doing 8,000 a night. There's a lot of people that have 10 hits on the radio and can't do 8,000 a night, so it was just awesome being able to learn the unique paths to stardom through those three artists."

"From the beginning, the goal was to be able to go in and headline coast to coast and have our own fanbase – not steal from other people or be lukewarm. I think that's how you achieve longevity in music. Making music that's unique, but is also true to me and not trying to please anybody, that's the best way to achieve longevity.

At the end of the day, it's my name on the album and I have to play these for the rest of my life, hopefully. From White Buffalo, I feel like I really made [it clear] that making the kind of music that I want to make is at the top of my priority list.

For this album, it was figuring out how to take it to the next level."

"I had the idea and I didn't really know where it was going to go, but obviously there's the image of the feather in my hat, but the way I've always viewed it is that it's more like a trophy. If you tie it in with love, though, you're saying, 'Hey, you're not just a trophy. You're my lover, you're the wings on my back. You're not just a feather in my hat.'

Lainey obviously has her own relationship with Duck, and she wears a feather in her hat, too, so I knew that was going to be a soft spot. It just kind of felt like it would be a man and woman duet, so it was kind of a no brainer. The power that comes from that song feels like an award show moment.

To call her a pal for eight years and for her to blow up and bring me on tour with her, then be kind enough to record a song with me, reminded me that there's still good people in this world."

"At the beginning of the year, I teamed up with my buddy Charlie Worsham, who is my music director on tour. When we were going back and forth, I told him that I had a girl pop medley that we used to do, which was Brittney Spears, TLC and Destiny’s Child, and that I wanted to take that to the next level.

Now we have Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie in a Bottle’ vs. Brittney Spears’ ‘Toxic’, Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong With Me’ vs. Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’ and Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ vs. Camilla Cabello’s ‘Havana’ that we call ‘The Beef Medley,’ because they all have beef with each other.

That was just a really good way to end it and there’s a little dance move at the end that we threw in at the last minute. That’s of course the highlight of the show instead of me playing ‘Long Live Cowgirls.’"

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