Midland is an American country music group formed in 2014 in Dripping Springs, Texas. The group members are Mark Wystrach (lead vocals, guitar), Jess Carson (guitar, vocals), and Cameron Duddy (bass guitar, vocals). Through Big Machine Records, the band has released two EPs, their self-titled EP and The Last Resort. They have released four studio albums, On the Rocks, Let It Roll, The Last Resort: Greetings From and Barely Blue, which have accounted for seven charted singles on the Billboard country chart: "Drinkin' Problem", Burn Out", "Make a Little", "Mr. Lonely", "Cheatin' Songs", "Sunrise Tells the Story and "Longneck Way to Go". Midland's musical style is known as neotraditional country.
The band Midland was formed in Dripping Springs, Texas. The trio met separately around Los Angeles, where Jess Carson and Cameron Duddy were in a number of bands through a number of years.[2] After Carson left L.A., Duddy and Mark Wystrach met and formed a country-rock band called The Young Whiskey.[3] The trio met up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for Cameron Duddy's wedding in August 2013; both Wystrach and Carson acted as groomsmen.[4] As Duddy recalls the story, Carson and Wystrach arrived in Jackson Hole for the wedding a week early. After playing songs together on the front porch of Carson's cabin, they proposed starting a project together. Six months later, in January 2014, Duddy called Carson and Wystrach to suggest that they record some songs,[3] and they went to the Sonic Ranch recording studio in El Paso, Texas to record for 10 days. As stated by Mark Wystrach, "when we went to the Sonic Ranch, we became a band. We walked away believing in what had happened."[5][6] Wystrach and Duddy then both moved with their families to Texas where Jess Carson lived.[7] They named the band after a song by Dwight Yoakam that was called "Fair to Midland".[8]
Mark Wystrach grew up surrounded by music as his parents were both fans of live music. His parents owned a country music venue. In addition to being a lead singer, frontman Wystrach is also an actor and model. Wystrach was signed to IMG Models.[9][10]
Jess Carson grew up on a farm in Oregon where the main genre was country music. His sister and father were musicians, so he started playing guitar.[10][11]
Cameron Duddy started playing music after a difficult situation in his family; he found that music helped to lessen the tension, saying, "Sometimes you don't get to talk about all the things that you maybe want to talk about and the ice breaker started to be music." Duddy got his first guitar from his father; it helped him to find his identity for becoming a musician.[11]
Duddy is also a music video director; he won an MTV Video Music Award for "Locked Out of Heaven" by artist Bruno Mars.[12] He has directed over 20 music videos in his career, working with several top artist.
Midland's first song, "Fourteen Gears", was around 2015. The song, according to Duddy, was "another one of the early moments that defined and solidified the band."[13][14]
On March 9, 2016, the trio signed to Big Machine Records and released the Midland EP featuring their debut single, "Drinkin' Problem", which charted on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay. The band wrote the song with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, the former of whom also produced it.[15] Duddy directed the song's music video.[16] Their debut album On the Rocks was released in September 22, 2017, produced by Dann Huff, Josh Osborne, Shane McAnally. Midland released "Make a Little" as the second single.[17] "Burn Out" as the third single and it was released in late 2018.[18]
Midland was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018: Grammy Award for Best Country Song and Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, both for "Drinkin’ Problem".[19] Midland won at the 2018 ACM Awards for best New Vocal Group of the year. Midland released the single "Mr. Lonely" in February 2019 as the leadoff single to their second album.[20] Midland released "Cheatin' Songs" in August of 2019 as the second single to the album. The album, Let It Roll, was released on August 23, 2019.[21] The band began a tour in June in support of the album.[22] In 2019 Midland's album On the Rocks was certified Gold by the RIAA.[23]
In February 2020 Midland launched three expressions of their own tequila, called "insõlito".[24] In March 2021, Midland released an album titled The Sonic Ranch, which served as the soundtrack for the documentary film on their origin story, focusing on their first recording session at The Sonic Ranch in 2014.[25][26] On July 16, 2021, Midland released their latest EP, The Last Resort, which hit Number 47 on the Billboard Album Sales Chart.[27] The band followed the EP with their third studio album titled The Last Resort: Greetings From, released on May 6, 2022.[28] They released "Sunrise Tells the Story" as the first single, and the second single was released in late 2022 titled "Longneck Way to Go" with Jon Pardi.
Midland released their fourth studio album on September 20, 2024 titled Barely Blue, the album consist of eight songs and was produced by Grammy Award winner Dave Cobb. Rolling Stone rated Barely Blue one of the top 30 best country and Americana albums of 2024. Vulture.com listed the title track "Lucky Sometimes" as one of the best songs of 2024.
Touring musicians
Past touring musicians
Rolling Stone said that "the Texas-based band blend their voices to produce country music that recalls a mix of George Strait, Urban Cowboy and Seventies yacht rock."[29] Billboard describes the band's sound as "a definite George Strait '80s New Traditionalist feel to it, combined with the rich California harmonies that made The Eagles legendary."[30] Midland also is known for their unique dressing style, very similar to the original "Nudie suits" designed by Nudie Cohn.[31] Vogue called Midland both heartthrobs and fashion risk takers."[32]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | Certifications | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [33] |
US Country [34] |
AUS [35] |
CAN [36][37] |
UK [38] |
UK Country | ||||
| On the Rocks |
|
20 | 2 | — | 45 | — | 8 |
|
|
| Let It Roll |
|
16 | 1 | 72 | 37 | 75 | 1 |
|
|
| The Last Resort: Greetings From[41] |
|
— | 37 | — | — | — | 1 | ||
| Barely Blue |
|
— | — | — | — | — | 10 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Live from the Palomino[43] |
|
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| The Sonic Ranch |
|
| Title | EP details | Peak chart positions | Sales | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [34] |
US Heat [45] | |||
| Midland |
|
38 | 18 |
|
| The Last Resort |
|
— | — | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Sales | Certifications | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [47] |
US Country [48] |
US Country Airplay [49] |
CAN [50] |
CAN Country [51] | |||||
| 2017 | "Drinkin' Problem" | 45 | 4 | 3 | 98 | 1 |
|
On the Rocks | |
| "Make a Little" | —[A] | 23 | 15 | — | 12 |
| |||
| 2018 | "Burn Out" | 63 | 11 | 3 | — | 29 |
|
| |
| 2019 | "Mr. Lonely" | — | 31 | 23 | — | 32 | Let It Roll | ||
| 2020 | "Cheatin' Songs" | — | 41 | 26 | — | 48 |
| ||
| 2021 | "Sunrise Tells the Story" | — | — | 42 | — | — | The Last Resort: Greetings From | ||
| 2022 | "Longneck Way to Go" (with Jon Pardi) |
— | — | 52 | — | — | |||
| 2025 | "I Wish You Would" (Mackenzie Carpenter featuring Midland) |
— | — | 56 | — | — | Hey Country Queen | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Notes
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | "Drinkin' Problem"[16] | Cameron Duddy |
| "Make a Little"[58] | ||
| 2018 | "Burn Out"[59] | TK McKamy |
| 2019 | "Mr. Lonely"[60] | Cameron Duddy |
| 2022 | "Sunrise Tells the Story"[61] | Cameron Duddy and Harper Duddy |
| "Longneck Way to Go" | Harper Smith |
| Year | Song | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | "Boot Scootin' Boogie" | Brooks & Dunn | Reboot[62] |
| 2020 | "Redneck Girl" | Tim McGraw | McGraw Machine Hits: 2013–2019[63] |
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient/Work | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | CMT Music Awards | Group Video of the Year | "Drinkin’ Problem" | Nominated | [64][65] |
| 2018 | Country Music Association Awards | New Artist of the Year | Midland | Nominated | [66] |
| Vocal Group of the Year | Nominated | ||||
| Single of the Year | "Drinkin' Problem" | Nominated | |||
| Grammy Awards | Best Country Duo/Group Performance | Nominated | [19] | ||
| Best Country Song | Nominated | [19] | |||
| ACM Awards | New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year | Midland | Won | [67] | |
| Vocal Group of the Year | Midland | Nominated | |||
| Single Record of the Year | "Drinkin' Problem" | Nominated | |||
| 2019 | CMT Music Awards | Group Video of the Year | "Burn Out" | Nominated | [68] |
| Country Music Association Awards | New Artist of the Year | Midland | Nominated | [66] | |
| Vocal Group of the Year | Nominated | ||||
| 2020 | Nominated |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
