Tyler Nail is a creative explorer. He's hosted podcasts, written award-winning essays, and taught himself to play a variety of instruments..But most fundamentally, Tyler Nail is a Southern Songwriter, Appalachian Americana Artist, and North Carolina musician, most commonly found performing solo with his acoustic guitar. Hi's original songs tell deep stories that feel as mysterious and old as folklore, but heartbreakingly relatable and familiar.
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Nail is a wiry figure with a dark, prominent beard. He marches around club stages like he can’t bear to stand still. His voice is rough, loud, and unmistakably Southern. His two-finger Piedmont-style guitar playing weaves intricate compositions that carry both rhythm and melody.
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Nail has been an artist and performer since 2008. He has toured heavily, landed song placement in film and TV, and released multiple LPs, EPs, and singles, including his 2025 release, Family.
"North Carolina is a Mecca of troubadouring singer-songwriter brilliance...
Tyler Nail is undoubtedly a key player in the current chapter of this storied heritage."
-Aldora Britain Records
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Nail’s story began in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – a city built on tobacco, now decorated with repurposed brick factories. He grew up in a log cabin his grandfather built, surrounded by dogwood trees and red clay. His mother sang in the church choir. His father played drums. As a boy, Nail banged out drum patterns on pots and pillows around the house. It was in this setting that Nail discovered a love for music. Throughout childhood, Nail would thumb through his father's CDs and his grandfather's records, studying songs of all genres - particularly lyrics.
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He entered into music performance as a singing drummer, piling his friends into a hot backyard building to play rock songs. At sixteen, he picked up his first guitar and started writing original songs. From there, he began playing open mics and bars, learning his voice.
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He gained his first fans in a coffee shop in King, NC, and more in the clubs of Winston-Salem. He started playing in a local competition called the Winston-Salem Shuffle, where he became its most decorated winner. In 2011, he released his first full album, Winter to Winter. That same year, he produced When I Go Away: A Tribute to Levon Helm – a project that paid homage to one of Nail's musical heroes, and strengthened his place in his local scene.
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Over the years, Nail released more albums, shared stages with Americana staples like The Hackensaw Boys and American Aquarium, and toured the country with his band, The Tyler Nail Trio. In 2016, the band disbanded and Nail took a break from touring. Nail stayed in North Carolina, releasing music quietly until 2019, when his double album Life Lessons marked a darker and louder chapter in his artistry.
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The pandemic halted his return to touring, but didn't stop his drive. In 2020, he released his haunting single, “I Don’t Wanna Die Alone.” In 2021, his DEVIL EP was a full return to his acoustic roots.
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In 2023, Nail decided to leave North Carolina, moving far from the Appalachian foothills to the little city of Providence, Rhode Island, seeking new inspiration and opportunity. In 2024, he worked aggressively on music, sharing songs through Patreon and YouTube while expanding his creative team. During this time, he recorded Family, an album honoring his North Carolina roots, capturing the warmth and weight of home from afar, and honing in on a pure, guitar-driven Americana sound.
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Tyler Nail’s catalog boasts nearly 300 songs. The Southern recluse-turned-wanderer writes with wisdom and craftsmanship, earning accolades along the way: winner of "Best Country Artist" at the Forsyth Entertainment Awards (2018), semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition and American Songwriter Road-Ready Contest (2024), voted in the top 5 songwriters of the Piedmont Triad for multiple years, and nominated for best Americana artist in Providence by Motif Magazine (2025).
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Nail's humble beginnings in his grandfather's cabin seem to stay present in his music. His songs sound like a dreamy North Carolina log cabin hidden in the dogwoods. Nail's story is one of exploration and transformation, but also of deep roots and authenticity. He is a Southern songwriter, an observer, a writer, and a heavy-hitting Americana artist. Much like his musical heroes, Nail is driven by the careful craftsmanship of his songs, and sharing them with as many people as he can across the country, on stage and on recording.