Hudson Westbrook caught up with PEOPLE to talk about his whirlwind success ahead of his debut album this summer
Just a year ago, the country singer was a typical college freshman in Texas before his music career took off
Westbrook is getting ready to hit the road on tour this summer with Parker McCollum
Hudson Westbrook is enjoying the ride of a lifetime.
The 20-year-old country music singer burst onto the music scene in 2024 with his hit single “Take It Slow,” and ahead of his full-length, debut album this summer, he caught up with PEOPLE to talk about his whirlwind success.
“We went from zero to a hundred really quick, but we’re trying to go zero to a million,” Westbook says. “That’s the goal.”
Westbrook, who just months prior was a college student, realized life as he once knew it had officially changed when a group of high school boys stopped him for a picture outside a grocery store in Central Texas where he grew up.
“I was like, ‘All right, y’all. I can’t take the picture right now. I’m on the phone.’ I just kept rolling. And so then I go inside and I’m talking on the phone, taking my sweet time, not thinking about anything. And then I walk out an hour and 45 minutes later, and those kids are still waiting there to take a picture,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘All right. This is legit.'”
Rick Kern/Getty
Hudson Westbrook in May 2025
Westbrook was raised on a Texas cattle farm, and he enrolled his freshman year at Texas Tech University studying oil and gas, thinking he would become “a landman.” He says he never thought he was “good” enough to sing professionally.
“I was in high school playing covers, and it was for fun. My mom would be like, ‘Wow, that’s really good, Hudson,’ but I’m like, ‘That’s my mom!’ [Other] people are like, ‘Yeah, you’re really good,’ but it wasn’t ever like, ‘You’re going to put out an album one day, and it’s going to possibly be on a Billboard chart.’ That was never the intention,” he says.
Adds Westbrook: “That’s kind of the best part about it. I haven’t been exposed to music for the longest time, and I think it’s a fresh thing that I haven’t been in Nashville for 10 years. I was in college 10 months ago, living the college life, so all I got to do is remember that kid when I’m writing and how it’s relatable for everyone else out in the world.”
The rising musician credits country icon Miranda Lambert, whose music he often covers, for giving him the best piece of industry advice he’s ever received.
“She was like, ‘Just do your own thing and don’t worry about all the side stuff. Make your art and go do the things around your art that you need to do. And don’t ever change who you were before,'” he says. “She’s incredible.”
And, in the spirit of remaining true to himself and his art, Westbook admittedly sprung the news on his mother that he’d dropped out of college to focus full-time on his skyrocketing career.
“The day that I dropped out, I was playing the biggest show in my life. My mom came, and I walk on stage, I say, ‘Yeah, this one’s called “Two Way Drive.”‘ And I always do this quick thing [where I say] ‘I was breaking bulls in Fort Worth. I broke up with this girl. I drove back and forth, so I ended up thinking about her a lot. Sometimes you got to write a song about it in the dorm room. It’s called ‘Two Way Drive’… And I dropped out!’ and then we hit it,” he says.
Eventually, Westbrook noticed his mom was no longer in the audience.
“Mom comes backstage, waiting to chew me [out] like, ‘You did what!’ What the f— did you do?'” he says of her reaction. “And I was like, ‘Mom, I promise. It’ll be okay!'”
Amy E. Price/Getty
Hudson Westbrook in April 2025
Westbrook’s quick — and continued — success is bucking the old adage that Nashville is a 10-year-town. When asked why he thinks his music resonating with so many people, the artist keeps the conversation candid, just like his songwriting.
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“I think from a marketing standpoint, I have blonde hair and blue eyes, and I wear boots and jeans. It does not hurt. And my mom gave me a good smile. I’m getting Invisalign, though, because they’re getting a little whacked,” he admits. “But I think it’s like, you don’t want to do what someone’s already done. I make sure to be real. There’s a type of music that I wanted to hear, and I’ve never been able to hear it. So, I just decided to make it.”
Westbrook will hit the road this summer on tour where he’ll open for Parker McCollum, beginning in July.
Read the original article on People
