C&I's music video series spotlights the Wyoming troubadour Ian Munsick, who is cementing his status as the voice of the West on the new album, Eagle Feather. Munsick performs an acoustic version of "Cheyenne," from the album.
There are roughly 1,500 miles between Nashville and Ian Munsick’s hometown in Wyoming. But he’s managed to close that wide-open gap with truly western music — the kind that’s been missing on country radio stations for years.
Munsick sat down with Cowboys & Indians before his album release show in Nashville in April to talk about how just about everything in his ranch-life upbringing in Wyoming is woven into these 20 tracks.
Watch C&I Sessions: Ian Munsick
(Interview conducted by Alison Bonaguro; videography and production by Andrew Wendowski. Full performance of "Cheyenne" below.)
C&I: Why has it become so important to you to keep the West in Western music?
Munsick: I grew up on a ranch in Wyoming. So, when I was a kid, I would turn on the radio, and I would never hear any country music about where I was from. They were always about Texas and Georgia and places that were far, far away from where I grew up. I promised myself that I would bring the Rockies into country music. Because in my opinion, there’s nowhere more country than Wyoming.
C&I: And that all started because your dad and big brothers had a band, right? How old were you when they let you join?
Munsick: I was too young, because I was not very good. I think that our first paid gig — I was probably eight or nine. I would say we really hit our stride when I was probably 15.
C&I: Is the music you were making with your family similar to the music you’re making now?
Munsick: It’s inspired by that kind of music: a lot more raw, no drums, just extremely acoustic driven. But lyrically, it’s inspired by the land and the people that love the land. That’s the common thread.
C&I: What’s so cool about these tracks is you think they’re going to be all about the West, but so many end up being about your wife. Like on “Stampede.” The pictures you paint with these songs are a sign of true artistry.
Munsick: I feel very blessed to have grown up in Wyoming, because I think that it’s just a very unique place and a very inspiring place. That’s kind of always just been in my music naturally. Having that well to write from usually produces magic. That’s fuel for expressing myself through music.
C&I: I also think that because you do it so well, that’s why people like Cody Johnson and Lainey Wilson are so eager to collaborate. Do you feel blessed to have people like that on the record?
Munsick: I hit the jackpot with the collaborations. I was listening to Cody Johnson when I was still living in Wyoming, and he was one of the few modern country artists that I could listen to and say, “OK, he knows the kind of lifestyle that I’m living here in Wyoming.” And then when Lainey Wilson came on, man, she’s just so talented and just a great human. That’s probably what I’m the most proud of with these collaborations is that they’re all really good people. I don’t really want to make music with people that might have a big name and might help me make money. At the end of the day, that’s not what this is about.
C&I: And now you and Lainey have the Eagle Feather in common, from your “Feather in My Hat” duet. What does that Greasy Mouth Clan feather in your cowboy hat mean to you?
Munsick: We played Red Rocks last year, and at the end of it, my two friends from childhood came on stage and adopted me into the Crow Tribe. And being a boy from Wyoming, that’s the highest honor that you can get: being an advocate for the real West. That’s a lifestyle and a culture that rarely gets its flowers. To help spread that word is just the highest honor that I could ever ask for.
C&I: Tell us about the three short “Prairie Laments” you have on this album?
Munsick: I thought that it would be cool to include those “Prairie Laments” and scatter them through the album so that there’s a common theme woven through the album. So, they came out very naturally, like “I die a little slower in Wyoming.” That’s just a theme that I can always go back to here living in Nashville and being like, “Man, I’m dying a little bit faster here in Nashville.” Because just the stress of it all, so many people, the hustle-bustle life that the urban lifestyle yields. Being back in Wyoming where it’s just peace and quiet, you’re on your own time, nobody is trying to get anything out of you – that’s the way that I believe God intended us to live.
C&I: How would you describe your relationship with the great outdoors?
Munsick: Man, it goes all the way back to my childhood. My dad is a rancher. My mom pretty much ran the ranch even though my dad was the rancher. They really just let me and my two older brothers roam free around the ranch we grew up on. It was a couple thousand acres right at the base of the mountain. Just a beautiful ranch that anybody would be very lucky to go to, and we grew up there. It was just our backyard. So beautiful, so much wildlife there. Whenever I go outside in Wyoming, I’m just immediately connected with my roots.
C&I: I know your country music success brought you to Nashville, and you have your home and family here, but what if it hadn’t? What would you be doing if not for this?
Munsick: I would probably be playing with my two older brothers and my dad whenever we could on the weekends just for bar money. And I’d probably be working with my brother on his ranch. Honestly, that’s kind of what you do out there. You ranch.
Keep up with Ian Munsick’s tour dates and order music or merch at ianmunsick.com. Watch this space for more country music news and reviews of new country albums and singles.
“God Bless the West”
One of Eagle Feather’s finest moments is a collaboration with Flatland Cavalry frontman Cleto Cordero. Munisk wrote the ballad with two of Nashville’s most prolific hitmakers, Jeremy Spillman and Casey Beathard, and with Cordero’s vocals, it feels akin to a prayer of petition. And while we may never know if “she” is Munsick’s personification of the West or his wife Caroline, it’s clear that this ode to the road comes straight from his cowboy heart.
C&I and Ian Munsick were hosted April 17, 2025, by The Pinnacle Nashville, a music venue at which the artist was scheduled to perform later in the evening. The full acoustic performance of "Cheyenne":
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