Houston – Sunday night at the Bronze Peacock, there was a sea of glitter, cowboy hats, and pure energy as fans gathered for a Tanner Adell concert at the House of Blues. Houston is one of seven stops in her ‘Giddy Up, Gorgeous’ tour. The 29-year-old rising star is quickly making a name for herself in the country music scene. With 152 million total streams and a collaboration with Beyoncé on the “Blackbiird” from the Grammy Award-winning Country and Album of the Year, Cowboy Carter, Adell is proving that she’s not like others in her industry. She’s a mixed-race genre-bending force to be reckoned with. The Lexington, Kentucky, native was adopted and spent her childhood in Manhattan Beach, California, Star Valley, Wyoming, and later riding off to Nashville to pursue her music career in 2021.
In 2023, her viral hit Buckle Bunny showed up on everyone’s “For You” pages on TikTok. In 2024, came her first headlining tour named after her after the hit which as of this writing has garnered 13.4M streams on Spotify.
In country music and rodeo circles, the term “buckle bunny” usually refers to a woman who’s seen as mostly interested in rodeo cowboys and their shiny buckles, kind of like a groupie. Adell has stirred up some buzz with the song, but made it clear that she’s trying to take that term back and give it a whole new meaning.
Houston Life’s co-host Tessa Barrera and producer Javana Vela had the exclusive opportunity to experience her show firsthand, thanks to Crown Royal, which, by the way, sponsored Tanner’s tour as she is an independent artist.
Fans like ‘Bobbie Doll’ shared why Tanner’s music resonates so deeply. “I love Tanner because she does country music, but it has a hip-hop pop flare you don’t usually see. And you don’t see Black artists in country music enough. Finally, I felt represented,” Bobbie explained.
Inside, the venue was packed with fans sipping on Tanner Adell Crown Royal-themed cocktails and jamming out to DJ Rosez on stage, who played H-Town classics and didn’t miss a beat.
Despite feeling under the weather, Adell put on a show singing most songs from her debut album “Buckle Bunny” and from her latest EP “Don’t Pet (Sampler)” including Do Angels Drink Whiskey, Side Peach, and Giddy Up, Gorgeous.
After the show, Houston Life got the opportunity to chat with Tanner about her show, fans, and her return to Houston. “This is my second time back in Houston. It’s one of my favorite cities to play. Houston always brings a lot of fun fans, and I love seeing the ‘repeat offenders’ — people who came last year and came again tonight. It’s always a lot of fun to see the same familiar faces.”
Tanner also shared insight into what connects her so strongly with her audience.
“I hear a lot from fans that my music has touched them personally or helped them get through certain times. As artists, that’s why we put our hearts out there — to make a good impact.”
Known for pushing boundaries with pop and hip-hop, her lyrics are 100% country, and catchy but we’ll forgive her for her song I Hate Texas. We later learned that it’s not meant to be taken literally, but the result of a lost love. Tanner encourages authenticity in her music. “You just have to be yourself. We’re really over people putting up fake personalities. Being yourself makes it easier to connect with people — and that’s what music is all about today.”
Since the release of Cowboy Carter the conversation surrounding the genre itself and what is and what is not country is still a hot topic but, Tanner Adell is proving that the future of country music is bold, inclusive, and unstoppable and we’re almost certain bigger venues will be sold out on her next tour.