It’s funny where inspiration can come from sometimes. Sometimes real experience can spark our creativity, and sometimes an idea, even if it’s total fiction, can do the same. For Rich O’Toole, it was his love of Kevin Costner, and more specifically, his role in Yellowstone, that spawned the idea for his newest single, “17 Wild Horses.”
With a desire to craft a western heartbreak tune on his mind, O’Toole says he used Yellowstone as a base point for his new single.
“I wrote this song about the character Beth from Yellowstone,” O’Toole says. “I am a giant Kevin Costner fan, and I wanted to write a heartbreak song about western culture, and ’17 Wild Horses’ is what popped up.”
While he’s mentioned that “17 Wild Horses” will serve as the lead single from an upcoming album, he says he isn’t quite sure exactly what listeners should expect from the project yet, though he has the framework set.
“It’s going to be about the west, i.e. Arizona and Utah,” says O’Toole. “I’ve always said we play western rock music.”
“17 Wild Horses” comes in the middle of a hot streak for O’Toole, whose last album, New York, spawned several successful singles and has earned nearly two-million Spotify streams. While that’s nice, O’Toole says he is much more concerned with getting his music into his listeners’ hands, focusing less on streaming numbers.
“It’s all about just wanting people to hear my art. I’m over ego or numbers,” says O’Toole. “I just want people to listen to my music and gather their own feelings from it, that’s my only wish.”
Though COVID has put a strain on his touring schedule, O’Toole says that he’s spent his down time honing his craft and awaiting better days ahead, though he admits it was tough at first.
“It was so sad. I’ve tried to stay busy, but it was hard,” says O’Toole. “No gigs means no money, so I just had to keep my head up and just know that I would be back on tour soon, trust the process and practice my material. COVID hurt a lot of people in the music industry.”
With well over half of 2021 still in front of him, O’Toole plans to hit the road as much as he can and share new content with his fans.
“I want to try and tour as much as possible and release as much music as possible,” says O’Toole. “We have an amazing fan base, and I have a lot to share with them.”
*”17 Wild Horses” is featured on The Best of Pro Country playlist!*
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