Conyer Walker Reflects On ‘American Idol,’ Country Music

LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL — Conyer Walker discovered his love of music through his father’s vast album collection at a young age. He bonded with his dad, a single parent, listening to artists that spanned genres and decades.

“Growing up, nobody really sang in my family, nobody played instruments,” the Lakewood Ranch-based country artist said. “But my dad was always listening to music, and it wasn’t just country music. My dad had a pretty wide library of music, everything from Travis Tritt and Hank Williams, Jr. to Prince and Ozzy Osbourne. He covered all the bases.”

Listening to music with his father led to a love of singing. Growing up in Sarasota, Walker joined the chorus at his elementary school simply because he enjoyed it so much.

It wasn’t until he and his father moved to North Carolina during his middle school years that he realized singing might be more than a fun hobby. He was selected to participate in an honors chorus in his community.

“5,000 kids would try out and they’d pick 150 kids to be in this choir. I was selected all three years,” he said. “It’s where I realized maybe I could sing a little bit.”

Though his musical interests vary, Walker has always, at heart, been a country singer.

“It’s just what comes out,” he said. “Whenever I sing, what comes out is country music. You shouldn’t try to be something you aren’t.”

He moved back to Sarasota as a sophomore, attending Riverview High School. When he was 17, he picked up a guitar for the first time.

“I got a guitar. I hated it. I didn’t like playing the thing and put it down,” Walker said.

Six months later, he decided to give the instrument another chance, though. He borrowed Keith Whitley’s “Greatest Hits” album from his father and “learned it front to back,” he said. “I haven’t stopped since.”

From that point on, his guitar went with him everywhere.

“If you saw me at school, I probably had a guitar in my hand or in my truck,” he said. “I was always known to have a guitar with me.”

In his early twenties, while coaching football at Braden River High School, he tried out for “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent.”

It wasn’t a good experience, though, and Walker gave up music for several years after those auditions.

“It was not good. It did not go well at all,” he said.

He didn’t make it through the shows’ preliminary rounds. For “The Voice,” he traveled to Nashville to audition alongside thousands of other hopefuls at Music City Center and they’d send singers into the audition room 10 at a time, he said. He was surprised by how superficial the process was.

“It was a visual thing with ‘The Voice.’ They told me, ‘You don’t have the look,’” Walker said. “I was a 300-pound guy at the time. I was in my early twenties and I wasn’t in football shape but was still a pretty big guy. I was a chunky guy.”

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The experience didn’t sit well with him, so he put down his guitar for a while, needing a break. A friend convinced him to return to music several years later when he was about 24 years old, though, suggesting he attend an open mic night at Naughty Monk Brewery in Bradenton.

Walker became a regular at the open mic series and it wasn’t long until the Naughty Monk owners hired him for gigs.

“They said, ‘We’ll pay you to play music.’ I was shocked, like, I can make money playing music?” he said.

While he’s known for performing songs by country favorites like Eric Church and Hank Williams, Jr., he also likes “to mix it up” with ‘90s alternative classics by artists like Nirvana, Tracy Chapman, and Hootie and the Blowfish, he said.

Another friend pushed him to audition for “American Idol” last year.

“I already did the TV show thing. I told him, it’s stupid and I’m not doing that,” Walker said.

But he was coming out of a bad break-up – he’d recently ended a seven-year relationship – and decided he would try something different. So, he applied for the initial “American Idol” auditions over Zoom and spent nearly four hours in a virtual meeting with multiple producers.

“I went from producer to producer to producer,” he said. “At the end, they said, ‘Hey, we’ll be in contact with you.’ And I thought that must be a good sign.”

A week later they called to tell him they were sending him out to audition in front of celebrity judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie in California.

“It was pretty cool. Shocking, to say the least,” he said.

During his in-person audition in October, Walker performed Chris Stapleton’s song “Whiskey & You.” All three judges voted to move him forward to the show’s Hollywood Week.

Hollywood Week, filmed in December, is as stressful as it appears to be on television, Walker said. “That’s all real. It’s super stressful. It’s like Hell Week for Navy SEALs. It’s Hell Week for singers. You’re going a million miles an hour.”

He made it through the first round of Hollywood Week, a solo performance, as well as the second duet round, where he was paired up with singer McKayla Marie, who was eliminated.

Walker didn’t make it through the third and final round of Hollywood Week, the Showstopper Round, though.

Since this was filmed in December, he and his close family and friends have been keeping his “American Idol” appearance a secret until the show’s auditions for this season first aired in February.

“Sadly, none of my performances got aired, which is hard,” Walker said. “Contestants have no say in that. It’s pretty much what the producers decide is marketable and sellable and what gets a rating.”

He added, “You learn with TV shows that it’s all about the look and the drama. They love a good look and they love drama.”

Walker is grateful for the experience. Not only did he befriend performers from across the country and make other connections in the industry, he also started thinking about his music career long-term.

Since returning from Hollywood Week, he’s formed a full band, which he performs with throughout the area. He also continues to book solo gigs, as well. He expects to get on the schedule at Joyland, the country music club, and the Naughty Monk, in coming weeks.

He also plans to travel beyond the Bradenton area and hopes to book gigs in other areas of Florida and Georgia. Walker has been working on his songwriting, too.

“Going into the whole competition, my weak suit was as a songwriter,” he said. “You’ve got to find your own voice, your own authenticity in that. It’s like a muscle. You’ve got to work it out and keep writing.”

This time next year, after growing his regional following, he plans to relocate to Nashville to further his country music career.

Learn more about Walker and his upcoming gigs at his Facebook page.