John Haywood

The son of a sheet metal contractor, John Haywood was born and raised just south of Baltimore, Maryland. He moved to Nashville in 2021 and made his name with an old school voice poured over a mix of blues, rock and outlaw country—his lyrics "as honest and country as a tumbleweed and a dirt road" (Dave Fenley, songwriter and AGT and The Voice contestant). Between touring frequently in the US and co-writing in Nashville, Haywood is working on his first album with David Dorn producing (Gabe Lee "farmland," Nate Fredrick "Different Shade of Blue").

In 2013, Haywood finished his BA in English and quit his job as a janitor to travel the world writing fiction and non-fiction stories. After a cross-country road trip in 2016, he became fascinated with Nashville and set his sights on writing a novel about songwriters. He returned to Nashville and found that the songwriting community felt like home. After a short stint in Ireland where he intended to progress with the novel but rather spent his time songwriting, he realized that he needed to make a career change.

In 2021, Haywood returned to Music City and established himself in the music community, writing over 300 songs in his first two years and establishing a unique sound and voice of his own. In 2023, he was added to the Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival and made his television debut as lead singer of the band Gamblers in the Neon on the AXS show "Banded: The Musician Competition." He also released his first two singles, “Ghost Town in the Sky” and “Saint,” both reaching over 100,000 streams. In 2024, he returned to the Tin Pan festival and saw his first viral songwriting cut “Tamed by Tennessee” reach over two million streams.

He is currently planning several releases for the remainder of 2024.