Bayker Blankenship, a 19-year-old from the small town of Livingston, Tenn., is on the fast track to stardom by way of going viral on TikTok. He swung by 98.5 KYGO’s Performance Studio to perform “Tennessee Sunset,” “Lost Time” and “Maxed Out.” Blankenship, with over 740,000 followers and 9.8 million likes on TikTok and over 2.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, is making preparations to step out of the screen and onto the stage for his first tour. The 10 shows will take place from September 19 through November 9 in cities largely concentrated in the Midwest and East. The string of shows, dubbed “The Tennessee Sunset Tour” will be kicked off by a show in Charleston, S.C., and will wrap up in Opelika, Ala. The budding singer-songwriter has claims to fame other than going viral. His April release, “Maxed Out,” made its way to the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart and debuted in the 76th position. In the U.S., the singer’s second single made its way to Spotify’s Viral 50 USA playlist, Billboard’s Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts. A couple of months after the song was released, he signed an exclusive recording agreement with Lone Star/Santa Anna Records. Following in the footsteps of his family, Blankenship initially had plans to go into industrial maintenance and was attending school for it. His plans began to shift when, in pursuit of a new hobby, Blankenship first picked up a guitar during his spare time during COVID, the product of which being his first single “Can’t Get Enough” in September of 2021. He took a brief hiatus from making music until the release of “Maxed Out,” although life came at him fast in the years between once he committed more seriously to the instrument. Blankenship started to gain some traction when he started posting covers on TikTok late in 2022. He frequently covers two artists he cites as his musical influences: Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers. His first video to make a big splash was a cover he posted of him singing “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi with his younger brother, posted in January 2023, which currently sits at over 3.4 million views. His top video, which celebrates one million streams on “Maxed Out,” sits just under 8 million views. Those aren’t the only accomplishments his rise to fame has brought, though — it also afforded him his first time traveling on an airplane. After his TikToks started to take off and a future in music became clearer, he quit his job as a pitmaster at a barbecue joint featured in the “Maxed Out” music video and quit school to pursue his newfound career. There’s no blueprint for Blankenship, as he claims he is the only one in his family to ever take a serious interest in music. The teenager has since released his first EP, “Younger Years,” in July, which has six tracks, one of which being “Maxed Out.” In addition, Blankenship released a single with Waylon Wyatt, entitled “Jailbreak,” earlier this month.
