“This is the only thing I’ve ever done,” Olsen said in an interview Jan. 19 at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill in St. Louis Park. “Music is number one for me. It doesn’t matter whether I’m doing the artist thing or the songwriting thing or the production thing or in the studio. This is who I am and this is what I do. I want people to know that I know that. I’m just lucky to be able to do it. I’m very grateful.”

Olsen will be debuting at Winstock June 10 on the Emerging Artists Stage, and released his debut music to fans last year, including the singles “Summer Thing” and “Good Hands.”

He said he’s thankful his record label, EMI Nashville, trusted him with the project and let him have complete creative control over his music.

“There’s so much involved behind the scenes and, to be honest, so much money involved with a project like that,” Olsen said. “I think they just knew that I had so much experience in the studio and really had developed my own sound that, when it came down to it, that was the sound they were buying into and I had already been doing it for so long that they basically just wanted me to keep on doing what I was doing.”

Olsen said this allowed him to create the music he wanted to make, and said his label has been very supportive of his efforts.

“I think they realized that nobody really knows my music more than I do, and I think they realized that I’m really comfortable in the studio,” he said. “I have my own studio at home and so they just said, ‘man, do your thing,’ and ‘we trust and love the stuff you’re already doing.’ It was a natural sort of fit.”

The Duncan, AZ native said that, growing up in the southwest, some of his early influences were artists like Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, and Bruce Springsteen.

“I’ve always loved singer/songwriters,” Olsen said. “I made sure that when I built my studio that I have now that I had a window that faced west so that I could see the sunset. If I could describe the sound of my music, I think it’s that place on the horizon where the sun goes down. That’s kind of what I feel the heart of my music comes from. The West will always be in my heart and hopefully my music comes from my heart.”

Olsen is quick to give a lot of credit to the band he uses in the studio for consistency in his sound.

“Those guys are amazing and, through the last five or six years, we’ve kind of gone through a journey together where they’ve really gotten to know who I am and understand the things that I like as a producer and help me kind of create the sound – not only create the sound, but continue the sound and make it repeat,” Olsen said.

He feels the bottom line is he is the one who, from the beginning of the song, all the way through to the studio, is the one who makes the choices.

“It can’t help but sort of sound like me. I’m involved kind of in everything, for better or worse,” Olsen said with a laugh.

A few songs have surfaced for Olsen as his follow-up single to “Good Hands,” including a cut called “Tumbleweed,” and a song called “Ghost Town Train,” which Olsen wrote and also appeared on a recent Tim McGraw album.

“I love both of them,” he said. “I think it’d be amazing for ‘Ghost Town Train’ to be a single, just because it’s such a different kind of song. I think it’d really be a cool statement. We’ve got other songs on the album that could be singles too. We’ve got a good problem to have – we’ve got a lot of choices, so we’re excited.”

Olsen and his crew have hit the ground running since the beginning of the year – even despite the cold winter weather he’s not used to, coming from the south.

“We had said that we want to hit the ground running this year and not wait until summer to tour,” he said. “Just get on the road, get back out there, and get with the people and start to build that fan base. I think it’s the right move in this day and age as a new artist.”

He said being proactive as far as getting involved and interacting with fans is a huge part of what makes a successful artist.

“We’re going to do more this year with Twitter and Facebook, a lot of the social media stuff,” he said. “That’s our plan for the year – just really hit it hard right from the beginning and continue what we built last year.”

He said, over the summer, he’s looking forward to some of the big summer festivals like Winstock, and said “that stuff is really the core of what is fun about going out and playing live.”

“We do a lot of shows in clubs. We do a lot of shows and different things here and there, radio appearances, but some of the really, really fun things are towards the summer when everybody’s just in that great mind-set,” he said.

Sounds just like his hit song, “Summer Thing.”

“I try to write stuff mostly about things that I’ve seen,” Olsen said. “Not only stuff that I’ve experienced, but maybe stuff my friends have gone through.”

He wrote a song called “I’ll Just Hold On” that Blake Shelton cut that was actually written about something a buddy of his was going through.

“Trying to make them come from a real place, just because it’s easier for me to write about them if it’s an experience I kinda know or have some kind of first-hand experience with.”

Olsen said there is something magical about it when it works and a song is created.

“You can sit down and say ‘I’m going to write a song today,’ but without having that magic where inspiration meets some kind of subject matter, it’s one of those mystical kind of things . . . I’m trying to write right now. I’m always trying to write. I’m always searching for that little spark that’s going to make something come,” he said.

Olsen has been said to have a unique western sound, lived-in voice, and authentic delivery. Winstock will be able to see that firsthand when Olsen hits the Emerging Artists Stage – or maybe even the Winstock campgrounds.

“We can’t wait to get up there and get with the fans and maybe jump in a golf cart and get out there and get in the campsites and come hang with the people,” Olsen said. “We’ll bring a guitar out and sit with everybody and we can’t wait. Hopefully we’ll get up there a day early or stay a day after or something. I’m looking forward to it.”

For more information on Winstock, visit www.winstockfestival.com, or call 888-946-7865.

For more information on Troy Olsen visit www.troyolsen.com.

Ryan Gueningsman is at ryan@heraldjournal.com.