An LSU history major by day and a rising country star by night.
Timothy Wayne is a 21-year-old country musician from Franklin, Tennessee, but the singer chose to head deeper south for his college education. Wayne first fell in love with the beautiful, centuries-old oak trees on campus, so once LSU became the first out-of-state school to accept him, attending the university felt like a no-brainer.
It wasn’t until college when Wayne realized country music was his calling. Throughout his childhood, family members warned him not to touch the guitar, claiming that it would steal his life. Five years ago, he decided to pick up the six-string instrument and hasn’t put it down since.
Growing up in a charming, historic town, less than thirty minutes outside of Nashville, it was hard to not love country music. Here and there, his high school would be lucky enough to hear Wayne perform at local shows or events, but official gigs were never booked until college. No matter where his music career took him, college would always be part of the plan.
“I gave music my best shot and fell in love,” Wayne said. “Not everything is guaranteed, so it’s always good to have a backup plan. Education is so important, no matter what your career is. Not everything is given to you.”
Music was encircled around him throughout his childhood, with his family being extremely musical as a whole. Although everyone in the house enjoys very different genres of music, his favorite genre is country rock. His biggest musical inspirations draw from Jerry Reed, Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty, and of course, his grammy award-winning uncle Tim McGraw.
“Growing up it was just like having a regular uncle,” Wayne said. “We used to go to shows all the time, but I never realized who he really was until much later. I would watch the way he goes on stage, with his country music storytelling, there’s a story or lesson in it, how it made people emotional or showed them the good times.”
Summers are typically a break for college students; however, Wayne takes it as a chance to work on his craft. This past summer Wayne had the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered a spot as one of the openers on McGraw’s 2024 “Standing Room Only Tour.” From summer classes to songwriting sessions to touring, summers are never long enough. Touring with his biggest inspiration and uncle felt like a dream come true.
“No one knew who I was related to until after I signed,” Wayne said. “I wanted to do all this on my own. My uncle told me no one is going to hand you anything, you have got to work for everything you’re going to get.”
Following in the footsteps of McGraw means Wayne has big shoes to fill. The young singer has put in hours of work to improve his songwriting skills, with the goal of making a name for himself as Timothy Wayne. 
“Tim’s actually one of my producers. I always joke that he works for me,” Wayne said of his uncle.
It was April 2024 when Wayne was officially signed to Universal Music Group. He had just gotten back to campus after a quick visit home. As soon as he set his bags down, a call came in from his mom. She told her son that a representative from UMG obtained a video of Wayne singing at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where artists like Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks and Lady Antebellum were discovered.
“I kind of thought she was joking when she told me the news,” Wayne said. “I said that’s not funny. ‘I’m not joking’, she said. It all hit me really quick.”
Wayne quickly booked a flight to Nashville for the next weekend to start the signing process with UMG. Since then, he has released two singles: “God Made A Country Boy” and “Guy With A Guitar”. From only missing one LSU football game to joining Pi Kappa Alpha, pursuing music has not held Wayne back from the full college experience. 
“If music is still going strong after college, I’ll be playing a lot more shows,” Wayne said. “Right now it’s a balancing act, like being on a tightrope with two weighted poles. I have to decide whether to finish homework or finish a song.”