Named after the Dwight Yoakam song "Fair to Midland", the band was founded in Dripping Springs, Texas. The trio met separately around Los Angeles, where Jess Carson and Cameron Duddy had formed an earlier band. Duddy and Mark Wystrach met and formed a band after Carson left L.A. and moved to Texas, but the trio met up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for Duddy’s wedding in August 2013. Both Wystrach and Carson acted as groomsmen. As Duddy recalls the story, Carson and Wystrach arrived in Jackson Hole for the wedding a week early. After playing songs together on the front porch of Carson’s cabin, they decided to form the band. After Duddy's honeymoon, they went to the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, TX; as stated by Wystrach, "when we went to the Sonic Ranch, we became a band. We walked away believing in what had happened". The band rebased in Texas. Mark Wystrach grew up surrounded by music as his parents were both fans of live music. His father was an immigrant living in Los Angeles. His mother grew up on a ranch near Tucson, Arizona. His parents owned a live honky-tonk country music venue. Wystrach is also an actor and model. Jess Carson grew up on a farm in Oregon, where the main genre was country music. His sister and his father were both musicians, so after some years, he started to play guitar. Carson is also a songwriter. Cameron Duddy started playing music after a difficult situation in his family; he found that music helped to lessen the tension, saying, " Sometimes you don't get to talk about all the things that you maybe want to talk about and the ice breaker started to be music." He got his first guitar from his father, which he says "helped me find my identity." Duddy is also a music video director and he won an MTV Video Music Award for the video "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars. Midland's first song, "Fourteen Gears", was released "around 2015. The song, according to Duddy, "was another one of the early moments that defined and solidified the band".
2016–present: ''Midland EP'', ''On the Rocks'', and ''Let It Roll''
On March 9, 2016, the trio signed to Big Machine Records and released the Midland EP featuring a debut single, "Drinkin' Problem", which has charted on Billboard's Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay. The band wrote the song with Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, the former of whom also produced it. Duddy directed the song's music video. Their debut album On the Rocks was released in September 22, 2017, produced by Dann Huff, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. Midland released "Make a Little" as the second single. "Burn Out" was the third single, it was released in late 2018. Midland was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2018: Grammy Award for Best Country Song and Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, both for "Drinkin’ Problem". Midland released the single "Mr. Lonely" in February 2019 as the leadoff single to a second album. Midland released "Cheatin' Songs" in February of 2020 as the second single to the album. The album, Let It Roll, was released on August 23, 2019. The band began a tour in June to support the album.
Style and influences
Rolling Stone said that "the Texas-based band blend their voices to produce country music that recalls a mix of George Strait, Urban Cowboy and Seventies yacht rock." Billboard describes the band's sound as "a definite George Strait '80s New Traditionalist feel to it, combined with the rich California harmonies that made The Eagles legendary." Midland also known for its dressing style, similar to the original Nudie Suits. Vogue called Midland heartthrobs and fashion risk takers."
