Country star Warren Zeiders never planned to become a singer, but a series of college lacrosse injuries took him down an unexpected path to success.
Zeiders grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he enrolled in a lacrosse program around the fourth grade.
“The biggest thing about me is that I have this thing about me: If I care about something and if I invest myself fully into it, nothing will stop me,” he told Fox News Digital. “I am all in, and it is an eat-sleep-and-breathe thing. And that was what I had with lacrosse for 12 years of my life.”
The “You for a Reason” singer got recruited to play the sport in college but was forced to stop after experiencing multiple concussions.
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The first instance happened his freshman year, and he recalled going into “a deep depression.”
“I went from being told as a freshman that I was going to be getting a bunch of playing time. And that’s why I went there, because I didn’t want to sit on the bench and stuff. And I worked my tail off all those years to get that opportunity.”
Zeiders postponed his finals, trained all winter and came back early in the spring to take the exams and be ready for play, only to quickly receive another concussion.
“And it was such a hard pill to swallow, and I was like, this is not how this is going to go.”
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He spent more time training over the summer but felt “like that fire inside of me, that flame was getting duller and duller, because I was having this, like, come to Jesus moment where I was praying, and it was just like, hey, is this a sign that this isn’t for me anymore? And I just needed God to give me a sign, and I could just kind of feel that that burning desire and passion was being tamed and kind of becoming like the pilot light. It was becoming dimmer.”
He spoke with his parents as well as training staff, who told him he was “technically” at the limit for concussions in the sport.
“It was hard to say goodbye. You do that for so long, it becomes a part of you. It was hard for my parents. I remember calling my grandfather in tears because my grandparents didn’t miss a single game of my junior and senior year of playing high school lacrosse.”
With his family’s support, Zeiders quit lacrosse and began more earnestly working on singing and playing guitar, eventually uploading a cover of “Tennessee Whiskey” to TikTok, where it went viral.
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“I’m a firm believer that God has a plan for everyone, and we all have our own gifts, and some of us find them, find them sooner than others. But I do believe this I was meant to do.”
Zeiders is releasing his double album, “Relapse, Lies & Betrayal,” on Friday and headlining at Rodeo Houston on Saturday.
“I am very much so looking for the finale of that night,” the 25-year-old said, noting that his hit single, “Ride the Lightning,” will be the “crown jewel of the show.”
He added that performing at the rodeo is “absolutely insane” after “Ride the Lightning” became a hit on social media for bull riders and bronco riders, some of whom used the song as their entrance music.
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“It’s just so cool to be recognized in that culture that I so much love and value and respect.”
Zeiders didn’t specifically grow up in rodeo culture but “always had a love for it.”
“The country lifestyle was where I was raised in rural Pennsylvania and growing up in a small town and living behind my grandparents,” he said, recalling summers spent outside at his grandparents on rural farmlands, hunting, fishing, riding dirt bikes and swimming.
“That traditional family lifestyle of [saying] sir and ma’am and just how that culture is that still, that it’s that ode to that just traditional living and the way they treat people and how they live their lives. It’s so…intoxicating, I guess, is a good way to put it. And that’s why you’re seeing such a large love for it growing in today’s modern generation and why country music’s growing so much, because it is welcoming. It is. Everyone wants to be a part of it now.”
But don’t expect Zeiders to hop in the arena anytime soon.
“Oh absolutely not, I’ll take my seven concussions, and that’s all I need. I’m not getting on the back of a bull or a bronc,” he said with a laugh.
The “traditional family lifestyle” is something Zeiders grew up with thanks to his mom and dad, who he says instilled in him a “strong work ethic” that began with the lacrosse dedication and transferred over to music.
Zeiders had always been “obsessed” with music, curling up with his family to watch “American Idol,” humming tunes or learning guitar covers from YouTube.
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But it was church where his love really began “because it’s how I always say, it’s how I best connected with my faith.”
His favorite hymn is “How Great Thou Art,” and he displays a scroll of the words in his home.
“I always see that every morning when I’m down to make breakfast, to kind of just remind me where my love for music began and why I’m at where I’m at is because of the good Lord.”
Zeiders took his lifelong interest and began posting on social media with almost no real musical experience and turned it into a huge success on social media, eventually dropping out of college to pursue music full-time, crediting everything in his upbringing, from his parents to his athletic training, for making him “the animal that I am today.”
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The singer has wowed not only with his music but with his signature long hair and muscular physique, which caught the attention of Kelly Clarkson when he appeared on her talk show last fall.
Clarkson became adorably flustered when producers put up a photo of Zeiders shirtless holding a lacrosse stick.
“I didn’t know that was coming,” she said, before taking a pause and getting back to what was then his first interview. The moment went viral.
“I was flattered,” he added. “It’s nice to have your hard work pay off and show some love. So, I definitely got a kick out of it.”
The appearance led to him being named in People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue and being crowned the “sexiest 25-year-old.”
He admitted he got teased a little, but “I wear it with pride, baby.”
Zeider has loftier goals in mind as he releases his “Relapse, Lies & Betrayal” double album, which he describes as an “all-encompassing depiction of what I’ve been going through the last year and some change, and that’s kind of where the heavy title comes from for the album.”
“But it’s not all been bad,” he clarified. “This past year has been good to me. But you know, I’ve definitely gone through some stuff that involved some learning processes and some learning curves, but you got to go through it to grow through it. And you know, I’m here for the highs and the lows, and it gives you great writing material. The best way to put it is that the dating scene is not super great right now.”
But the singer is looking toward the future, saying he is “always expanding, always developing, always growing.”
“So whether that’s in my, you know, music career or if that’s in my own personal life, I’m always testing the boundaries of how to, you know, put myself in uncomfortable situations and put myself in places where I can grow and become a better version of myself each and every day.“
“Relapse, Lies & Betrayal” is out Friday.
