When country duo Muscadine Bloodline talk about career longevity, they don’t start with streaming numbers or radio play. For Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton, the real secret to staying sharp is what happens when the bus is parked, the phones are down and they’re miles from Nashville.
On Tracy Lawrence’s TL’s Roadhouse podcast, the pair describe how deliberately stepping away from the grind – into cabins, woods and water – helps them protect their mental health and keep fame in perspective.
“Music can become very much your job so quickly,” one of them says, reflecting on a recent cabin recording trip. “You forget the 14-year-old kid in your room, just strumming a song in G. Getting away like that just reminded me, ‘Man, this is why I like playing music.’”
From College Cover Act to National Duo
Muscadine Bloodline—comprised of Stanton and Muncaster—transformed from “Gary and Charlie,” a college town cover act, into a nationally rising country duo after moving from Alabama to Nashville and rebranding with a name that better reflected their Southern identity.
Over nine years, that decision has fueled both a deep personal partnership and a fiercely loyal cult following, culminating in their critically acclaimed album The Coastal Plain, and their latest, Longleaf Lo-fi, plus a U.S. tour that includes opening for Post Malone.
Their careers now depend on total mutual commitment—Stanton once described it as being “pretty much married for nine years”–extending beyond music into lifestyle changes, such as Muncaster’s six years of sobriety and a significant weight loss driven by training alongside fitness-focused Stanton.
The results have been tighter, more energetic live shows that the duo believe are their biggest selling point: if they can get fans to one performance, they’re confident the quality of the experience will keep those fans coming back.
Cabin Sessions as a Reset
The duo recorded their Longleaf Lo-Fi project at a family member’s small cabin in South Mississippi. It wasn’t a polished studio experience. The setup, they tell Lawrence, was about as far from a glossy Nashville room as you can get. And that was the goal
“We were there for five days, just me and Charlie and Ryan having a good time,” one of them says. “We were at the mercy of the room—we’ll get what we get—and it honestly made it better.”
A few days cut off from town, grilling burgers late at night and tracking songs in a creaky cabin, became a mental reset as much as a creative one. They describe it as rediscovering the joy in imperfection – the antidote to the more corporate side of the music business that can quietly take over their lives if they’re not careful.
Hunting, Wild Game and an Active Off-Season
The pair are unapologetically outdoors when they’re not on the road: turkey hunting, fishing—Muncaster adds golf to the routine as well—and spending long stretches outside.
That challenge forces a different pace. Early mornings, long walks, sitting still and listening more than talking all function like a moving meditation far from the noise of touring. And when a hunt comes together, the ritual continues in the kitchen.
“The wild turkey breast, I still really do like,” one of them says. “You put it in a pot, you can do it that kind of way. I’m not keen on the legs, though – they get tough.”
If the outdoors keep their minds clear, family keeps their egos in check. The duo tells Lawrence that the structure of their roughly 50-show-a-year touring pace centers around home life, especially now with kids in the mix. They talk about parents and friends back home being thrilled by their success, but they reject the idea that it makes them fundamentally different.
“They look at us like we’ve [hit it big], which is fun and it’s awesome, but it’s not real. We’re still just us.”
That attitude extended to a major career moment: joining Post Malone’s country tour. They had to postpone their own headlining shows to take the opportunity, and they addressed fans directly about it.
“We just kind of made a video of us being, like, very candid,” they recall. “Ninety-five percent of everybody was like, ‘Oh boys, do that.’ And we made a promise and we made up the shows and everything was great.”