Bryan Andrews Says Brothers Osborne Are the First Big Stars to Publicly Support Him[EXCLUSIVE]

Bryan Andrews is a country artist who is going against the traditional grain of country music and politics. Not only is he left-leaning in an often far-right genre, but he's also pretty outspoken about it.

Andrews was a guest on Taste of Country Nights with Evan Paul where I let him have the microphone and say everything that has been on his mind as he tries to crack the mainstream code of the conservative-owned space in country music.

Country Artists Who Support Bryan Andrews

Bryan Andrews says that one of the first mainstream artists to publicly support him was John Osborne of Brothers Osborne.

Frazer Harrison, Getty Images

"I opened a show for Brothers Osborne not too long ago in Chicago, and when they got onstage, John said something meaningful to me and to the crowd and everything like that and in front of everybody," Andrews recounts.

To hear him tell it, John said from the stage that Andrews has a "killer mustache" and that "he says some crazy s--t, he says some stuff I really believe in."

That was a big moment for the singer, whose career so far has largely taken place outside the normal country music stomping grounds of Nashville.

"To me it was like, 'Dude, this is f--king awesome. That was the first moment where it was in a public space where someone in the industry, like another artist and stuff, has said, publicly, 'I f--k with that dude,'" he elaborates.

Andrews admits, "It was a really cool moment for me to be able to like, just take that in and be like 'Oh s--t, not everybody's against me.'"

Read More: Bryan Andrews Reveals the Scariest Death Threat He’s Ever Gotten For Being Liberal [Exclusive]

Andrews says there have been other mainstream country acts that support him, but only behind closed doors.

"There's been other artists that have reached out an said 'I love what you're doing'...But there's some that definitely don't agree with what I'm doing, and whether they publicly say my name or not, it's kinda easy to tell who they're talking about."

He gave a specific example: The hosts of the Try That in a Small Town podcast, who he says brought him up during a recent episode.

Bryan Andrews Fires Back at Jason Aldean's 'Try That in a Small Town' Songwriters

The Try That in a Small Town podcast is hosted by Kurt Allison, Neil Thrasher, Tully Kennedy and Kelley Lovelace. Some of those men are members of Jason Aldean's touring band, and they all co-wrote his polarizing song "Try That in a Small Town."

When they brought up Andrews in an episode, "they were just dogging on me for 10 f--king minutes, bro," the singer says with a laugh.

Their criticism of him, he says, boiled down to the idea that "it's all a f--king act" and Andrews isn't a "real" country boy.

"Not to f--king brag or nothing, but I bet my town's smaller than yours," the singer responded. "I grew up drinking beer and s--t like that on the weekends. I still do, I still drink beer with my buddies on the weekends."

Andrews elaborated on how he feels singled out by critics, but he's ready to push back against the idea about what makes someone country — and the political ideas that country folks are and aren't supposed to believe.

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"Holding that space is really important because you get this f--king group of guys like that or whoever it is, who are like, 'Oh, you're country, you are automatically this way,'" he adds.

Some People Think Bryan Andrews is Conservative Just From His Looks

Andrews hopes that his large social media presence will show some people that you can't always judge a book by its cover.

"I'm a very conservative presenting person, so when they see someone like me, they might think to themselves, like, 'Oh, that person thinks that way.' But I don't. You know what I'm saying? I think it's just normalizing, like, 'oh, just because you're appearing a certain way doesn't mean you think a certain way.'"