Tim McGraw’s nephew Timothy Wayne is an LSU student—and a rising country star

Timothy Wayne was supposed to be a Marine, until a performance of “Luckenbach, Texas” in Nashville, Tennessee, changed everything.  

Today, Baton Rougeans may know him as a country singer on the rise, the nephew of country star Tim McGraw, or even just a fellow LSU classmate or fraternity brother. But  Wayne was once just a kid with an affinity for the guitar living in small-town Tennessee. He worked on his family’s Louisiana farm during the summers and aspired to be a future member of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Flash forward to that fateful night at Legends Corner, a live music bar on the famous Broadway strip in Nashville. A 17-year-old Wayne hopped onstage to perform Waylon Jennings’ and Willie Nelson’s “Luckenbach, Texas” with some of his buddies, and the entire bar started dancing. The party spilled out onto the streets as people swayed to the music.  

They played the song twice. In that moment, Wayne says he had the epiphany that performing onstage was what he was meant for.  

“This (music) is what I really wanted to do, and this was my path,” he says.  

In high school, Wayne had picked up a guitar for an art elective, which eventually led to him competing in and winning a karaoke competition at school. From there, he continued to perform, singing around campfires and at other gigs.  

“I found that I loved actually being onstage,” Wayne says. “Everybody just started believing in me, and I started believing in myself.” 

By his sophomore year of college, he’d signed with Universal Music Group, releasing his own music. Earlier this summer, he performed at the celebration for LSU Baseball’s Men’s College World Series win.

And in 2024, he toured with his “Uncle Tim” as an opener. 

“In the moment, I was like, ‘This is not real. This is not the path I’m supposed to be on,’” Wayne says. “But I mean, gosh, I couldn’t have asked for a better way.”

Although he is from Tennessee, Wayne has always loved Louisiana, and when he toured LSU’s campus his senior year of high school, it felt like home. Not long after visiting, Wayne says he committed to the school.  

Now an upcoming college senior, Wayne has almost finished his degree in history. He chose the major partly because of his self-proclaimed title as a history buff. And although he loves performing and plans to sing full-time after college, he says he felt he needed another possible path.

“I mean, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from or who you know, the music business is fickle,” Wayne says. “You could be on top one day and wake up the next and be on the very bottom.” 

Being a full-time student is already intensive enough, but tack on a music career that’s swiftly gaining momentum? It becomes a juggling act. 

Wayne says he’s operating at 200% capacity because of the double life he leads, but he attributes his ability to balance it all to his management team behind him. 

“I have a really, really good team behind me, aka my mom,” Wayne says. “All the support groups that I have around me (help me) manage.”  

While Wayne is going to miss the routine of classes and the excitement of Saturday night football games when he graduates, he’s looking to the future and what it holds for his budding music career.

Even if all his college buddies are hoping for a senior trip after graduation, Wayne has other plans.  

“It’s gonna be a fun time. I’m excited for whatever this journey holds,” Wayne says. “If I have my way, I’m gonna be booked out May through next August.”