Alexander Ludwig is known for appearing on TV, but as an actor, not a singer. The Vancouver native, who had the leading role in the TV show, Vikings, along with roles in Heels, The Hunger Games, Race to Witch Mountain and more, recently appeared on Good Morning America, this time to sing. Ludwig performed “Faded On Me,” from his debut Highway 99 album, out last year.
“There’s literally videos of me in my trailer in Dublin, Ireland, in full Viking gear, writing country music. I’ve literally been playing my whole life,” Ludwig shared ahead of his performance.
Ludwig also explained that the Highway 99 title is very personal to him, and leads him back to where his love of country music began.
“It’s actually this two-lane road I grew up driving from Vancouver to Whistler,” Ludwig said. “That’s kind of where I got my country music education, so it just felt like it was a little bit a piece of home.”
Ludwig’s acting career is successful enough that he didn’t need another outlet. But as an avid lover of all styles of music, it was Jason Aldean who encouraged Ludwig that he had a solid shot at having a career as a performer within the country genre.
“I never wanted to chase trends,” Ludwig told Everything Nash. “I think there’s room for all types of music. I love all types of music, but for me, when I play a show, I want it to be like the rock and roll concerts I grew up going to. My favorite show to date — Jason Aldean is up there for sure — but also AC/DC, and those, which is so out of the blue. But what I love about country music so much is that to me, it’s really that last form of rock and roll. You get this whole great band together and these incredible musicians.”
Ludwig is passionately pursuing his music career, but he isn’t giving up acting either. Instead, the 30-year-old plans to balance both creative outlets, as best as he can, for as long as he can.
“I envision I’m going to keep doing both for the rest of my life,” Ludwig said, when asked if he would have to pick one over the other. “It’s a fair question, but I also feel like it’s such a hard one to answer because obviously if I was successful at this, that’s a different story, in terms of what the industry would say is successful. Not in terms of what I think is successful, but if this suddenly became a thing where they were like, ‘Alexander, we want you to do a full tour,’ then there’s a world where I go, ‘Okay, acting takes his back seat. Now I’m gonna just focus on this, ’cause I’m certainly never gonna cancel the show.’
“I think it’s more just being really, really smart about how you manage your time,” he added. “The good news is I feel like I’m fortunately at a place now in my other career where there is a little bit more leeway in terms of what I can schedule and where I can schedule my time.”
Two of Aldean’s own band members, Kurt Allison and Tully Kennedy, produced Highway 99 Find the album at AlexanderLudwigMusic.ocm.