11 Country Singers’ Tattoos & The Meanings Behind Them
on Apr 30, 2021 • Updated Apr 07, 2022
Country artists are understandably artistic people. So it makes sense why so many country singers have chosen to cover their bodies with works of art in the form of tattoos.
Have you ever watched Miranda Lambert sing on stage and wondered about the meanings behind the various tattoos she sports on her arms? Especially her newest piece of art, her Queen of Hearts tattoo?
Or have you ever looked at Ronnie Dunn walking around with his giant “Cowboy” arm tattoo and thought, “What’s the story behind that one?”
If you answered “yes” to either of those questions, then keep scrolling. This is a list of 11 country singers’ tattoos and what they mean!
Ronnie Dunn
View this post on Instagram
We’ll start with the previously mentioned Ronnie Dunn. The Brooks & Dunn member sports one of the largest and most noticeable tattoos of any country singer in the business…the word “COWBOY” in a bold print.
Ronnie got the tattoo in Los Angeles, CA. He intended for it to be much smaller, but a group of bikers hanging out in the tattoo shop convinced him to make it bigger.
“I did all the poses and everything, and they were kind of snickering in the back. And I went, ‘It’s not big enough, is it, guys?’ And they were like, ‘Nah, it’s not big enough,'” Ronnie recalled in an interview with Yahoo!
And that’s how Ronnie ended up with his signature piece of ink!
Brantley Gilbert
View this post on Instagram
Brantley Gilbert is covered in tattoos from front to back. But one of his most impressive pieces is smack dab in the middle of his chest.
The tattoo is a giant Cross that stretches from below Brantley’s belly button and extends nearly all the way up to his neck (he already had a neck tattoo that kept him from making the Cross any taller).
Brantley got the tattoo in 2017 and documented the process with a photo on social media. As a Christian, it’s obvious why Brantley chose to get a the Cross as one of his largest tattoos.
He quoted Psalm 144:1 when he shared the photo.”Praise the Lord who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.”
Cassadee Pope
View this post on Instagram
The Voice winner has a noticeable work of art on her forearm. While it looks like a single, continuous tattoo, the artwork is different on each side of her arm.
“There’s one on the back of my arm. It’s a bird singing,” Cassadee told CMT News in 2013. “Then I have one on the front that says BND which stands for Believers Never Die.”
On her hand on the same arm, Cassadee has a smaller, smiley face tattoo she got in honor of her grandfather.
“Then I have a smiley face on my hand for my great grandfather,” she told CMT News “We were really close, and he passed away when I was 10. I called him happy, so I got a happy face for him.”
We’ve always loved Cassadee’s tattoos, but knowing the stories behind them makes us love them even more!
Blake Shelton
View this post on Instagram
Cassadee’s former Voice coach Blake Shelton has a famous tattoo of his own!
But unlike Cassadee, Blake isn’t a big fan of his ink. In fact, he once told GAC TV he thinks it is “the crappiest tattoo — not only in country music — but maybe the world.”
It’s not that Blake didn’t want the tattoo. He actually drew part of it himself! It’s a bunch of deer tracks surrounded by barbed wire, and Blake drew the deer tracks for his tattoo artist to copy.
However, not all of Blake’s fans recognize what the deer tracks are. “To this moment, people still come up to me and say, ‘Man, ladybugs … that’s cool. What does that mean to you?‘” Blake said.
Despite the confusion Blake’s tattoo sometimes prompts, it’s still one of the most recognizable in the country music community!
Maren Morris
View this post on Instagram
Maren Morris has multiple tattoos, including a hummingbird on her wrist and a roman numeral tattoo to honor the 42 weeks “I Could Use a Love Song” was on the chart.
In 2016, she got what is perhaps her most well-known piece of ink. To honor her Texas roots, Maren got a tattoo of a Longhorn skull wearing a rose flower crown on her arm.
In a now-deleted social media post, Maren described the tattoo as being a “little bit Texan sass, little bit feminine.”
Jason Aldean
View this post on Instagram
Jason Aldean is covered in tattoos, including pieces that honor all four of his children: Keeley, Kendyl, Memphis, and Navy.
He got a new tattoo in 2020 and was proud to show it off on Instagram. He had multiple black palm trees and a beach scene tattooed around the lower half of his arm. Jason loves visiting the beach and other tropical places, which explains why he’d choose to get a tattoo like this!
The tattoo surrounds two older pieces of work: a script tattoo of his daughter Navy’s name, and a Cross containing the names of his daughters Keeley and Kendyl.
Kane Brown
View this post on Instagram
Like his buddy Jason, Kane Brown also has a ton of tattoos. While some of his most recognizable pieces are the microphone on his hand, the music notes behind his ear, and the tattoo he got for his daughter, Kingsley, we wanted to showcase his newest piece!
On the same day Jason got his palm tree tattoo, Kane had the same artist tattoo a new piece for him too. He got a large gorilla on his arm, which is positioned between a guitar tattoo and a wing tattoo.
Kane said that Jason actually tattooed one line of the gorilla before their tattoo artist finished the piece. He didn’t say what its meaning was, but it just looks cool!
Ashley McBryde
View this post on Instagram
Ashley McBryde‘s body is covered in works of art!
The “Martha Divine” singer has a bunch of colorful tattoos on her arms, including a lipstick and a pair of sunglasses, a classic 1971 Chevy, and a teacup filled with flowers (which is in honor of her mother).
But her standout piece is a large eagle that spans across her chest and rests just below her neck. The brilliant eagle is mostly black, but has golden yellow accents on the wings, talons, and beak.
Ashley told The Boot that she only gets her tattoos done in the traditional sailor style. With that in mind, she explained how her eagle tattoo came to be.
“I only have traditional sailor tattoos, and when sailors would reach a certain mileage or markers crossed, that warranted a tattoo,” she said. “I asked [her tattoo artist Nancy Miller] if there was anything she thought I’d earned before I jumped off this cliff, and she told me, ‘You’ve earned an eagle.‘”
Ashley explained that if you ever notice a man with an eagle tattooed on his chest, that means he’s “seen some stuff.”
“I thought that was perfect — that’s exactly how I need to feel,” she said. Ashley said she loves flaunting her eagle tattoo whenever she walks the red carpet, and it makes her feel powerful.
Carly Pearce
View this post on Instagram
The “I Hope You’re Happy Now” singer has a few delicate tattoos, and they all mean a lot to her. She has her home state of Kentucky tattooed on her wrist, and a bouquet of wildflowers inked on her arm.
She also has two tattoos in honor of her grandparents.
In an interview with Fox News, Carly said the butterfly tattoo on her wrist is a tribute to her grandmother. As for her signature feather tattoo on her arm, she got that piece of ink as a tribute to her grandfather.
She got the two tattoos after her grandparents passed away. They always supported her and her musical dreams, which is why she wanted to go the extra mile to honor them.
Also, Carly uses her grandparents’ last name “Pearce” as another way of carrying on their legacy. She was actually born Carly Slusser!
RaeLynn
View this post on Instagram
RaeLynn keeps adding new pieces to her collection of tattoos!
The former Voice star mostly has smaller and script tattoos, including a cactus on her ankle and her husband Josh’s name in a heart. She, Miranda Lambert, and Gwen Sebastian also got matching music note tattoos a few years back.
Until recently, RaeLynn’s biggest tattoo was an image of a horse on her forearm. She added to the piece in early 2020 by having flowers and a triangle tattooed on the other side of her arm. Some of the flowers come around to surround her older horse tattoo.
RaeLynn explained why she chose to get the flowers and triangle in a post on Instagram.
“Flowers have always meant something special to me and I believe every Triangle in our life we go through finds a way to turn into something beautiful.”
RaeLynn says she loves her tattoo, and so do we!
Miranda Lambert
View this post on Instagram
Her music note tattoo that matches RaeLynn and Gwen Sebastian isn’t the only piece of ink Miranda Lambert has!
Until recently, Lambert’s most well-known tattoo was the pair of winged pistols she sports on her arm. She also has an arrow on her hand and the word “tumbleweed” across her arm in a fancy script. And those are just a few of her tattoos!
But now, it’s Lambert’s newest tattoo that gets the most attention. It’s a Queen of Hearts tattoo on her forearm, which she got shortly after marrying her husband Brendan McLoughlin in February 2019:
“I got a tattoo of the Queen of Hearts wildcard on my right forearm,” Lambert said while co-hosting Country Countdown USA With Lon Helton. “I’ve been through a lot these past few years. I got this tattoo to remind me to be the queen of my own heart.”
The tattoo went on to inspire the name of her Grammy-winning album, Wildcard.
Miranda already knows what her next tattoo will be. She and her “Bluebird” co-writer Luke Dick agreed they’d get matching bluebird tattoos if the song went to #1. It did…so now Miranda has to stay true to her promise!
