Photo by: Rick McCurry
Photo by: Jordan Voth
Photo by: Zack Napier
Photo by: Laura Moll Photography
Photo Credits (in order): Rick McCurry, Jordan Voth, Zack Napier, Laura Moll Photography
The Country Artist Loves Life with Wife Sabina Gadecki and Dogs Abby and Yukon, Spends Summer on Tour and Takes Rich Rescues on the Road to Help Animals in Need
Before his debut album Two Thousand Miles was even released on Sept. 4, 2020, country singer Tyler Rich’s music had already racked up over 200 million streams thanks to singles like “Leave Her Wild” and his RIAA Gold-certified breakthrough single “The Difference.” Two Thousand Miles showcases the Yuba City native’s penchant for incorporating diverse styles, like R&B, pop and alt-rock, into his unique brand of California country music. The spirited album’s thoughtful title refers to the distance between his dream job in Nashville and Los Angeles, where model and actress Sabina Gadecki—of TV shows such as LA’s Finest and box office hit Entourage—lived when they met at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in 2016. Gadecki swiftly became the love of Rich’s life and his muse for Two Thousand Miles. Rich co-wrote most of the album’s songs which are heavily inspired by his and Gadecki’s long-distance courtship that blossomed into marriage. Rich also shares his life with his beloved pet dogs, Abby and Yukon, and his lifelong passion for animals led him to establish Rich Rescues, a traveling initiative to inspire fans to help shelter pets in their own communities.
“I wanted all the dogs and cats in the world and wished I could do more for them,” says Rich. “We travel 24/7 so I created a touring rescue to raise awareness about shelter animals in different cities. Rich Rescues started in early 2020 and did about 10 memorable shelter visits with epic response; fans adopted dogs immediately. COVID shut us down but we created relationships with shelters, did Instagram Live fundraising and worked to get animals fostered.” Rich is elated to be on the road again playing live music and visiting shelters. “Fans send Instagram messages like, ‘You should go to my favorite bar!’ I thought, why not force-feed them all these adorable animals in the middle of that content and they won’t even see it coming: ‘Honey, Tyler’s at our favorite park … oh wait, we need to go get this dog!’ That goal has worked. It’s created a deeper, almost immeasurable connection with fans. I get pictures and updates of dogs fans adopted; it’s the most rewarding thing in the world. Knowing you’re instrumental in changing an animal’s life for the better is hard to take in. You’re not just changing that animal’s life; that animal will change yours.”
At 19, Rich embarked on a mission that indubitably changed his life. “I rescued my Husky, Abby, from a borderline abusive situation,” says Rich. “I’m 36 and she’s still my dog!” (Laughs.) “I went and stole her at 2 a.m. with the blessing of the dog owner’s wife, who had her records and leash waiting outside for me. She was this five-month-old purebred Husky puppy that had killed some livestock on this farm. The owner dug a huge hole with a tractor, leaving her there for three weeks while he rebuilt cages. She was covered in her own poop and pee and food was scattered through the dirt down this deep hole. I needed a friend and a rope to get down and get her and myself back out. If a family friend hadn’t told me about her, my whole life would’ve been different. She was the best part of my 20s.”
Rich hails from a dog-loving family. “My parents adopted quite a few,” says Rich. “I’ve always been close to my whole family who all had dogs. I grew up thinking my grandparents’ dogs were my other dogs. I had some tough heartbreaks going through that hell of losing a best friend and really appreciating what it means to have a dog in your family. Luckily most of our dogs lived long lives. We adopted a Chihuahua Terrier mix and named him Babalu from I Love Lucy. ‘Bob’ was a fat sausage with toothpicks and an underbite, and he lived to be 22! I was told you’re lucky to get 12 years out of big dogs so on Abby’s 13th birthday I got her portrait tattooed on my forearm. I was like, Baby, you made it to teenager, it’s a big deal!”
Abby made her own mark in country music with plenty screen time in Rich’s first music video for his debut single, “The Difference.” “Sabina had her Maltipoo Charlee when we met, and Abby and Charlee are in that video,” says Rich. “We wanted it to be a time capsule of what our lives looked like while we were falling in love. Charlee was Sabina’s tiny little aggressive protector but very sweet to me once he loved me. She’d had him for about 8 years when we met and I had Abby for 10 years, so they were our version of kids. It was a sweet little family united.”
Another type of kids took the happy couple over the moon during their wedding on Sept. 20, 2019 at Saddle Woods Farm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “They set up the goats and the miniature horses with full flowers and arrangements, and then unleashed the goats ten minutes into our photos,” says Rich. “They came sprinting out dressed up for the wedding. In the photos you see the hilarious true excitement on our faces! They did this awesome surprise for us and said it was because of the the attention we showed the animals at our rehearsal; we wanted to see the horses and goats more than where our ceremony would be!” laughs Rich.
Rich and Gadecki got into the pet fostering groove that flourished during the pandemic lockdowns. “We got Max in California,” says Rich. “He was a 15, 16-ish-year-old white Husky mix and such a cool, sweet gentle giant in a bad situation with ear infections, mange, mites and nails so long he couldn’t walk. We wanted to give him a happy ending. It was one of the hardest things we’ve done, emotionally and physically. But after some proper grooming, nutrition and CBD products he was walking and running and his patchy coat filled in. We did his DNA swab because we loved Max so much and wanted to discover his perfect mix. He was Chow, Samoyed and 75% white Husky. We thought we’d only have him a few months but we had him for 14 months. We took him and Abby on road trips everywhere to National Parks and took them to Massachusetts to see Sabina’s family for Christmas. We miss him a lot; he was the best.”
In addition to welcoming Max into his family during COVID, while recording studios were closed technical magic transpired to bring Two Thousand Miles to fruition between Rich in Los Angeles and the producer and musicians in Nashville, coincidentally the same distance between Rich and Gadecki during their remote romance, adding a perfect extra meaning to the album’s title. “Our home’s in Nashville but my wife’s an actor so we have a place in LA,” says Rich. “I built a mini studio there and taught myself how to use it, emailing files until the album was done. Crazy!” Currently Rich’s music, including latest releases “Better Than You’re Used To” and “A Little Bit of You,” have totaled almost 395 million global streams. After his Two Thousand (More) Miles Tour last fall and its second leg this spring, Rich is enjoying summer on the road playing fairs and festivals. “The shows keep getting bigger and better and we’re about to start releasing a wave of new music with a new sound, so I’m super excited.”
More excitement ensued for Rich recently when he adopted Yukon, a baby Husky mix from the Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the last place Rich Rescues visited in 2020. “We did a virtual fundraiser with them, became buddies then they called in November and said we have this puppy that looks exactly like Abby! Think about it!” laughs Rich. “Three weeks later they drove my little dude Yukon and his twin brother that my friend who watches my dogs adopted all the way to Nashville. They came from a breeder/hoarder situation in Texas. We DNA’d Yukon and Abby—she’s 100% Husky. Yukon is primarily Husky then Belgian Malinois, and Great Pyrenees, Rottweiler, German Shepherd and Malamute, and all personality! He’s just a beast, 65 pounds of solid brute-force yet so affectionate and sweet, so gentle with kids and he loves people.”
A road dog since day one, Yukon flips out when sees Rich’s tour bus. “He associates it with his eight uncles on that bus waiting to see him,” says Rich. “Radio DJs hang with Yukon, fans bring him toys; people couldn’t wait to see Abby but I retired her from the bus because it became too stressful for her. Yukon’s taken that spotlight, which Abby’s very happy about. Like most big dogs, Yukon has zero awareness of his size. I’ll be in the bus bunk wrapped up in a blanket and wake up in the pitch black and he’s on top of my entire body! I get claustrophobia attacks! (Laughs.) Still under a year old, Yukon sometimes practices the art of chewing. “If we leave that bus and don’t hide everything, he’ll eat something within one minute. Sabina visited her family in Poland, got stuck in Amsterdam and finally made it to Indianapolis for our show. She was super jet lagged and rolled into the bunk for a nap and passed out cold, and Yukon went in for a snack—he ate her knee-high boots on her feet like a corn on the cob! He started at the top and worked down to the heel all the way to the toe and back. He had corn on the cob buffet!”
Rich has received his share of punishment over the years from Abby every time he’s hit the road. “I’d come home and get side-eyed and sassed,” laughs Rich. “She’d get over it then howl, talk and chirp, then circle on the bed and sprint through the house for two hours straight—we call it ‘wolf mode.’ We loved Abby so much my Mom adopted a bonded pair of Huskies. By the time I was 20 we had four Huskies so the whole ‘wolf pack’ thing came about; friends called me Wolfman! My house is the wolf den, our band’s got illustrated Husky/wolf head logos on guitar picks, drum heads, our tent we put up on the bus, which we call ‘the cabin’ cause of its old school cabin vibes, and sometimes the wolves are tied up outside it. We are through and through the wolf pack!”
Pals now, Abby first deemed 3-month-old Yukon public enemy number one. “Abby’ll be 17 in August and was like, ‘What the hell is this!’” laughs Rich. “I felt a new buddy might give her new life and hoped Yukon picked up her traits; he has, and probably picked up her sass because she’s constantly yelling and swatting at him! He’s so good with her now; she hobbles around and he doesn’t really play-attack her anymore. It’s really sweet—they’re big sis, little brother.”
Having your country star dad hold a private concert for you is Abby’s high point; for Yukon, not so much. “Yukon gets sketched out when I sing and spooked when I grab the guitar,” says Rich, “but it’s Abby’s favorite thing. She’s had many scares; she’s been my cat, having more lives than one. I like to think she sees me and goes, OK no, we got this! Over COVID, she was hospitalized for dehydration and came home stressed out wearing a cone. She couldn’t sleep, so I played guitar and sang ‘Stand By Me’ and she went straight to sleep right by my head. I was like, ‘Awwwwwwwwww!’”
Rich loves all things dog, evident from his cherished pets to the respect he has for loyal police dogs and their partners. “I cry watching every K-9 retirement video,” says Rich, whose empathy extends to all creatures great and small. “We highlight all sorts of animals at shelters we visit. It’s mostly dogs and cats but you find everything—guinea pigs, tons of rabbits at Easter.” In April, Rich led the sold-out Writers For Rhinos event in Nashville. “There’s a great rhino exhibit at the Nashville Zoo; I was asked to help raise money and be a part of the fight against the extinction of rhinos. I was like, ‘Yeah, Rich Rescues doesn’t discriminate against rescuing any animal!’ I love rhinos!”
To support Rich Rescues’ cause, Rich encourages fans to DM his or Rich Rescues’ Instagram about shelters in their towns needing help. “Proceeds from Rich Rescues dog bandanas on my website go towards all we do with the animals, but increasing volunteering at shelters is our mission,” says Rich. “Shelters literally operate on generous volunteers giving their time to walk and play with dogs and hang out with cats so it really starts locally with volunteers, fosters and adoptions. Adopting a pet adds a whole different level of connection, love and constant laughter to life. Pets are the truest form of family you weren’t born with. I couldn’t imagine life without pets. What do you do? Who do you talk to? I say the same things to my dogs at least 12 times a day!”
For more information please see tylerrich.com, @tylerrich, @richrescues, heanokill.org, bigmachinelabelgroup.com, @saddlewoodsfarm and nashvillezoo.org
Before his debut album Two Thousand Miles was even released on Sept. 4, 2020, country singer Tyler Rich’s music had already racked up over 200 million streams thanks to singles like “Leave Her Wild” and his RIAA Gold-certified breakthrough single “The Difference.” Two Thousand Miles showcases the Yuba City native’s penchant for incorporating diverse styles, like R&B, pop and alt-rock, into his unique brand of California country music. The spirited album’s thoughtful title refers to the distance between his dream job in Nashville and Los Angeles, where model and actress Sabina Gadecki—of TV shows such as LA’s Finest and box office hit Entourage—lived when they met at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in 2016. Gadecki swiftly became the love of Rich’s life and his muse for Two Thousand Miles. Rich co-wrote most of the album’s songs which are heavily inspired by his and Gadecki’s long-distance courtship that blossomed into marriage. Rich also shares his life with his beloved pet dogs, Abby and Yukon, and his lifelong passion for animals led him to establish Rich Rescues, a traveling initiative to inspire fans to help shelter pets in their own communities.
“I wanted all the dogs and cats in the world and wished I could do more for them,” says Rich. “We travel 24/7 so I created a touring rescue to raise awareness about shelter animals in different cities. Rich Rescues started in early 2020 and did about 10 memorable shelter visits with epic response; fans adopted dogs immediately. COVID shut us down but we created relationships with shelters, did Instagram Live fundraising and worked to get animals fostered.” Rich is elated to be on the road again playing live music and visiting shelters. “Fans send Instagram messages like, ‘You should go to my favorite bar!’ I thought, why not force-feed them all these adorable animals in the middle of that content and they won’t even see it coming: ‘Honey, Tyler’s at our favorite park … oh wait, we need to go get this dog!’ That goal has worked. It’s created a deeper, almost immeasurable connection with fans. I get pictures and updates of dogs fans adopted; it’s the most rewarding thing in the world. Knowing you’re instrumental in changing an animal’s life for the better is hard to take in. You’re not just changing that animal’s life; that animal will change yours.”
At 19, Rich embarked on a mission that indubitably changed his life. “I rescued my Husky, Abby, from a borderline abusive situation,” says Rich. “I’m 36 and she’s still my dog!” (Laughs.) “I went and stole her at 2 a.m. with the blessing of the dog owner’s wife, who had her records and leash waiting outside for me. She was this five-month-old purebred Husky puppy that had killed some livestock on this farm. The owner dug a huge hole with a tractor, leaving her there for three weeks while he rebuilt cages. She was covered in her own poop and pee and food was scattered through the dirt down this deep hole. I needed a friend and a rope to get down and get her and myself back out. If a family friend hadn’t told me about her, my whole life would’ve been different. She was the best part of my 20s.”
Rich hails from a dog-loving family. “My parents adopted quite a few,” says Rich. “I’ve always been close to my whole family who all had dogs. I grew up thinking my grandparents’ dogs were my other dogs. I had some tough heartbreaks going through that hell of losing a best friend and really appreciating what it means to have a dog in your family. Luckily most of our dogs lived long lives. We adopted a Chihuahua Terrier mix and named him Babalu from I Love Lucy. ‘Bob’ was a fat sausage with toothpicks and an underbite, and he lived to be 22! I was told you’re lucky to get 12 years out of big dogs so on Abby’s 13th birthday I got her portrait tattooed on my forearm. I was like, Baby, you made it to teenager, it’s a big deal!”
Abby made her own mark in country music with plenty screen time in Rich’s first music video for his debut single, “The Difference.” “Sabina had her Maltipoo Charlee when we met, and Abby and Charlee are in that video,” says Rich. “We wanted it to be a time capsule of what our lives looked like while we were falling in love. Charlee was Sabina’s tiny little aggressive protector but very sweet to me once he loved me. She’d had him for about 8 years when we met and I had Abby for 10 years, so they were our version of kids. It was a sweet little family united.”
Another type of kids took the happy couple over the moon during their wedding on Sept. 20, 2019 at Saddle Woods Farm in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. “They set up the goats and the miniature horses with full flowers and arrangements, and then unleashed the goats ten minutes into our photos,” says Rich. “They came sprinting out dressed up for the wedding. In the photos you see the hilarious true excitement on our faces! They did this awesome surprise for us and said it was because of the the attention we showed the animals at our rehearsal; we wanted to see the horses and goats more than where our ceremony would be!” laughs Rich.
Rich and Gadecki got into the pet fostering groove that flourished during the pandemic lockdowns. “We got Max in California,” says Rich. “He was a 15, 16-ish-year-old white Husky mix and such a cool, sweet gentle giant in a bad situation with ear infections, mange, mites and nails so long he couldn’t walk. We wanted to give him a happy ending. It was one of the hardest things we’ve done, emotionally and physically. But after some proper grooming, nutrition and CBD products he was walking and running and his patchy coat filled in. We did his DNA swab because we loved Max so much and wanted to discover his perfect mix. He was Chow, Samoyed and 75% white Husky. We thought we’d only have him a few months but we had him for 14 months. We took him and Abby on road trips everywhere to National Parks and took them to Massachusetts to see Sabina’s family for Christmas. We miss him a lot; he was the best.”
In addition to welcoming Max into his family during COVID, while recording studios were closed technical magic transpired to bring Two Thousand Miles to fruition between Rich in Los Angeles and the producer and musicians in Nashville, coincidentally the same distance between Rich and Gadecki during their remote romance, adding a perfect extra meaning to the album’s title. “Our home’s in Nashville but my wife’s an actor so we have a place in LA,” says Rich. “I built a mini studio there and taught myself how to use it, emailing files until the album was done. Crazy!” Currently Rich’s music, including latest releases “Better Than You’re Used To” and “A Little Bit of You,” have totaled almost 395 million global streams. After his Two Thousand (More) Miles Tour last fall and its second leg this spring, Rich is enjoying summer on the road playing fairs and festivals. “The shows keep getting bigger and better and we’re about to start releasing a wave of new music with a new sound, so I’m super excited.”
More excitement ensued for Rich recently when he adopted Yukon, a baby Husky mix from the Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the last place Rich Rescues visited in 2020. “We did a virtual fundraiser with them, became buddies then they called in November and said we have this puppy that looks exactly like Abby! Think about it!” laughs Rich. “Three weeks later they drove my little dude Yukon and his twin brother that my friend who watches my dogs adopted all the way to Nashville. They came from a breeder/hoarder situation in Texas. We DNA’d Yukon and Abby—she’s 100% Husky. Yukon is primarily Husky then Belgian Malinois, and Great Pyrenees, Rottweiler, German Shepherd and Malamute, and all personality! He’s just a beast, 65 pounds of solid brute-force yet so affectionate and sweet, so gentle with kids and he loves people.”
A road dog since day one, Yukon flips out when sees Rich’s tour bus. “He associates it with his eight uncles on that bus waiting to see him,” says Rich. “Radio DJs hang with Yukon, fans bring him toys; people couldn’t wait to see Abby but I retired her from the bus because it became too stressful for her. Yukon’s taken that spotlight, which Abby’s very happy about. Like most big dogs, Yukon has zero awareness of his size. I’ll be in the bus bunk wrapped up in a blanket and wake up in the pitch black and he’s on top of my entire body! I get claustrophobia attacks! (Laughs.) Still under a year old, Yukon sometimes practices the art of chewing. “If we leave that bus and don’t hide everything, he’ll eat something within one minute. Sabina visited her family in Poland, got stuck in Amsterdam and finally made it to Indianapolis for our show. She was super jet lagged and rolled into the bunk for a nap and passed out cold, and Yukon went in for a snack—he ate her knee-high boots on her feet like a corn on the cob! He started at the top and worked down to the heel all the way to the toe and back. He had corn on the cob buffet!”
Rich has received his share of punishment over the years from Abby every time he’s hit the road. “I’d come home and get side-eyed and sassed,” laughs Rich. “She’d get over it then howl, talk and chirp, then circle on the bed and sprint through the house for two hours straight—we call it ‘wolf mode.’ We loved Abby so much my Mom adopted a bonded pair of Huskies. By the time I was 20 we had four Huskies so the whole ‘wolf pack’ thing came about; friends called me Wolfman! My house is the wolf den, our band’s got illustrated Husky/wolf head logos on guitar picks, drum heads, our tent we put up on the bus, which we call ‘the cabin’ cause of its old school cabin vibes, and sometimes the wolves are tied up outside it. We are through and through the wolf pack!”
Pals now, Abby first deemed 3-month-old Yukon public enemy number one. “Abby’ll be 17 in August and was like, ‘What the hell is this!’” laughs Rich. “I felt a new buddy might give her new life and hoped Yukon picked up her traits; he has, and probably picked up her sass because she’s constantly yelling and swatting at him! He’s so good with her now; she hobbles around and he doesn’t really play-attack her anymore. It’s really sweet—they’re big sis, little brother.”
Having your country star dad hold a private concert for you is Abby’s high point; for Yukon, not so much. “Yukon gets sketched out when I sing and spooked when I grab the guitar,” says Rich, “but it’s Abby’s favorite thing. She’s had many scares; she’s been my cat, having more lives than one. I like to think she sees me and goes, OK no, we got this! Over COVID, she was hospitalized for dehydration and came home stressed out wearing a cone. She couldn’t sleep, so I played guitar and sang ‘Stand By Me’ and she went straight to sleep right by my head. I was like, ‘Awwwwwwwwww!’”
Rich loves all things dog, evident from his cherished pets to the respect he has for loyal police dogs and their partners. “I cry watching every K-9 retirement video,” says Rich, whose empathy extends to all creatures great and small. “We highlight all sorts of animals at shelters we visit. It’s mostly dogs and cats but you find everything—guinea pigs, tons of rabbits at Easter.” In April, Rich led the sold-out Writers For Rhinos event in Nashville. “There’s a great rhino exhibit at the Nashville Zoo; I was asked to help raise money and be a part of the fight against the extinction of rhinos. I was like, ‘Yeah, Rich Rescues doesn’t discriminate against rescuing any animal!’ I love rhinos!”
To support Rich Rescues’ cause, Rich encourages fans to DM his or Rich Rescues’ Instagram about shelters in their towns needing help. “Proceeds from Rich Rescues dog bandanas on my website go towards all we do with the animals, but increasing volunteering at shelters is our mission,” says Rich. “Shelters literally operate on generous volunteers giving their time to walk and play with dogs and hang out with cats so it really starts locally with volunteers, fosters and adoptions. Adopting a pet adds a whole different level of connection, love and constant laughter to life. Pets are the truest form of family you weren’t born with. I couldn’t imagine life without pets. What do you do? Who do you talk to? I say the same things to my dogs at least 12 times a day!”
For more information please see tylerrich.com, @tylerrich, @richrescues, heanokill.org, bigmachinelabelgroup.com, @saddlewoodsfarm and nashvillezoo.org
Tagged in Feature Celebrity in our Summer 2022 issue