Ryan Necci - Truth. Trauma. Viral Harmony
He didn’t chase the spotlight. He built a bonfire of truth—and let the crowd find him.
Ryan Necci never set out to be a full-time musician and songwriter.
He was a graphic designer. A weekend warrior.
Then life cracked wide open.
A brain tumor.
A rescue dog fighting cancer.
A marriage ending.
And through it all—songs poured out.
🎶 Songs that bruised like Springsteen.
🖤 Lyrics that cut like Isbell.
🔥 A growl that hits you in the gut like Stapleton.
One video. One verse. One million views later… the world started listening. And they haven’t stopped.
In this episode of Americana Curious, Ryan gets real about:
Turning heartbreak into harmony
Writing for Luke Grimes, Flatland Cavalry, and more
Why authenticity—not algorithms—is your superpower
How a raw Instagram clip resurrected a 10-year-old song
And the letting go that saved his life
If you’ve ever been told to chase trends or keep quiet about your pain—this one’s for you.
🎧 Listen now. Get Americana Curious with Ryan Necci.
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Transcript
A couple years ago, my wife had a golf ball sized tumor on the lining of her brain.
Speaker A:It became our entire life for about a year.
Speaker A:And writing has been a form of therapy for me.
Speaker A:It comes out in these songs and luckily it resonate with people.
Speaker B:And did you know how powerful that was going to be?
Speaker C:Ryan Nacey from Ryan Nacey and the Buffalo Gospel writes with the grit of Springsteen, the heart of frying and the plain punch of Isbl.
Speaker C:His music doesn't just tell stories.
Speaker C:It bruises.
Speaker A:Sitting on the deck by myself and all of a sudden the line starts coming and you never know that a little love is all you need Till a little love is all you got.
Speaker A:When we play that one more than any other song, the crowd will start to sing back to us.
Speaker A:That's one of the ones that I have a hard time getting through sometimes.
Speaker A:I always thought it had to be a perfect video and people don't need a studio quality thing.
Speaker A:They just want to be a part of what you're doing.
Speaker A:And for whatever reason, those videos took off and one of them has a million and a half views and another one has a little less than a million at the moment.
Speaker A:It took us from like 2,000 followers to about 52,000 followers.
Speaker A:That's what I mean by authenticity.
Speaker A:Like finding what works for you is your superpower.
Speaker C:Taking your own life experience and then creating this powerful music.
Speaker A:I don't know if I would call it a superpower, but.
Speaker C:Americana music transforms the world and unfortunately, too many are unaware of its profound impact.
Speaker C:Americana musicians are the unsung heroes and here you'll join us in exploring these passionate artists and how they offer inspiration and hope for the future.
Speaker C:This show makes it happen in a fun and entertaining way.
Speaker C:You'll discover new music that you'll love, Hard earned lessons from the road, the story behind favorite songs, a big dose of inspiration for you and your friends, and a good laugh along the way.
Speaker C:I'm Ben Fanning and my co host is Zach Schultz.
Speaker C:It's time to get Americana curious.
Speaker C:Hey there everybody.
Speaker C:Welcome back to Americana Curious.
Speaker C:From Wisconsin farm kid to Nashville heavyweight with songs that cut to the bone, Ryan Nacy from Ryan Nacy and the Buffalo Gospel.
Speaker C:Writes with the grit of spring steam, the heart of Prine and the punch of Isbull.
Speaker C:Raised on Hankin towns shaped by jam bands and darkness, his music doesn't just tell stories, it bruises.
Speaker C:He's collaborated with Lori McKenna, Steven Wilson Jr.
Speaker C:Luke Grime in Flatland Calvary and his latest EP, Holy Smokes.
Speaker C:The letting go part One proves that he's just getting started.
Speaker C:Time to get Americana curious with Ryan Nacy.
Speaker C:Ryan, welcome to the show, sir.
Speaker A:Thank you very much.
Speaker A:You guys are way too kind with that intro.
Speaker A:I'll take it.
Speaker A:We'll cut that part out.
Speaker C:Love it, man.
Speaker B:Let me kick it off right away.
Speaker B:Let's start right with the Letting Go.
Speaker B:I mean, Darkness.
Speaker B:You.
Speaker B:You said before we started recording, these were just songs on your shelf.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Tell me what inspired this.
Speaker B:Is there a story of what's been going on in your life that inspired these songs?
Speaker A:I think so.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:First and foremost, these are the.
Speaker A:The first songs that I've ever put out that haven't been.
Speaker A:I think, anyway, maybe there have been a couple.
Speaker A:But I wrote all these songs with two of my great friends here in Nashville, Errolyn Wanberg and Teddy Morgan, Two guys that for the last few years I've been looking for.
Speaker A:You know, the dream is to find a songwriting crew that is comfortable and that you can keep building on.
Speaker A:And because so many of those opportunities are one and dones and you, you know, you'll get in, write a song with somebody and that'll be the last you hear from them.
Speaker A:So I've always wanted like a crew of whoever, just like minded individuals that wanted to keep working on songs and keep shaping them and not necessarily worry about finishing something in a day.
Speaker A:Like let's.
Speaker A:Let's just write the best stuff we can write, you know, and so those guys definitely fit that bill.
Speaker A:We've been writing consistently for a couple years now.
Speaker A:And when I say on the shelf, we wrote those songs with intention.
Speaker A:Like we're very proud of them and it wasn't just a throwaway thing.
Speaker A:But obviously they're a little.
Speaker A:They're not as commercial as some of the other stuff coming out of this town.
Speaker A:So it can be hard to find homes for those sorts of things.
Speaker A:And I have a.
Speaker A:I have a lot, like just being a full time songwriter now, you have no choice but to just pile up a ton of material.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:Yeah, so I have a.
Speaker A:Just, you know, there's a bunch of these that feel a little more special to me that I just.
Speaker A:It makes me kind of cringe to think that they might never come out into the world just because I can't find a commercial opportunity for them.
Speaker A:So that was the idea with the letting Go.
Speaker A:It was like we hadn't put anything out in a while and we had a bunch of songs sitting around and we were like, these ones all feel like they work together.
Speaker A:I would say, you know that it is dark the last.
Speaker A:It's weird because every interview I do over the last 10 years I've been like the last three years were kind of dark for me.
Speaker A:But that's not to complain.
Speaker A:My life is.
Speaker A:I'm tremendously lucky.
Speaker A:But we are.
Speaker A:We've been going through navigating a canine lymphoma situation.
Speaker A:One of our, our beloved animals.
Speaker A:We have a lot of rescue dogs and one of our.
Speaker A:The closest, her name's June Bug.
Speaker A:She's a big white pit bull, just the sweetest thing in the world.
Speaker A:And she's.
Speaker A:We've actually been going through chemo and radiation with her and I didn't even realize that was a thing.
Speaker A:But that has been consuming a lot of.
Speaker A:A lot of my emotional bandwidth over the last few months.
Speaker A:And I will say one of the reasons that we are going kind of to the ends of the earth to help this particular dog is a couple years ago my wife had.
Speaker A:We found out she had a golf ball sized tumor on the lining of her brain and that sort of.
Speaker A:It became our entire life for about a year obviously getting it.
Speaker A:She's great now.
Speaker A:She's 100%.
Speaker A:It's removed.
Speaker A:She's.
Speaker A:She's wonderful.
Speaker A:But that dog was a crutch for both of us through that whole thing.
Speaker A:And so she gave us so much.
Speaker A:Now we're kind of like we owe it to this, this individual to.
Speaker A:To give her back as much as we can.
Speaker A:So that's a long ramble to.
Speaker A:I've been just some heavy stuff the last couple years, you know, and.
Speaker A:And writing has been a necessary form of therapy for me.
Speaker A:And I know that I'm not the first one to say that, but that's.
Speaker A:It comes out in these songs and luckily it res.
Speaker A:It seems to resonate with people.
Speaker B:And do you feel comfortable in the setting of saying you have to schedule a writing.
Speaker B:You're a full time songwriter now, so you schedule.
Speaker B:Is that more difficult with the creative process than if it is when you're individually just.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:I woke up and this came to me.
Speaker A:That's a good question.
Speaker A:I almost.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It's almost starting to feel like two different jobs to me.
Speaker A:And I'm not that I'm.
Speaker A:I think it's just that I.
Speaker A:I've practiced it enough now.
Speaker A:Like it's a.
Speaker A:It's just a muscle.
Speaker A:It's a different muscle that I think for most writers and for me especially when I started, it's kind of atrophied the idea of writing fast and, and you know, it.
Speaker A:I always try to explain it to my friends that like being in a writer's room and writing for an artist or another writer's project or whatever.
Speaker A:I was a graphic designer for a long time.
Speaker A:That's what I went to school for.
Speaker A:And to me, that feels a lot like commercial art.
Speaker A:It feels like, you know, you're working with a client and you're trying to develop something that they're happy with at the end of the day.
Speaker A:And yeah, I'm going to try and get as much of my flavor in as I can and there's going to be some hills that I want to die on.
Speaker A:But at the end of the day, we're working for them and I want to make sure they're incredibly happy with their song, you know, but we don't.
Speaker B:Want to give them everything.
Speaker A:We don't want them everything.
Speaker A:I do, I always have a pile of things that feel either more like me or this is something that I could sing on stage and believe in.
Speaker A:And so I definitely, you know, I'll keep some things aside that feel more personal or feel like they could beat pointing in a direction of another album or something.
Speaker A:But I love them both.
Speaker A:It's just two completely things and I'm getting good at, okay, 11 o' clock, the right starts.
Speaker A:I have to be on my a game at 11 o' clock, you know, and then I come home at night and I.
Speaker A:That's when I usually do most of the weird, dark writing for myself on the porch.
Speaker A:But, yeah, I love it both.
Speaker A:I think they both help the other style.
Speaker A:I think, you know, writing with other people, even if it's not a successful write, I take something away from every right positive or negative that I can use in my own work.
Speaker C:You know, when you wrote a lot of these songs that have been shelved for the Letting Go part one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:What was going on for you and what were those dark night sessions?
Speaker C:I mean, the people listening to the first time are like, you keep saying darkness and riding in darkness and coming home.
Speaker C:And the word darkness has been mentioned probably 20 times.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like, what is.
Speaker C:What is the darkness to you?
Speaker C:And what was the, you know, like the story behind it that inspired a lot of it.
Speaker A:I mean, there's a lot.
Speaker A:I think it's.
Speaker A:Honestly, it's a lot of those things are the ones that I cannot explain where they come from.
Speaker A:I feel like being in the writers rooms, you know, that you're working towards something and you're trying to pull this.
Speaker A:You're pulling pieces together and you're both.
Speaker A:Everybody's.
Speaker A:Oh, sorry.
Speaker A:Everybody's collaborating.
Speaker A:But when it comes to those that are a little more emotional, a little more connected, to me personally, those are the ones that you can't always predict or put your finger on how they were built.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:Like, some of them are.
Speaker A:I'm sitting on.
Speaker A:Sitting on the deck by myself, and all of a sudden a line starts coming and a melody starts coming, and I gotta get up and pick a guitar up and, like, that's where Higher Hell Water, that song came from.
Speaker A:I think I was doing yard work and a line just kicks in.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I kind of take it wherever I can get it lyrically, you know, And I'm always kind of working my shoulder.
Speaker D:To cry O' er the crook of an arm that can't fix the cracks in my heart if lonesome's a crime Just sound the alarm Lock me up deep in the dark Been watching for signs I've been running my life When I'm ready for angels else to say.
Speaker B:Let me ask about.
Speaker B:Because I discovered you through.
Speaker B:I mean, a few years ago.
Speaker B:I don't know when the song Mule came out.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, that was a.
Speaker A:Quite a while ago.
Speaker A:That was on our first length record.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that is where I became a fan.
Speaker A:Oh, cool.
Speaker B:And I just wonder, did you know.
Speaker B:Is that one of those moments where you're sitting on the porch and that comes to you?
Speaker B:Because that.
Speaker B:Did you know how powerful that chorus was going to be?
Speaker A:I mean, I knew that.
Speaker B:That one hits people right on.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I wrote that one when I was still living in Milwaukee and I was married to my first wife.
Speaker A:I've been divorced and now I'm remarried.
Speaker A:And that was a point where I think we both knew that that particular marriage had run its course, even though we were still kind of going through the motions at that point.
Speaker A:And I remember sitting on the porch and I had the line, you never know that a little love is all you need Till a little love is all you got.
Speaker A:And that was all I had at the beginning.
Speaker A:And I just kept kind of repeating that and repeating that and repeating that and sort of built the song around it.
Speaker A:But, yeah, I mean, there are some.
Speaker A:That one on stage, when we play that one and that one, more than any other song, the crowd will start to sing back to us, which is pretty incredible.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's one of the ones that I have a hard time getting through sometimes.
Speaker A:You know, there's a handful that are.
Speaker A:If I start thinking about Where I was, you know, it's.
Speaker A:It's hard.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I appreciate that.
Speaker A:It resonates, man.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:It's a great song.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:So thinking about.
Speaker C:So I listened to the album, like, I didn't really, until we started doing research, know that you had written so much beyond your own artistry, and that's a big part of what you do.
Speaker C:And then you start with, hey, I'm a full time songwriter now.
Speaker C:Which shocks me because we're shocked because I.
Speaker C:I've heard all your other work.
Speaker C:What is the.
Speaker C:What is the financial reality of writing song?
Speaker C:Being a full time songwriter versus being an Americana artist who's got his own dang great songs?
Speaker C:In terms of.
Speaker C:Why are.
Speaker C:Why write songs for other people?
Speaker C:Like, for.
Speaker C:For us.
Speaker C:Like, Zach and I are in the fan category.
Speaker C:We're not in the music business category.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So how do we help us understand.
Speaker C:Us understand the realities of it, how it works.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, for me.
Speaker A:So I was.
Speaker A:I was working as a graphic designer in Milwaukee.
Speaker A:This is maybe a little more information than you want, but so.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And doing the kind of weekend warrior band thing I had previously been in, like a jam band.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:We did a lot of touring when we were younger.
Speaker C:And you guys had some success.
Speaker A:You guys were, you know, we had a minute.
Speaker A:We had a minute there where people, some people knew who we were in a very specific fan base.
Speaker A:But it was wonderful.
Speaker A:And we learned a ton about, like, rough touring, like we were sleeping on floors and, you know, five guys in a hotel room and that kind of thing, and.
Speaker A:And just traveling in the worst vehicles.
Speaker A:So I've.
Speaker A:I've been down that road and I've.
Speaker A:I've done that.
Speaker A:It was fun.
Speaker A:I don't really have much desire to get back in that situation.
Speaker A:So when that band ended, I just wanted to record music with my friends because I was writing a bunch of the.
Speaker A:What would become the first record.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I just.
Speaker A:I love being in the studio.
Speaker A:I love creating with other people.
Speaker A:And that's.
Speaker A:That's where my heart lies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we were doing that and then we put out our first record and.
Speaker A:And all of a sudden it became a thing where people seemed to want to hear what we had to say.
Speaker A:So we started playing shows and that led to another record.
Speaker A:Same thing.
Speaker A:Using my vacation time to go out and do, you know, four or five shows at a time.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:You only got a couple weeks of vacation a year.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:You're not on vacation.
Speaker C:You're like, I'm gonna go really work as hard as possible.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So we're going out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, get home Sunday night.
Speaker A:I'm back at work Monday morning.
Speaker A:And not that, you know, there's tons of people doing that, and I'm nothing special for it.
Speaker A:It's just like, I never had.
Speaker A:I never even knew that there were professional songwriters.
Speaker A:Like, I didn't think people did it for a living.
Speaker A:I had no visions of, like, being a musician for the rest of my life.
Speaker A:I didn't think anyone really cared about what I had to say.
Speaker A:And that still kind of blows my mind, to be honest.
Speaker A:But anyway, so a guy in Nashville here, his name's Scott Safford.
Speaker A:He's been.
Speaker A:He's an entertainment attorney in town, actually, and he's been one of the biggest champions for my music since day one.
Speaker A:He had paralegal that was working for him, found our record on bandcamp, brought it in one day, and was like, hey, man, I think you should hear this.
Speaker A:It seems to be right up your alley.
Speaker A:And Scott kind of blew him off because he's like, you know, who do you think you are, bringing stuff into me?
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:But then he ended up listening to the record and caught on with him.
Speaker A:And so I got a couple line email from him and his buddy who's an A and R guy in town here, just saying, we'd love to get you down to Nashville.
Speaker A:We work in music.
Speaker A:We'd love to help you.
Speaker A:And I'm like, this has got to be shady.
Speaker A:And we started talking, and it turned into they got.
Speaker A:They brought the band down.
Speaker A:We played a couple showcases.
Speaker A:I signed my first publishing deal with.
Speaker A:With BMG Music, because they were in the room for one of those showcases.
Speaker A:We signed on with our first agent, William Morris, because they were in the room when we did the showcase.
Speaker A:So, like, for whatever reason, I keep having these people come into my life and just be like, we want to help you.
Speaker A:How can we help you?
Speaker A:And usually there's a lot of BS behind that kind of thing, but for whatever reason, I've had a group of very incredible people willing to help me out.
Speaker B:That's what Ben always talks about with the Americana genre is there's such a sense of community where people are not trying to tear people down, but to build them.
Speaker B:Build them up, you know, it really.
Speaker A:Is a pretty cool community.
Speaker A:I feel like I'm getting off, though.
Speaker A:You were asking about financial realities.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, this sounds like the story ends with you on American Idol.
Speaker C:No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker C:It sounds like the story ends with you on a World tour with your band, going around the world 300 days a year, touring.
Speaker C:That's not where this ends though, right?
Speaker C:You're building.
Speaker C:But stop the press for a second.
Speaker A:That I don't want to go on the road for 300 days?
Speaker A:Is that what you're saying?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, why.
Speaker C:So you're now come to this podcast.
Speaker C:You're like, okay, we came to Nashville, people loved our music.
Speaker C:I'm a full time songwriter.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Well, I guess, like what, what is the gap there?
Speaker C:Because I think, I think that's interesting.
Speaker A:What it came down to for me is I.
Speaker A:Like I said, I love just writing songs.
Speaker A:I love, I love performing, I love being with the band.
Speaker A:I'm not crazy about the 90% of the other stuff about touring.
Speaker A:Like, it's a, It's a pretty rough life.
Speaker C:Tried it.
Speaker A:It's gotten a little rougher after Covid.
Speaker A:It's even a little harder now for lower to mid tier bands.
Speaker C:I think they're just always, why so or how so is it rough?
Speaker A:I think venues and opportunities have kind of dried up.
Speaker A:A lot of venues closed.
Speaker A:A lot of bands went away.
Speaker A:A lot of connections went away.
Speaker A:You know, a lot of the higher tier acts have kind of moved down into the middle, Middle tier theaters and, and the middle tier people kind of move down in the lower tier theaters.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:We sort of get bumped out a little bit.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:It sounds like, I mean, it's a lot kind of like John Fulbright, who was with Turnpike at the beginning and he didn't care for all the touring and, you know, he kind of went away from that and becomes a producer, songwriter, pops in every once in a while.
Speaker B:That's kind of.
Speaker A:I go through fits and spurts, man.
Speaker A:Like, I, I really, I.
Speaker A:When I'm out on the road, I'm, I'm thrilled, I'm happy, I'm loving it.
Speaker A:When I'm home, it just gets easy to be like, man, I just love writing with my friends and I love being with my dogs and my wife and we have a nice quiet space up here.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:But it does.
Speaker A:By no means am I done playing shows.
Speaker A:It's just where I'm at at the moment.
Speaker C:Well, was there one moment that you remember, like, wait a minute, okay, I could do this tour or I could spend all these days writing music and this is going to be a better lifestyle and a better financial decision.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, I think the thing that pushed me, kind of pushed me off the road was definitely my wife's brain tumor.
Speaker A:We had we had a pretty big tour planned, literally a week after we found out about it that we had to cancel and.
Speaker A:And then I just, you know, she couldn't because of what it was.
Speaker A:There were seizures involved.
Speaker A:She couldn't drive because of that.
Speaker A:So I had to be around to drive her to appointments and things like that.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:So really I think that's where we had a.
Speaker A:We had a pretty good head of steam when it came to.
Speaker A:To being out on the road and stuff.
Speaker A:And then that kind of took the train off the tracks when it comes to touring.
Speaker A:But that's also.
Speaker A:It gave me time to write a full length record that we're going to put out later this year.
Speaker A:So, I mean, there were benefit, not benefits.
Speaker A:I won't say that, you know, that it was a positive, but like I, it did give me time to work on stuff.
Speaker B:Is that record coming out after part two of this Letting Go, or is that a.
Speaker A:We're gonna put that record out first and then we'll.
Speaker A:We'll figure out what part two looks like.
Speaker C:And so is your superpower as you describe it, right?
Speaker C:Like taking your own life, experience the most difficult times with your loved ones and yourself and like finding the words for it and then creating this, this powerful music.
Speaker C:I mean, is it.
Speaker C:I don't know if you describe it.
Speaker A:I don't know if I would call it a superpower, but it is what interests me.
Speaker A:Finding new ways to say things that have been said a thousand times.
Speaker A:Like, I don't think this again.
Speaker A:I'm kind of going off in another direction, but there's a lot of talk about AI and AI writing lyrics and things like that.
Speaker A:I don't think I've ever seen AI come up with an original thought, but I still think human beings have the capacity to say something new.
Speaker A:And that's the interesting thing to me.
Speaker A:Like, I want to.
Speaker A:People have said I love you, I love you, I love you so many times.
Speaker A:Like, what's a way, what's a new way to say I love you?
Speaker A:That's going to hit people in the stomach real hard.
Speaker A:That's about as simple as it gets for me.
Speaker A:I love the puzzle aspect and finding those pieces and.
Speaker A:But yeah, just.
Speaker A:I love language.
Speaker A:My, my mom got me real stoked on the English language when I was a young kid and so.
Speaker C:Wow, how'd you do that?
Speaker A:Excited.
Speaker A:She used to write romance novels actually and she would sit me down a little, little typewriter next to her and I would write stories while she was writing these, like, you know, Fabio on the COVID romance novels kind of thing.
Speaker A:Then she would go, mom.
Speaker A:She was pretty harsh with the red pen.
Speaker A:And at the time I was like, you know, that I didn't understand what was going on.
Speaker A:But now I tell her thank you all the time for it.
Speaker A:And she doesn't believe that she had an influence on it.
Speaker A:But I don't think I would care nearly as much about what I'm doing if it wasn't for those early years of her kind of putting that typewriter in front of me.
Speaker C:That's a full story.
Speaker B:Do you get enough credit for your voice?
Speaker C:Of course.
Speaker B:Because, I mean, it's.
Speaker B:It's Stapleton, like on some of these songs, I mean, really is got that deep growl.
Speaker B:I mean, and I, I don't feel like people give it enough credit, but.
Speaker A:That means a lot and that's a lot of credit, just you saying that.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Chris Stapleton's welcome on this show anytime.
Speaker C:Yeah, Chris, you already rejected him a couple times, but now that's okay.
Speaker B:We've rejected him.
Speaker C:Not cutting it, but yeah.
Speaker A:I love singing.
Speaker A:I love singing with Haley, our fiddle player and Kevin.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We do the three part harmony things with the.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a blast, man.
Speaker A:I'm just, I don't know, it's hard for me to even.
Speaker B:Because you post a lot of pictures with or videos, excuse me, on Instagram and kind of.
Speaker B:They captivate people that.
Speaker B:I mean, you've got quite a good following on there.
Speaker B:Is that like a.
Speaker B:A thing now that people just have to do to kind of stay, I don't know, relevant?
Speaker B:Not relevant?
Speaker B:I don't want to say relevant, but just in the algorithm.
Speaker A:I was actually thinking about that this morning and it's.
Speaker A:It's certainly not something you have to do.
Speaker A:Nobody has to do it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think if you, if you're not doing it, if you're not using one of the major tools that is provided to you to promote your business, you're kind of.
Speaker A:I would have to question your tactics, I guess.
Speaker A:I don't think anyone gets into music to make videos for Instagram.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:But I do think there's a ton of value in.
Speaker A:Even if it's 200 people that you get that video in front of.
Speaker A:You would be thrilled with 200 people in a room listening to you play music.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker A:Why.
Speaker A:Why is 200 views not important anymore?
Speaker A:You know, that's.
Speaker B:Yeah, you just hit a spot with Ben there.
Speaker B:He loves.
Speaker C:That's what we do.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Like, oh, you got a thousand People that you got sent 7,000, 10,000 views, 20,000 views on Instagram.
Speaker A:Put all those people in a room that's you would chew your off for that kind of opportunity.
Speaker C:Even one song to get in front of that.
Speaker C:It's powerful, man.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:I will say we had, for whatever reason, we had some luck with a couple videos that just kind of got caught up in the algorithm and got us some much bigger numbers than we had before.
Speaker A:And it makes it a lot easier when you do see some positive traction on it.
Speaker A:Like I was probably a lot more negative around the whole idea before we had some luck with it.
Speaker A:But I do think it's a lot of just consistency and I think it's.
Speaker A:A lot of people can smell bs.
Speaker A:Like I think they just want authenticity and even more so now that everything can be generated by AI.
Speaker A:Like they want to see a real thing, they want to hear a real voice.
Speaker A:At least that's how I feel.
Speaker C:People aren't fooled by it now, right.
Speaker C:They're like, oh, we used to look at a crazy video and not realize it was a deep fake.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And now we think everything's a deep fake.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So it's gone the other way.
Speaker C:No, you're talking about the songs that have really works in magic.
Speaker C:If I Was the last man, what Will you walk us through what went down with that tune?
Speaker D:For Richero, for poorer for me Girl it Belly full of fire it Bible busted Lane hand on the girl that brought me she came from way back east she done it like a master I've done it like a beast or hate Rose double on the wall first to fire is the first to fall My blood dries black it dries fast.
Speaker A:That's a one of the older songs that I wrote for this band.
Speaker A:I wrote it when I was still in Milwaukee.
Speaker A:It's on our first record.
Speaker A:And I remember I started this band with a guy named Josh Tovar, who was an incredible country western guitar player.
Speaker A:And he was in a band called Invade Rome, which has now be sort of members became the record company.
Speaker A:Have you guys ever heard of the record company?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, so we're buddies, long time buddies with Chris.
Speaker A:But anyway, so Josh, when he was in Vade Rome, they broke up.
Speaker A:Josh and I started this band with a few people and started recording stuff.
Speaker A:I remember taking this song and Josh is from Oklahoma.
Speaker A:He's the most country dude I knew at the time.
Speaker A:So I was like, if he likes this song, it passes the test, you know.
Speaker A:And so I played it for him and he Was blown away, Loved it.
Speaker A:And so he and I ended up putting the record, putting that on the record.
Speaker A:He has since passed away, so a lot of those songs mean a lot to me.
Speaker A:Just because he was my original, like, what's cool gauge when it comes to country music.
Speaker A:Like, everything past him, you know, And I still.
Speaker A:In my head, I'd be lying if I said I don't run everything I write through that filter.
Speaker A:Like, would Josh think this is cool?
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:So far, it's been kind of keeping me on the right path, just using that as a.
Speaker A:And he always liked the authentic stuff, so I try to not do anything that doesn't feel real.
Speaker A:Anyway, that song, we started making videos for Instagram, I did that one.
Speaker A:Just messing around a little chunk.
Speaker A:Posted it.
Speaker A:And a few days later, our manager at the time called me and was just like, have you looked at the numbers on this thing?
Speaker A:And I'm like, I don't.
Speaker A:Not even really sure where I look for that.
Speaker A:And it had been taken.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:So we put another little chunk of it up.
Speaker A:And the thing is, I never recorded the whole song, so that whole performance doesn't exist anywhere.
Speaker A:It was just like, let's mess around with the camera, play a verse and a chorus and see what happens, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And for whatever reason, those videos took off, and one of them has, like a million and a half views, and another one has a little less than a million at the moment.
Speaker A:It took us from, like, 2,000 followers to about 52,000 followers.
Speaker A:And we ended up.
Speaker A:We cut a new version of it that was closer to the video, put that out.
Speaker A:People seem to enjoy it, and it's just super weird that you can write a song and ten years later it can find a brand new life, you know?
Speaker C:And what did you take from that in terms of your creative process today and how you think about your art in the future and how you're gonna approach it?
Speaker A:I think not writing things off just because they're not brand new.
Speaker A:To me, I think an artist is always excited about his latest work or their latest work, and it's easy to forget about the stuff that you've done before and all the work and the time that you put into these records, and then you just kind of.
Speaker A:They're out and you just sort of let them go, you know?
Speaker A:And there's nothing wrong with.
Speaker A:With fostering those songs and continuing to edit and continuing to think about them in terms of your stage show.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I think that's how, if I was the Last man kind of got a second life was.
Speaker A:We've been playing it and it just.
Speaker A:It seemed to be connecting, you know?
Speaker C:So, yeah, to me, when I hear it, it's like twofold.
Speaker C:One is, like, you say a great artist, and I'll put you in that category.
Speaker C:You're constantly evolving your work and reinterpreting it in different ways.
Speaker C:But also, maybe the timing wasn't right before.
Speaker A:Maybe.
Speaker C:Well, like with.
Speaker C:Not with you, per se, but with the crowd, where that Americana world was going.
Speaker C:The Instagram.
Speaker C:Instagram.
Speaker C:Was it around when you wrote this song?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think it was around, but it was still probably very photo based.
Speaker A:It used to be photo based.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And so time goes on and there's a new tool.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And you're more comfortable being maybe a little more raw.
Speaker C:And I just love the fact that the tools came around, the audience came around, and you kept working.
Speaker C:And it just goes to show for all of us creative types that there's just a different way to be creative than just being the new thing or giving up on something.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's.
Speaker A:I think there's a lot.
Speaker A:And I've been guilty of this too.
Speaker A:I think there's a lot of.
Speaker A:You feel this neat.
Speaker A:You see some success in your friend group or whatever circle you're traveling in as far as artists go, and you start to chase whatever that is.
Speaker A:Oh, well, this guy did good with this.
Speaker A:So I'm going to try and start doing this thing.
Speaker A:But that might not be your thing.
Speaker B:That's a great way to look at it.
Speaker A:That's what I mean by authenticity, like finding what works for you.
Speaker A:For me, what seemed to resonate was me sitting with a guitar or me sitting with our bass player and fiddle player and singing a song and for other people.
Speaker C:On a tiny phone.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker C:Tiny phone screen.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:On an app.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:And, yeah, I mean, I don't know.
Speaker C:I think that that's interesting how this tool has come around.
Speaker C:And I think what I'm hopeful is people say the logarithms are against.
Speaker C:I feel like sometimes they are against Americana music.
Speaker C:But there.
Speaker C:There's something there.
Speaker C:And when I started learning your story, I was like, man, there's something there.
Speaker C:If artists embrace it in a creative.
Speaker A:Way, it certainly can't hurt you.
Speaker A:And if anything, it's made me more comfortable just being in front of people and kind of vulnerable, because it's not, like I said, it's not something that I like.
Speaker A:Wake up in the morning and I'm.
Speaker A:Oh, man, I can't wait to Go make videos today, you know?
Speaker C:Well, like one of the things you said, and I just want to tie it back to what you said earlier about sitting on that deck.
Speaker C:You had your mowing the grass and you had that.
Speaker C:That earworm.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:That chorus that became.
Speaker C:That has become one of the most sung like crowd interactive choruses.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:That they sing in your shows.
Speaker C:If you had had a phone at the time and you had thought, you know what, I'm just gonna play this little chorus and I'm gonna put it out on Instagram.
Speaker C:We would love this.
Speaker C:Like, Zach and I would like that.
Speaker C:We would enjoy that.
Speaker C:And people.
Speaker C:Some people don't like Zach Bryan.
Speaker C:Some people do like Zach Brian.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:But that guy puts out a lot of like half choruses that he's working on.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And people seem to really enjoy that.
Speaker C:I don't know what I still have on this now on Hellas.
Speaker A:I think I to a fault.
Speaker A:I have kind of high expectations of what I thought I had to put out on Instagram.
Speaker A:Like I guess we were talking about, you know, when I first started doing this thing, Instagram videos wasn't a huge thing.
Speaker C:Yeah, it wasn't a thing.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:If you're putting videos up, it was either on your website or on YouTube.
Speaker A:And I always thought it had to be a finished, perfect recording and perfect video and whatever.
Speaker A:And I'm still getting over some of that.
Speaker A:Like, people don't need a studio quality thing.
Speaker A:They just want to be a part of what you're doing.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And when I listen to your music, that's what I think about where you wrote this thing and you told that story about you sitting on your deck.
Speaker C:I would have loved not to take gratification in your pain, but the fact that if you can put that in a nutshell out periodically, I don't know why we're so drawn to that rawness.
Speaker A:Well, I will keep that in mind.
Speaker A:I put a lot of that kind of stuff on.
Speaker A:We have a Patreon account that.
Speaker C:Okay, go there.
Speaker C:Talk to us about Patreon versus non Patreon.
Speaker B:Because that seems to be where a lot of artists are, are, are moving towards.
Speaker C:Is it worth it to do this?
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:More of a sense of.
Speaker B:I mean, from, from like what I gather from BJ Barham of American Aquarium is his thought process behind Patreon is I want my community.
Speaker B:This is where they are.
Speaker B:This is how I build my community.
Speaker B:You don't know what's going on on Instagram, who's following you, who is really a fan so is that kind of the process you're thinking?
Speaker A:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker A:I, I have a lot of, like, a lot of the stuff that you guys are talking about.
Speaker A:Half.
Speaker A:Half finished ideas, rehearsal tapes, you know, all sorts of weird stuff that, like, I just kind of wanted a clearinghouse to put all that, and it just made sense.
Speaker A:Like, it's such a flexible, simple platform that.
Speaker A:And we don't have a giant community, just a little group of kind of super, super fans, for lack of a better term.
Speaker A:And they're amazing.
Speaker A:But yeah, it's just.
Speaker A:There's never a question of like, oh, this is too rough for Patreon, because I always kind of look at that as like if you're.
Speaker A:If you're paying a little bit extra to get more from us, you probably care about whatever we're going to put out.
Speaker A:So it just.
Speaker A:There's a little more grace there as far as, like, leniency of what you can put up and what you.
Speaker A:What you wouldn't put up.
Speaker A:So a lot of times I'll put up like a chunk of an Instagram video, a good chunk on Instagram, and then put the whole unedited thing on Patreon.
Speaker A:You know, that's.
Speaker A:That's sort of been the process lately.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Let me ask about.
Speaker B:I love the meaning of the Buffalo Gospel and tell me if I'm wrong, but what I've read is it's kind of the strength symbol of a Buffalo Gospel, meaning truth.
Speaker B:So I put that together.
Speaker B:That means strong truth to me.
Speaker B:Is that kind of what we were thinking?
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I say I kind of relate.
Speaker A:I feel like I relate to the Buffalo a little bit, being kind of a big, slow, plodding thing, but also a very resilient thing who's seen some hardships.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:So I appreciate that a lot.
Speaker A:And yeah, the.
Speaker A:The truth thing.
Speaker A:I'm not a.
Speaker A:I'm not a much for organized religion, so for me, gospel just means authenticity and being truthful and.
Speaker A:And that's what we try and do with everything we do, you know, so.
Speaker A:And we're also upper Midwest, Great Plains, kind of.
Speaker A:You know, we love the Dakotas.
Speaker A:We love, you know, western Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, you could say Minnesota.
Speaker B:Come on.
Speaker B:No, I love it.
Speaker A:And Haiti.
Speaker A:Haley live in Minneapolis, so I'm there all the time.
Speaker A:It's a great city.
Speaker A:Really.
Speaker B:I live on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin, so I get this.
Speaker B:This rivalry going right on.
Speaker A:I went to school in Eau Claire, so, yeah, so I heard it from them, too.
Speaker A:All the time.
Speaker A:Because that's.
Speaker B:And surprisingly, it's a crazy music scene in little Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, you Bonaver them Cooley boys.
Speaker B:There are some great bands coming out of Eau Claire.
Speaker A:There's a bunch of drunks and it's cold and else to do.
Speaker A:Pull up there.
Speaker A:I love Eau Claire too, man.
Speaker A:If it was closer to an airport, I would consider being there, but.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:So we don't.
Speaker C:We don't have too much more.
Speaker C:Too much time left.
Speaker C:But I wanted just to understand a little bit more if you'd be willing to share about the songwriting business.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker C:How it works.
Speaker C:So a couple things come to mind.
Speaker C:Number one, do people say, I'm looking for a song, and you say, hey, I got these 10 songs.
Speaker C:And then you negotiate like a deal around each song, or does it sometimes more often work the other way where they're like, man, Ryan, I heard your music.
Speaker C:I've heard some of the stuff you wrote with Luke Grimes.
Speaker C:I want you to please write with me.
Speaker C:And we, like, collaborate and you do like a royalties thing or how to.
Speaker C:Like, how.
Speaker C:How are the different options working?
Speaker A:So I can only really speak for my situation.
Speaker A:I got.
Speaker A:So I'm on my second publishing deal with a company called Warner Chapel, and it's a split deal with Warner Chapel and Southern Pacific Music, which is another real small music company here in Nashville.
Speaker A:And the value there is.
Speaker A:I'm a contracted worker, so it's like a.
Speaker A:Whatever, 12, 18 month contract.
Speaker A:I owe X number of songs over the course of that time.
Speaker A:And this can all change for different deals.
Speaker A:And they're going to pay me X number of dollars per month against any royalties that I make on my catalog.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Basically, I'm giving an advance to myself against future royalties.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:But what it does.
Speaker A:Because that's all recoupable by the record company to recoup by the publishing company.
Speaker C:Or by the publishing company.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:So what that does for me is it gives me time and a little bit of financial security.
Speaker C:Gotcha.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:When you're an artist, I feel like those are the two things that you're kind of always chasing.
Speaker A:A little bit of financial security, so you know where your paycheck's coming from.
Speaker A:You know, you're not going homeless.
Speaker A:And time.
Speaker A:Time to work.
Speaker A:So I'm.
Speaker A:I'm not going into Nashville writing every single day with people.
Speaker A:I would say half my week is devoted to that, and the other half is kind of devoted to stuff for me and personal Things.
Speaker A:But, yeah, it can be anything.
Speaker A:I've had guys reach out to me on Instagram and they see a video and they're like, I'd love to write with you.
Speaker A:How do we do that?
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:It's a little bit of everything.
Speaker A:It can be a personal relationship thing.
Speaker A:It can be a.
Speaker A:I can reach out to my publisher.
Speaker A:There's some value there.
Speaker A:And just being like, can you help me fill out my calendar with some people that you think I should write with?
Speaker A:So, yeah, you're really kind of.
Speaker A:It's sort of like being an artist where you're hustling and chasing every opportunity you get, but.
Speaker A:And sometimes you go in and you write with an artist and you know what you're working towards.
Speaker A:Like, we're going to write a song for this person today.
Speaker A:Or sometimes you go in with three other co writers and you're just writing a song.
Speaker A:That's a theoretical pitch.
Speaker A:You know, like, let's write a song that's kind of Eric Church style, and we're gonna try and pitch it to an Eric Church crowd of people and see if anyone's interested.
Speaker B:That's amazing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:That's a lot of what the publishers do is that pitching process.
Speaker A:But it's also, you know, if you write with somebody and you get their cell phone number and they're like, well, send me anything else you get that feels like me.
Speaker A:And so a lot of it becomes that, like, hey, I finished this song.
Speaker A:And I'm sure I'm bothering Luke Grimes, sending him every song I write, like, when I finish it.
Speaker B:But Casey, he needs it.
Speaker A:No, he's a wonderful dude, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Killer writer.
Speaker C:What's it like interacting with him is.
Speaker C:He's like, I'm.
Speaker C:I kill.
Speaker C:I got like.
Speaker C:He's like.
Speaker C:He's like, I like this song, but I'm thinking about how I'm going to sing it or I can't do this from the stage or.
Speaker C:Or is it not that kind of.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:I mean, we wrote one together, like, in the room together, and that was great.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:And then I've since sent him a few.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Just for whatever reason, his voice has been in my head when I've been writing lately.
Speaker C:And, yeah, that's got to be useful because the closer you get to the artist.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:The more you can consider the sound, the voice.
Speaker C:What.
Speaker C:What's more going to be more authentic for him to say?
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:I hope.
Speaker A:I certainly haven't spent enough time with him to know him in great depth, but you Know, I.
Speaker A:I also do a lot of research with these artists, and I listen to a lot of stuff before we go into the room just to get.
Speaker A:I think, you know, everybody does that just to get a tone and, you know, what kind of things are these people not willing to say?
Speaker A:What kind of things are they willing to say?
Speaker A:And so I just.
Speaker A:Like I said, I've been sending him songs at, like, two in the morning.
Speaker A:I'll be like, oh, I was thinking about you, buddy.
Speaker B:And in my Darkness.
Speaker A:He's been very kind every.
Speaker A:Honestly, everyone has been incredibly kind in this town.
Speaker A:And I was.
Speaker A:That was one of the things I was worried about.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So if someone was to write a country music song about you, what would a title be?
Speaker A:Holy Smokes.
Speaker A:Darkness, I guess.
Speaker A:I don't know, man.
Speaker C:Seem like you're fun for a guy who writes about darkness.
Speaker C:Like, I want to hang out with you.
Speaker A:Well, thank you.
Speaker C:Got to know each other.
Speaker C:Would I be like, yeah, Ryan, he's coming to the Unhappy Hour today.
Speaker A:The Unhappy Hour.
Speaker A:That's great album name.
Speaker C:The Unhappy Hour.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker C:Ryan.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:I mean, percent of that song.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, a couple bucks would be great.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Well, Ryan, it has been an absolute pleasure today, for sure.
Speaker C:Again, I'm thankful for Zach for bringing your music to us and.
Speaker C:And because, like, such an incredible curator of music, and when Zach sends me somebody, I always listen a lot.
Speaker A:I appreciate that.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker C:I know he's gonna.
Speaker B:Once or twice.
Speaker C:And so what, just turn over for you?
Speaker C:I mean, thinking down the road, we.
Speaker C:Sometimes we ask this question, what.
Speaker C:What does the Ryan legacy look like?
Speaker C:I think maybe 10 years, 20 years down the road we hope will have happened by that point.
Speaker A:That answer has changed a lot over the last few years.
Speaker A:I think I would love to be.
Speaker A:I would love to be doing what I'm doing now.
Speaker A:I would just love to be able to pick and choose maybe a little bit more the things that I want to do, like, right now.
Speaker A:And it's not a bad thing, but I'm trying to say yes to every opportunity that comes my way just because you never really know what it's going to turn into around here.
Speaker A:I would love to be writing every day for a job and writing for other people and people I respect and writing with people I respect.
Speaker A:And that is the dream.
Speaker A:And if I can just have enough financial security to continue living the way I'm living and to not have to struggle too much and my wife not have to struggle, she deserves all the credit in the world for keeping us afloat, by the way.
Speaker A:But yeah, that's it.
Speaker A:I really don't want to change much.
Speaker A:I love performing with my band.
Speaker A:You know, I don't care about stadiums.
Speaker A:It would be great.
Speaker A:I just want to get in front of a group of people that wants to see what we're doing and.
Speaker A:And cares about what we're doing.
Speaker A:And that's it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker C:Call that actually the next step.
Speaker C:Go check out Ryan Nacy's latest album.
Speaker A:Thanks.
Speaker C:You're ready for another one coming out later this year.
Speaker C:Can't wait to hear it, Ryan.
Speaker A:But we're working on it.
Speaker C:Take care of it.
Speaker D:Some days we could barely see the waterline or the bottom where the past lives live Never scared we were ever running out of time Picking out trace for sinking shield There's a lot, a lot that we don't know.
Speaker C:Like when.
Speaker D:One of us gonna leave the other one no, no.
Speaker A:If it's a long.
Speaker D:Dark drive down a dead end road or together in a feather bed of shimmering gold Loving you sure sounds like a pretty good way to go.
Speaker C:Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.
Speaker C:Subscribe where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.
Speaker C:I'm Ben Fanning and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.
Speaker C:Until next time, stay Americana Curious.
Speaker A:This.
