Conversations with Ryan Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Smith.

Hi Ryan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I learned guitar from Beatles songs in high school and soon started writing my songs. I would ponder lyrics while flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s or walking to school. I was hooked. Later, I started a rock band with my friends called Cadet, and we signed with Tooth & Nail records in the early 2000s. We recorded a few albums, working with amazing producers like Neill King and Chris Stevens. We toured nationally for about three years and often stopped through Nashville. I’ve always loved this city and have always wanted to move here. However, once our band broke up, I took on a job at a church in Oregon as a music director for several years. I also earned my Music degree at Oregon State University during that time. Throughout those years, I learned the ropes of recording and production and went deeper and deeper down that rabbit hole. I would fly out to Nashville to co-write throughout that time and just loved the collaborative and creative culture here. And the musical work ethic was so inspiring. I often considered moving out here but didn’t have the guts to jump. But then 2020 happened and shook up everyone’s world. I decided that my chapter in Oregon was coming to a close, and my wife and I took a “YOLO” leap of faith to move out to Nashville, so I could pursue my dream of producing and songwriting. We’ve been here for one year, and I’m so glad we made a move. Nashville has been everything I hoped it would be.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
If there are any challenges, it’s just that it’s a big city with so much talent, and it’s easy to get discouraged about not progressing as fast as one would like to. The bar for songwriting and music-making is set so high here, but it’s a good challenge that forces me to dig deeper and keep working hard at my craft. I’m learning to enjoy the journey and do my best every day. I also try to practice gratitude and be thankful that I can do what I was made for. That’s all you can do.

Please tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others.
I am a music producer, a songwriter, and an artist. As a songwriter, I get to be a part of roughly 3-4 co-writes weekly in all genres, from country to pop to spiritual music. I also have the privilege of producing and recording up-and-coming artists. I refer to it as getting to be the Yoda to their Skywalker, and it’s such an honor to be entrusted with songs from their soul’s journal and to frame them with music for the world to hear. I get to help people’s musical dreams become realized, and it’s so fulfilling. I also recently started releasing some of my music online under the artist Ryan Neely, and I love sharing those songs at writers’ rounds in town.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
In Nashville, it’s common to walk into collaborative sessions being almost strangers and spill out our souls to create music that’s never been heard. It’s like free group therapy where we get to process life and emotions and hopes and hardships with each other and then put it into a song. In this city, creatives are champions of each other rather than competitors. We get each other. And being in Music City has poured gasoline on the fire of my creativity. Every day I wake up just thankful to be here where so much incredible music is made.

Pricing:

• My rate for music production is $500 per song which includes recording, production, mixing and mastering.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ryansmithmusicproduction.com
• Instagram: @ryansmittymusic
• SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/jEeDk
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1raCbAT03MyNV8EsK79ds1?si=E-A9-PhKTP6k-wMNu5AVhg

Image Credits
Photos by Haley Maria Smith