Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Price.
Hi Ryan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have a long and crazy story, so I’m sorry if it isn’t too brief!
When I was 13, I picked up my dad’s guitar and taught myself to play. I played my first show in 2010 at 16 years old. It was a benefit for a little boy who had passed away at our church. I had written a song about him and the family invited me to play that benefit. I fell in love with music at that show.
After that show, I started playing around Texas at different opry houses all over the state. I released a few acoustic songs a friend of mine produced in 2012. Around that same time, I started playing guitar in a band called Chase’N’Gauge. I didn’t stay in that band long because when I got to college at Tarleton State in mid 2012, I formed my own band called the Ryan Bennett Band. We released 1 song and played together for a few years, but ended up breaking up in 2015.
I kind of put music on the back burner after that, and also moved back to my hometown, Alvarado, TX, after graduating college in 2016. There was a local radio station, 92.1 Hank FM, that did a live radio show at a bar down the road from my house. I went to see my buddy Andrew Sevener play there, and eventually he convinced me to get back into music. I started playing the radio show every Wednesday. I would also go to his shows around town and he would let me play during his intermissions. I booked a lot of shows because of that, so I’m super thankful to him for allowing me to play with him.
As long as I can remember, I wanted to run a recording studio. Now that I was playing a lot, I needed to start releasing music again, but it was just so expensive. In 2017 I went to work for a sales company called Fastenal. I quickly started getting big sales and making some pretty good money. I was still playing, but now that I was making good money, it was time to get on the business side of things. I started investing in recording equipment and started a record company called Six Gun Records. When I first started recording, I watched YouTube A LOT. I wanted to learn everything I could about recording and producing music. After I practiced on myself and a few friends, it was time to get serious.
In 2019, I produced my own song “Missed Out on Me” and released it under my label Six Gun Records. It really gave me confidence since I hadn’t released any music in 6 years. I started working on more projects for myself, as well as other people. I have produced music for myself as well as Cooper James, Tristan Inman, Jeff Blankenship, and several others. In 2020, I signed Ron Barber & the Creekside Republic to my label and we released their debut album “Affirmative Action” in 2021. This was a huge step for me since it was my first full LP to produce.
In 2020. I started getting in touch with some people in Nashville and began doing some recording here. One thing led to another and pretty soon, I was talking about moving here. I finally committed and moved here with my guitar player, business partner, and best friend, Payce Goldsmith, in May of 2021. After I moved to Nashville, I released my debut album “Small Town Famous”. I produced the song “Say Something” in my studio, and invited my friend Madison Paige to sing on it with me. I also did a cover of “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by the Eagles with my Uncle Jim on there. Talk about special! Pretty soon after that, I shot a music video for the title track “Why We Drive Trucks”. The song started being picked up by radio stations around the same time and pretty soon, I had random people emailing and messaging me saying things like “I love the new song” and “I’m adding this song to our radio rotation”. It was pretty cool starting to have radio stations all over the US playing the song. Around the same time I was talking about moving to Nashville, I started getting some of my songs I had written picked up by publishing companies. This was a huge push to move to the area and start making connections.
I’ve been in Nashville coming up on 6 months now and I’m doing things I only ever dreamed about. I get to produce music every day, write every day, and release music I’m passionate about. It’s cool looking back and seeing that little kid who used to sing on his grandparent’s hearth and think, “Boy if you only knew.” There’s been several times I’ve thought about giving up music completely, and I think everybody in this business has struggled with that at least once. The thing about dreams though is that most people give up before they can live them. It’s a HUGE leap of faith, and I’ve spent countless hours in prayer and thought about whether I can do it or not. Now that I’m living my dreams, I can see it was all worth it, and I thank God every day He allowed these things to happen. I’m constantly looking for the next opportunity for my music, whether that’s producing, writing, or putting out a song for myself. All I can say to others who have a dream is GO FOR IT. You never know when you might get the opportunity to live it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
To be honest there’s been a lot of things that have had a negative impact on my journey, but the biggest one is anxiety. When you’re a musician, that’s probably the worst thing that could happen to you. And I’m not talking like anxiety where I get a little nervous. I’m talking like “I can’t leave my bedroom without having a panic attack” levels of anxiety. It’s definitely made this journey really hard. At the same time though, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the years, I’ve learned how to combat it in healthy ways, and I use my struggle as a platform to help other people. There are TONS of people struggling with anxiety, and a lot of them feel like there is no way out of it. There are still days I struggle and have to have a mental health day to myself. It’s just part of it. But the biggest thing about having anxiety is not letting it overtake your life. There’s been plenty of times I’ve had to just stop what I’m doing and take the L for that day. But there’s also plenty of times I’ve got the W and beat anxiety! You’ve got to celebrate those wins because it’s an important part of keeping yourself going. It still makes things hard in this business every day, but the key is just pushing forward.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
The biggest thing about me is I’m very independent. I’ve always liked to figure out how to do things on my own. As an artist, I really think that sets me apart from a lot of people. Not only do I sing and play, but I also write songs, produce music, distribute music, market that music, and I’ve taught myself all of the inside knowledge of the business without having to pay someone else to do all of that. It can get super costly for all of those things. I wanted to be able to do everything for myself so that I could continue to make music at a pace I wanted to. I didn’t want to be limited by money. I definitely do work with other people though! I recorded 6 of the 8 songs off my debut album with producer Gary Sadker here in Nashville. It was a great way to meet and connect with other musicians, and they all did a great job with the vision I had for the album!
The thing I pride myself most on though is being able to connect with people from my music. Every time I post a demo of a new song, a friend of mine lets me know whether or not they felt the connection. And it sounds funny, but it legitimately can affect the outcome of a song. If listeners don’t connect with the song, they won’t listen to it. Plain and simple. When I’m writing, I always take into consideration how the song will make people feel. I want to be able to strike emotion in people, and so that is how I write.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Value your time. Whether that time is spent with family, friends, your career, a passion, a hobby, whatever. Value the time that you get with those things. So many people lost so much due to the pandemic. I’m very grateful I was able to keep pushing through with lots of writing, making demos, and a lot of prayer honestly. I’ve lost a few friends to Covid-19, and I’m sure the one thing they would all regret is not spending more time with the ones they love doing the things they love. Life is too short to not value our time, and I can guarantee I will never take it for granted.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://sixgunrecords.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialryanprice/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialryanprice
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUFoGbacZ-Q
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6yPdJENEg9OXRur3VWPbEO?si=KkvOVYI5RcGW6JyebnWeGQ
Image Credits
Dave Moore Payce Goldsmith
