Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Nelson.
Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Jacksonville, FL. Raised in Switzerland, FL (outside of St. Augustine/Jacksonville). Started playing guitar when I was 13. Started playing shows when I was 15. Played in regionally successful bands until I was 21. My 2nd of those bands broke up very suddenly, on the brink of a 3 month tour we were about to embark on and a potential record deal. Broke my heart, and I swore off music. Went to college at Florida State University, and earned my bachelors. My mom is a Ph.D and college professor, so the plan was to go down the same path. But on the verge of enrolling in graduate school, I realized I’d never be happy if I didn’t at least attempt to chase music. So, after I finished my last course, I moved to Nashville. That was 2014.
I abandoned the band model that had brought me so much pain, and just started writing country songs by myself. That led to me inserting myself into the writer scene by going to Whiskey Jam every Monday night, and Tin Roof Revival every Tuesday night. Through that I met all of the people that would change my life and trajectory. Took a while, and we didn’t know it then, but it was a massive milestone. I had a person tell me one night at Revival, “You’ll never get any cuts in this town if you don’t sign a pub deal.” Not that I was all that interested or uninterested in the prospect, but I thought, “Bet”. The worst thing you can do is tell me I can’t do something. Because I WILL do it. Is it spite? Is it pride? I don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Looking back it probably hurt more than it helped at times. The independent road is a lonely road, and it’s 1000% the long way. “The scenic route” if you will. But it taught me a ton, and made me rely on myself for opportunities presenting themselves. I had to seek people out and network the old fashion way. I kind of got black balled from the publishing world as a result. Nobody wanted to see me succeed but myself. It’s not like they were beating down my door to sign me, but I was clearly going about it my way, and that seemed to piss people off.
Through my nearly delusional self belief and persistence, here we are 12 years later, and I have a platinum record with Riley Green, along with cuts with Jelly Roll, Parker McCollum, Meghan Patrick, Ben Chapman and more. All completely independently. It’s crazy cause that random guy at Revival had no idea the impact that stupid statement was going to have on me. But here we are. I did what I said I was going to do. These writing successes have opened up more doors for my solo artist career over the years as well, and I signed a record deal with Jelly Roll in 2020. We did 2 records, “Two Trick Pony” and “The Next One”, 5 music videos, and a 4 month tour opening for Jelly himself. This has all helped me rack up a humble 1 million streams catalog wide, but it’s allowed me to play as myself, make some real die hard fans, and make a living doing so.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’d say the biggest struggles that come with the path I chose are, prolonged poverty, and no one to be on your side or be your cheerleader in your lowest of lows. I had to be my own motivator. Had to make money however I could. And I had to pick myself up when I was down (and you’re down a lot when you’re independent). When you have a company like Sony, or Warner, or Universal legitimizing you, even if you have a low day, you’re still signed with a massive entertainment company, that took a chance on you and have prospects to turn your fate around. There is a real legitimacy in that. When you’re independent, no one cares. No one. Do you have it in you to keep going? Will this ever work? Should I just sell out to find a publishing partner and make 22k a year to write 8+ times a week? But again, it ain’t like they were beating my door down, so it was me succeeding, or it was me failing and going home. The latter was not an option.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Well, I would say I’m known for writing country songs. Particularly, ones that wanna make you party, or cry. Not much in between. I like fun, and I like sad. I do some lovey dovey ones here and there. In fact my biggest song is one of those. But, I like to cross genre lines a lot more than most realize. I have credits in hip hop/r&b, punk, rock, hardcore/metal, americana, etc. I would get bored if I had to just write the same “country” song 3 times a day, every day (hence why I’ve never signed a pub deal).. Is that mean? It’s true.
I’m also a producer and have been involved in all sorts of genre bending work in that realm as well. I pride myself in being some one who could write/produce on anything. I have a wide net of musical inspiration and I genuinely love keeping myself sharp with all of the different styles I love.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I mean, it’s hard to say cause everything is so crazy right now with AI and the likes. Radio is becoming more and more obsolete, and at some point they’re gonna have to let it die, even though it’s still the country industry’s cash cow. But they certainly don’t cater to what people want to hear, or you’d be hearing a lot more Tyler Childers, Zach Bryan, Treaty Oak Revival, etc.. I turn on the radio and it still sounds like their living in 2016. Who knows, maybe it makes a comeback? This gen alpha group and late gen Z seem to be bucking back against tech age norms, so maybe we’ll all be amish soon and listening to AM stations (joke).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soulspazm.ffm.to/tno
- Instagram: @itsryannelson_
- Facebook: @ryannelsonmusic
- Twitter: @itsryannelson
- Youtube: @itsryannelson
