Celebrating Nashville Music: Ryman Shares His Unique Style and Story Behind 'Growing Pains' Album Release

Takin’ A Walk Nashville

In this episode of Takin' A Walk Nashville, host Sarah Harralson sits down with indie country artist Ryman to discuss his new album 'Growing Pains,' his musical evolution, and his journey through

Key takeaways

• Ryman's music blends country storytelling with indie pop energy, shaped by eclectic influences from childhood to present day.

Main topics

• Indie country music scene in Nashville
• Musical influences and genre fusion ('barn pop and alternative')

Notable quotes

"I mean, my first word was guitar." – Ryman on his early musical connection.

Conclusion

Ryman's journey from a Nashville-born child with early musical passion to an emerging indie country artist with a deeply personal

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Taking a walk Nashville. Hey listeners, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. Have you heard of Ryman? No, I'm not talking about Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, although you might see him there soon. I'm talking about Ryman, a wonderful indie country artist in Nashville. He describes his music as barn pop and the alternative. He just released his new album. Growing Pains. It's so good. I hope you'll give it a listen. And you can see him at upcoming festival stages like Lollapalooza and Americana Fest. Stay tuned for my conversation today with Ryman. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 1 (0:45) Self-care September is your reminder to slow down, check in with yourself, get off your phone, and maybe ask, why am I like this? I'm Gemma Speck, host of the Psychology of Your 20s podcast, and this month we're helping you make sense of the person that you are becoming, from setting boundaries and navigating friendships, to understanding anxiety, confidence, relationships, and attachment. Sometimes our biggest decisions, without us even realizing it, aren't driven by what we truly want, but by what will prevent us from feeling lonely or being alone. Listen to The Psychology of Your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Poynter, Chair of Women's Health and Gynecology at the Adria Health Institute in New York City. I'll be talking to top researchers and clinicians Speaker 1 (1:38) and bringing vital information about midlife women's health directly to you. A hundred percent of women go through menopause. Even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Poynter on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In February of 2024, celebrated illustrator and children's book author Petra Mathers and her husband Michael mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died. by suicide. Dear honeys, this is goodbye. By the time you get this letter, both Petra and I will be dead. Next stop, Wonderland. Why did they do it? And what did it do to the people they left behind? Listen to Death of an Artist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (2:33) Welcome to Takin' a Walk Nashville with your host, singer-songwriter Sarah Harrelson. Hi listeners, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Takin' a Walk Nashville podcast. And today with me, I have Ryman. He is a Nashville native about to release his album, Growing Pains. I'm excited to talk all about it. How are you today, Ryman? Doing great. It's early, but... I'm doing great. Thanks for coming over to East Nashville with me this early in the morning. So let's just first talk about your name. You were named after Nashville's hallowed Ryman Auditorium before you even had a choice in the matter. So growing up in Music City, when did that name start feeling like a calling rather than, you know, a huge piece of history to carry? I mean, I feel like as early as I can remember, like whenever I was a toddler. Speaker 1 (3:26) Like, I mean, my parents were putting instruments in my face and those are my favorite toys to play with. And my dad jokes around that like my first word was guitar. And I don't know if I like believe that, but my parents have never lied to me about anything else. So that's awesome. And you started playing instruments at a really young age too, right? Yeah. I started like really getting into like piano and writing songs when I got grounded from like all my video games and my electronics. And I was like, I mean, I have. Speaker 1 (3:54) access to these instruments that are at my house. And then I just kind of fell in love with music. And I think that I had always been in love with music, but like specifically songwriting and like coming up with stuff that's my own. And now you're probably thankful that you were grounded and could turn to music. My dad brings it up all the time now. That's awesome. Who are some of your influences growing up? I feel like some of my earliest influences, like oddly enough, were like Rex Orange County. Speaker 1 (4:22) was kind of the person that got me into writing. But whenever I was really young, I was really into Foo Fighters and Loretta Lynn and Jackson Browne. Very kind of all over the place. A lot of Weezer. It was basically just whatever my parents were listening to. But even today, there's stuff that I show my dad and he's like, dude, I played you this song 10 years ago. You loved this song when you were six. And I get a lot of