Ryan Bingham article - preview

explore · BigAl Tore Up Joined: Mar 10, 2008 Posts: 3

first time poster. I just finished this article on Ryan, and thought you guys might enjoy. will be in the april issue of EXPLORE...www.hillcountryexplore.com

Ryan was great to visit with, and I hope to do so again soon.
Thanks,
B.

Quote:

Ryan Bingham doesn’t look like much from a distance. Stained white cowboy hat, skinny pants, and beat-up boots. A bit of unkempt hair protruding from under the brim, and a 3-day beard. However, once he sat down across from me, you can immediately sense he knows more than he’s letting on.

A traveling troubadour in the most literal sense, Ryan, with cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, speaks with a gravelly voice that should belong to someone three times his age of 25. And that’s the attraction for most. Ryan’s sound is so far separated from any clear-cut genre of music, that upon first listen, people are stopped in their tracks. It’s not country, it’s not rock, it’s not blues…it’s some variation where each level of sound contradicts the next. He has a slide guitar, which fits country, but his voice is so rock and roll, peppered with bluesy riffs of funk. As he puts it, “It just is what it is. I know good music, and I play what I like. And if that doesn’t fit a genre, then that’s ok too.”

A Hobbs, NM native, Ryan learned all about the road early on. “I was born into a family of ranchers in Hobbs. It was a tough upbringing. I learned early that there ain’t nothing easy. From there, we took off for West Texas to work oil fields. Then to Houston. Then to Laredo. I dropped out of high school in Houston. Life was hard. And once we finally got to Laredo, my folks split up, and I figured that was as good a time as any to split up with them, too. So I left home at 17, right after finally finishing high school, and went up to Tarleton State to ride in the rodeo.”

However, right before leaving Houston, Ryan happened upon a guitar and began to learn. “I picked up the guitar when I was 16 and we were in Houston. This guy in Laredo that we knew would play guitar, and he would play this terrible mariachi music, and that’s how I learned. He played these awful songs, and I got tired of singing these old songs, so I just started making up my own shit. That’s when I first began to realize that there were some songs in me somewhere, and I enjoyed letting ‘em out.” Armed with a guitar, the clothes on his back, and an opportunity to rodeo at Tarleton, Ryan set out on the next chapter of his life.

“At Tarleton, I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do. I was just taking basic classes just so I could ride bulls. It was just something to do. When I was there, I would be going down the road to the next rodeo and just started writing songs. We’d get to the rodeos and sit on the tailgates and drink and sing a few songs afterwards. So I started getting these gigs playing music after the rodeos. Some friend would say they knew a local bar-owner and they wanted me to come play. So I started doing that. And soon the gigs outnumbered the rodeos.” However, stability isn’t something Ryan is accustomed to, so adventure started calling again. “I left Tarleton and went to Paris. I somehow got this job in a wild-west show in Paris at the Euro-Disney there. It was ridiculous, but it was work, and I sure as shit wasn’t sitting in a desert anymore. And I wrote some music while I was there, too.”

Upon returning from France, Ryan details being homeless. “I was back in Texas and didn’t have anything. I was homeless. So I lived the couch-circuit for a while. And of course I played a few shows here and there. Eventually I had enough scratch to go to Nashville and record my first record, ‘Dead Horses’. And I hated it. It was all slick and Nashvilley. So I went the other direction to California, and I wanted to tear all the slick Nashvilley shit off of it and do it the right way. We were still broke, but we figured we could be broke in Texas or broke in Cali, so we drove the whole way until we hit the ocean, then just shrugged our shoulders and had a blast. I mean, damn, at least we’re not in the desert!” Ryan laughs.

Armed with his debut release, Ryan began playing shows for more and more people around the area. And with those shows, he sold CDs. “Those CDs were just burned copies. I mean, all they had was a little title that I had written on them with a friggin’ sharpie. But they sold. And one day Lone Star Music called and wanted to sell them in their shop. I told ‘em I didn’t have any money, but they wanted to print it in-house, and sure enough, it kept selling.”

Shortly after “Dead Horses” was released, Lost Highway Records called and was interested in Ryan. “That’s a weird phone call, man. I mean, I don’t know what I’m doing, where I’m going, and half the time I don’t know what’s going on. Shit, I don’t even know why you’re here talking to me. So to get a call from a record label was surreal, for sure. And we drove all the way to Nashville, and no sooner than we crossed into town, our van died. So in the lobby of a Best Western we signed our deal and ran straight out and bought a new van!”

“Mescalito” was released in the fall of 2007, and has catapulted Ryan to becoming one of the most popular voices on the Americana scene. The night I spoke to him, he had just finished selling out the venerable Gruene Hall. And Luckenbach was expected to sell out the next night. His demeanor is refreshing – he has no idea why someone would bother to write an article about him, nor how he should talk or dress. He makes music originally, and does not concern himself with radio singles or packaging. He walks with a gait that speaks to the miles he has traveled, both physically and literally, and his voice is a testament to a life of hard knocks, and good laughs. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, but has a laser focus on freedom.

“I’m in this for the long haul. This has been the most fun I’ve ever had. I hope that it never ends, but like anything in life, it could be over in a few years. So if that happens, I’ll at least know I had more fun than anyone.”

www.binghammusic.com

suzyj

Great read! Thanks for posting here! Mr. Green

SeattleGal

I like your writing! You got him to talk about himself more than most interviews I've read!

explore · BigAl Tore Up Joined: Mar 10, 2008 Posts: 3

thanks - glad ya'll enjoyed. will be out on the street, complete with photos in a couple of weeks. Just wanted to give you die-hards a preview....

Trisha

explore wrote:

thanks - glad ya'll enjoyed. will be out on the street, complete with photos in a couple of weeks. Just wanted to give you die-hards a preview....

That would definitely be us! Mr. Green

Thank you!!!

Tank

Gracias! Thanks for stopping by and posting!

explore · BigAl Tore Up Joined: Mar 10, 2008 Posts: 3

article is up.
www.hillcountryexplore.com
click on Downloads
click on APRIL issue.

have fun.

BrettM

Thanks again for posting, that's a great read.

fdsoundinc

Hi,
i recorded and mixed the show Ryan Bingham and Stephane Beaussart (Banjo, Dobro, Slide guitar) gave in paris, at the Connolly's corner, in January the 2nd 2008. If you want to listen to some of these songs, go on my site : www.myspace.fr/fdsoundinc .
Don't hesitate to leave me a message.
Enjoy.
Fd

Tank

fdsoundinc wrote:

Hi,
i recorded and mixed the show Ryan Bingham and Stephane Beaussart (Banjo, Dobro, Slide guitar) gave in paris, at the Connolly's corner, in January the 2nd 2008. If you want to listen to some of these songs, go on my site : www.myspace.fr/fdsoundinc .
Don't hesitate to leave me a message.
Enjoy.
Fd

very nice! If you'd like to make these available for download I can provide you with some server space. These are great quality!

fdsoundinc

Thanks for the quality, Tank. The 3 songs that are on my site are downloadable, you only have to have a myspace account. The entire show takes 3 cds, but i don't know if i have the right to put everything on internet, i have to see with Ryan first, but i will put some other songs very soon, with another mp3 player. Stay tuned! Fun

SeattleGal

I don't even see the 3 songs....where the music player usually is, is a big white box when I go to the link.

fdsoundinc

SeattleGal, if you can't reach the player, try to refresh the page, sometimes i have the same problem. Wink

Tank

try this link

www.myspace.com/fdsoundinc

SeattleGal

thanks Tank, that worked.

StephRose

great article! thanks for posting here for us Fun

and thanks fdsound for the music

jsdub525

wow, those recordings are amazing, thank you.. i'd love to hear the whole show. also, very entertaining interview - good job! and thanks again for the music , its great!

fdsoundinc

Hi again,
I didn't know it, but we can put 6 songs on myspace, so i put 5 of Ryan & Stephane. The last i put is "Hurricane is coming". I hope you'll like it.
I'm still working on putting other songs with another player on my page, but i didn't find anything really working, so i'm still searching. If you have an idea of how to do it, please submit it to me.
Thanks again for supporting my work.
Fd
www.myspace.com/fdsoundinc happy

fdsoundinc

Hi there,
for those who want to go further in Ryan's music, i've got a couple of songs that i recorded and mixed on my site ( myspace ). There is two different shows .The shows are a few years old, but they are very good! And if you want more, you can find the whole shows on Dime (Dime), just search for torrents of Ryan.
Enjoy!!
Fd