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September 16, 2022 13 mins

Bobby had Ryan Hurd stop by the studio to discuss his journey from song writing to becoming a performer. They talked about the difference in being an opener versus the headliner, the fatigue of a tour, life and behind the scenes on a tour bus, and much more!

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
On the Bobby Bones Show. Now, I think I saw
in your Instagram you're opening for Sam Hunt this past weekend. M. Yeah,
what's the difference for you as far as your your
mindset before you go on stage, if you're like the
main support act or if it's your show. Oh, it's
so much easier to open these days. There's it's just
a different feel, even if it's two thousand people at

(00:22):
your own show, like or a thousand people or whatever,
or less than that sometimes for me, but it's they're
there for you. So it's just a different a little
bit of a different mindset. But there's also like no pressure.
I don't get nervous. It's the shorter set. It's usually
forty five minutes, so that's like by the time I'm
kind of bored, it's like all right, it's over and
you go hang out. And Sam has always been cool

(00:44):
to us. I toured with We toured with him on
the fifteen and at thirty tour and Marin was on it,
and so we know the camp. And the next night
I went and we did Summerfest in Milwaukee for the
first time and tr was the headliner that night, so
I got to see Sam and Thomas this last week,
so that was really cool. But it's just a it's
a little bit of a different mindset. But there's also

(01:04):
less pressure and I don't get very nervous at all
or anything. So you're in a cool place where you
can absolutely go headline your own shows and you have
a ton of songs and people are very passionate about you.
But you're also you can make pretty decent chunk of
change being main support for another artist, and like you said,
play it. I was talking to Dan and Shakes there
open for Kenny right now, and they're like, it's awesome. Yeah,

(01:26):
like we could go out. We don't have to you know,
take all our equipment, go out and just have fun. Yeah,
it's it's a different It's nice to switch it up,
like switch your days up too, because at some point
you want to headline all the time and you want
to play late in the day at festivals. But it's
also nice to be done at like eight thirty and
you don't have anything else to do, like all right,
I'll just like watch the show or drink a beer

(01:48):
or go to bed. So I think everybody enjoys the
change of pace. When do you get tired, meaning in
a year, is there a season and you start to
go because for me, you know, we start in January
doing the radio show, and if I take out all
the other stuff, the TV, the traveling, but just the
radio show alone, about June, I start to get fatigued
for the first time. Is there a touring fatigue? And

(02:09):
when does it usually hit? So I'll preface the answer
by saying, we basically took two years off like we did.
We did shows during COVID times, but not like a tour,
so those were pretty easy to just kind of come
in and out of. But so we started second week

(02:30):
of January this year, and I think that once you start,
you're just going to be tired the whole year. I mean,
you you do shows and you ride buses and you
get it like it's it's really fun, but there's not
a whole lot of rest in it. So the way
that I kind of manage my time is if I
touch an airplane or a bus, that's a workday. Even

(02:52):
if it's like I'm leaving at nine o'clock at night
or getting home at like seven am on the bus
drops off drops me off at my house, that's a workday.
So Sunday to me is not a day off. I
usually have to take another day off in the week
just so I can have like some time to my
to just be a human, hang out with my kid
or whatever. So but usually Sundays we're just worthless people

(03:12):
Like we both get home, get dropped off, and then
you just kind of like look at look, I look
at Mare, and she like, let's take a nap, because
you're just no matter how you do it, it's exhausting.
The travel just wears you out. Josh Thompson used to
say this thing, and I'm sure he didn't come up
with it, but he said, you don't pay me for
the show. The show is free. You pay me for

(03:33):
getting there and getting back, Like that's the part that's work.
So we really are blessed to both get to do it.
We have like this weird like I don't know, we
just have an understanding about where we both need to
be and uh, we're really blessed to be making a
living on the road. But it is exhausting no matter

(03:54):
how you do it, it's it's it'll wear you out
all year. I think there's a roman to thought of
being on a bus and listen. I try. I've you know,
done a little tours and cars and vans and that
really stinks, and a bus is much better than that.
But even when you're sleeping on a bus, you're driving overnight,

(04:14):
and I never because I'm I'm and I have a
big what they call the star bunk in the back,
like you know, I have my own little room. But
you're never really comfortable because the bus is always moving
or hitting the thing on the side of the road,
or you're just never you're never just totally safe feeling.
You're always like, knock on wood, let's let's make it
yeah nice. So I sleep better in a bunk, I

(04:36):
don't know. I mean, we have every kind of bus
you can imagine out between the two of us, and
I still I sleep in a bunk because I like
to be confined, Like that Is that more comfortable? Whatever reason.
I just those those crew buses ride smoother to me,
and I for I just that's what I like. So
the we have on you know, Marin's bus has a
star coach in the back, and we have our own

(04:57):
apartment back there, but I it just feels like we
bounced more on it. So I like, I like the
bunk from when I'm just out with myself. So um,
but hey, that bus. I'll never ever speak poorly of
touring on a bus because it saves you. It really does.

(05:17):
Like getting home at seven am, getting to have a
whole day with your kid, have like half a weekend
almost on a Sunday for us is usually what it
is is pretty special and important. And uh, you know,
I do remember the one time where I was like,
I can make a lot more money if I just
like suck it up and drive the van. And man's like,
no more van, Like you need to be home. Yeah,

(05:38):
your quality of life is terrible, right, So that was
like five years ago, and I just remember her being
the one that made that decision, and it was a
good decision. It was like a family decision, like whatever,
even if you like don't make as much money, it's
good to get home. So the thing about the bus
and we'll get off this. But I think that that
I learned early on was first of all we had

(05:59):
run on it was like five grand a weekend, and
I was like, yep, I was like what do Yeah,
you cannot get in that deal anymore either, because are
so hard to get now. So before pandemic. I pay
like five grand a weekend, and you know that comes
out of the money that you're making, and you're like wow.
And then you got to pay if you drive over
eight hours, you got to take an extra bus driver.
And most of the trips were over eight hours, so
we have to put two drivers, and that takes an

(06:20):
extra bunk and you're trying to fit everybody in. And
what also is you don't really drive in the daytime
because you don't want to be awake while you're moving.
You know, for the most part, you know, if the
bus would leave, we leave at eleven midnight, one o'clock.
Your goal is to get on the bus and sleep. Yes,
that's the when the bus is moving, you want to
be asleep exactly. And so when you see people on tour,
you're like, man, it must be so cool. The goal

(06:42):
is to be asleep on the tour bus. Yes, it's
good to have when you're awake, but it's to be
asleep on the bus. It's definitely a tool, and it's
part of it, and it's really important, and it is fun.
Don't let anybody tell you that being on the bus
isn't fun. It's blast. But it's what you dream about
when you're fourteen years old. Is like living on a
tour bus. I'm serious. I every day I get up
on that thing, I'm like, gosh, I really wish I

(07:02):
was home, but this is pretty sweet. Yes, but you're right.
You's like there's little things about it that I think,
and it's really fun showing people, like whenever you go,
I go everywhere I go. My day starts at three
o'clock when I go to eleven in my own like
sound checks three, and then I'm on we have radio,
and then we have friends and we have meet and

(07:23):
greet and we have but every day someone's like, hey,
can you meet my friend? And I love doing that stuff,
so you and then like whoever you got there too,
Like I'll always have guests out too, and I love
having them up on the bus because they're just like
looking around and everybody wants to know, like what's on
the inside of it. Yeah, and most that's bananas and
protein bars for us, and we got like, you know,
if everyone wants a beer, you can have a beer.

(07:44):
But Eddie's has on our bus, but don't get out
of hand. He hid yes, because we're all working, so
keep it between the navigational beacons, as Alan Jackson would stay,
I have a question. I guess you know, you come
to Nashville and you have always been an artist, but
your paths started as far as you're a commercial success
as a songwriter. So it's a very interesting journey from

(08:06):
a songwriter to a performer. What's it like looking back
at that career journey now? I still think of myself
as a writer, and I know Randy Goodman hates it
when I say that. At my record label president, he
hates when I say I think of myself as a writer,
But that's where everything starts for me. So I love
getting to do both things. I talk about my career

(08:27):
as a pair of shoes, like I have a right
foot writing songs for myself and other people, and then
the left foot is being an artist and singing them
and traveling and touring. And I can't really imagine doing
this without both man someday I'll probably have to back
one of them down, but while they're both working, it's
really fun to get an opportunity to just still write

(08:49):
for people like Jordan Davis and Marion and Lady A
like those people are my friends and it's so natural
to write songs with them still, and I still have
that opportunity to get on their records, and I feel
like I still have a lot to offer as a
songwriter for other people. And then at the other we
just talked about it, like and then I get to
get on a tour bus on Wednesday night and go

(09:11):
play my songs for a bunch of people who know them,
and that's a dream come true. So you know, I
do both things and I still get to and I
don't really I don't have to make a choice yet
and maybe someday I will, But for me, it's like
that journey is is sort of like I've gotten to
do everything and I still get to do everything, and
I'm really enjoying that. And the great thing about a

(09:33):
bus is you can actually ride on a bus if
you want to. Sure do that in a Yeah, I
was out with Thomas this weekend. We played Summerfest on
the same night and so we wrote a song. It
was great, so we It's always fun to see your
buddies on the road and it's always you know, I've
also as an artist, like my music has been the
best marketing tool for me. So I put out an album,

(09:57):
and like, you know, Cole Swindell and I buddies because
he liked to a T and I liked break up
in the end, and we talked about it on Twitter,
and then all of a sudden we were writing songs together.
And I don't think I've ever had a cold cut.
Maybe someday, but that's a few cold cuts had. That's
a that's a good example of like cold cold cuts. Yeah,
I'm gonna have some cold cuts, uh, But that's a

(10:22):
good example of, like my artist thing, opening doors. As
a writer, do you ever think about what it would
be like if you went down a different road in
your life, as in maybe not an artist or a
musician or were you ever close to that? I as
soon as like halfway through college, I was. So I

(10:42):
went to Belmont, and everyone who goes to Belmont, a
lot of them, well most people who moved to Nashville
to go to Belmont and do music some one way
or another music business or but I went and saw
everybody doing these music programs, either the business side or
the performance side or something that had to do with music,
and I was like, they're all gonna zig. I'm gonna zag.

(11:03):
So I went and did sociology and econ and got
a degree and was going to go to grad school.
And then about halfway through as I kind of like
made it, like found out what a songwriter in Nashville was,
so I kind of put all of my eggs in
that basket and started writing country songs. And so I
guess like I would have gone to graduate school and

(11:25):
maybe done something else, but I've never really had to.
I think the cool part about music is like most
of us don't have a plan B, and so I don't.
I don't know. I always say, like what you say,
I would be the left fielder for the Cubs. No,
I wouldn't. But like I like sports growing up and

(11:46):
I liked music growing up, and but this is the
only job I've ever wanted since I was eleven years old.
So I don't know. Man. Maybe when I was a kid,
my dad used to work in advertising, and I always
thought like, hey, if nothing else, I can go do
something like my with my dad, either at the company's
working for and at one time he had a he
had an advertising agency, and like, maybe I'll go do

(12:06):
something like that. But it never really came to that.
So it's mostly like thinking about what I'm gonna do
after all this is over, because your window doesn't last forever.
I mean for some people it does. But like being
realistic about my own life, like unless like I, I
hope that we have a whole lot more success, but
at the end of the day, like you're only given

(12:27):
what you're given, and so I'm trying to really enjoy
this part of my life. And then you also in
the back of your mind, are like, Okay, what happens
when I'm old and nobody cares about my songs anymore?
Happens to everybody? It doesn't. It happens to everybody. So
that's more where I'm sad for what I think about.
We're all gonna die. Oh man, what a sad. Yeah,
but you can be you can do this till you're done.

(12:48):
Like for me, it's like what happens when I'm forty
and like only if I get higher ratings me too. Yeah.
Your road to Vegas and the iHeartRadio Music Fest has
been a unique one. How does it feel playing this
awesome festival? I'm just thrilled to be invited. I looked
at the bill the other day and I just couldn't
believe that my name was next to everybody else's. Uh,

(13:12):
I mean, obviously, it's been a dream come true to
have my songs on the radio. That's every single time
somebody plays your song, whether I wrote it or whether
I sing it, that's a every time. It's a dream
come true because I grew up listening into country radio.
So to get an opportunity to like go to a
festival like this for the people that have supported you
and made your dreams come true as a massive a

(13:33):
massive deal for me. And uh, to get to play
it on the same day as Marion is really fun.
We always love doing that and uh, it's a it's
a busy day, but it's going to be a lot
of fun there. He is Ryan Hard, Ryan Gould to
talk to you, buddy, yall
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