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November 9, 2020 22 mins

In this episode of Cody Cast, Cody Alan gets revved up with country artist Ryan Kinder to talk about how he is “Doing Fine” with his new single with Sykamore. Ryan also dishes on his ratty workout attire, his charity “Kinder’s Kids,” surviving an F4 tornado, and why his new music is really stretching his talents.

PLUS: How is Ryan’s tush feeling after a 24-hour bike ride.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cody Cast. This is Cody Allen's podcast. So
this guy's hands down one of my favorite people in Nashville.
Ryan Kinder also one of the most talented people. I
actually feel like I know. Yeah. I get to talk
to all kinds of country music stars all the time,
but some of them I don't know well. Whereas Ryan,

(00:20):
I feel like I know him as a friend. So
I wanted to tell you about him because once you
discover him and his music and his voice and his uniqueness,
you're gonna love what he does. So Ryan Kinder k
I N D E R. And by the way, wait
till you hear his story about why he moved to Nashville,
sort of life changing aha moment that he had first. Ryan,

(00:42):
you there when the crowd goes wild. How much do
you miss the sound of a crowd right now? I
can't explain how much it hurts not to be playing
live music. So Ryan, I met my house right now.
This is where I do everything now. It's crazy. I
feel like we're all in the same boat. All music

(01:04):
being made in bedrooms or quasi recording studios. It's it's
it's sad, but we're making it work. I mean kind
of this is silver lining, I guess in some of
this where it's nice to be able to just walk
thirty seven steps from my bed to this little room
and do this, you know, do my work. We're cutting

(01:26):
down on the traffic time. Um. But as just a human, UM,
it's good to see your friends, and I'm not seeing
a lot of them these days, except if it's over
Zoom or something. So M I miss seeing you. I
miss you too, man. We used to see each other
at the gym all the time, and obviously that that's
not gonna happen because you can get COVID from a barbel. Yeah,

(01:48):
have you been to the gym at all since any
of this went down. I have a couple of times.
I'm lucky enough to have some stuff in my garage
that I can get most have it done. But it's
it's sad not to be at the gym because obviously
you're in a different mindset when you're when you're there,
rather than what we've been talking about walking thirty steps

(02:09):
from your bedroom to where you're going to quote unquote work.
And by the way, we should mentioned that we met
at the y m c A. I gotta tell you
when we met at the gym, I was a little
nervous because I've known who you are ever since I've
moved to town, and you just made the announcement and
I came up to you and I just wanted to
tell you how incredible you are and how brave you were,

(02:31):
and I just wanted to give you some love. And
but it's some a little a little friendship and a little, uh,
a little weightlifting friendship. Well, and yeah, you're right, I
just come out about that time, and so um, it
meant so much to me when you did that, and
I thought, this is a really good dude. And I

(02:52):
didn't know really much about your music then, but I
went and discovered you then and realized like, Okay, this
guy is like super talented. But tell people that the
times I've seen you at the gym, you're always wearing
the same shirt that looks like a college cut off
shirt that you've had for years. I've had that shirt
for well over twenty years. When it comes to workout

(03:14):
at tire, I have what I'm comfortable in and I
don't want to get my new stuff all nasty, so
I have to Yeah, just stick with the tried and
true So did that shirt survive the Tuscaloosa tornado, because
I know, tell people the story of that, because that's
really reason you moved to Nashville in the first place. Yeah,

(03:37):
it was two thousand and eleven April, and I've been
driving back and forth to Nashville for about a year
two already. I met a guy named Keith Stegal through
a friend, and I was driving up to Nashville Sunday night,
writing with him or somebody else on Monday, driving back,
going class Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then I went gig Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

(04:00):
And I did that for what feels like four years,
but it was it was one or two years. And
then that tornado hit, and I mean it decimated Tuscaloosa
and it was right behind our house. And once we
dove through the wreckage and came out and I was
able to actually get out of Tuscaloosa because the shirt.

(04:22):
You had to find the shirt to make sure that
was okay. Yeah, I was hanging on a tree and
that was the only thing I took. No, but I
I realized in that moment last too short, and I
know exactly what I want to do. So once I
could I immediately moved to Nashville and started the whole thing.

(04:43):
It was one of those I opening realization moments that
I really know, I knew exactly what I wanted to do,
but it was that moment that I knew I was
wasting my time in college. And I'm not saying that
to push other kids to not finish school. And I

(05:04):
just had made some headway. I knew exactly what I
wanted to do, and my major was not going to
help that in any way. So I made the decision
and moved up here. The same story for me, not
the tornado part, but the um just realization at some
point that I needed to be in broadcasting and and
as much as college is helpful for some careers obviously,

(05:27):
UM for me, I just knew it wasn't going to
be what would lead me to my dream. Talk about
sort of the that that moment of the tornado and
sort of how it changed everything. You said. You realize
then that life was short and you needed to change things.
When you faced your own mortality like it moved you.

(05:47):
It was an epiphany sort of moment. Take us there
for a seconds. It was terrifying, and I'm sure a
lot of people that are listening that they've experienced a
tornado in some foreign fashion or no, somebody that's and
through one. It's horrifying. And when they say it sounds
like a freight trains run through your house, and is
exactly that, And and the walls start compressing in on

(06:11):
each other and it feels like it's about to explode.
And me and my friend and Austin were fuddled up
in the most central room in our apartment. And most people,
if you've been to college, you know those apartments aren't
super sturdy. This is not well built places to live.

(06:33):
And I knew immediately, if this gets any closer, it's done.
And it got close enough to where he and I
started praying. We said we loved each other. And then
a few minutes later it stopped and we walked outside
and I looked out my front door and there's a
couple of branches and trees down. I was like, all,

(06:53):
I guess it wasn't that bad. And I turned around
and behind our house it was just gone, absolutely gone.
And he and I immediately started running towards the records
to try and help people that have been just they
lost everything, and it was that moment, I knew that

(07:14):
could have been us I have. I've been spared and
I know my calling and it's time to go and
stop wasting time. Having that feeling and letting it wash
over you is sobering and terrifying in the same moment,
but it makes you focus and you will delve into

(07:36):
what you believe you were meant to do. What a story. UM.
The new single, it's called Doing Fine. It's with a
girl named Sycamore. She's a Canadian artist right, yes, but
she's in Nashville. Um. She's fantastic. She's a great writer,
incredible singer. We actually wrote that song together with one

(07:57):
of my friends, justin Morgan, and it's start did months back. Um.
One of the first people I met in Nashville was
Brandy Clark and even friends for over ten years. And
I had a song that I wrote about eight years
ago and it was two three months or maybe longer

(08:17):
than that time doesn't matter that I called her. I
was like, hey, I have this song. I feel like
it would be perfect for you to sing on with me.
Would you mind? And she said absolutely, this is fantastic song.
I would love to do this collaboration with you and
we got that done and a friend of mine, Jerry Douglas,

(08:39):
played on it, who is unbelievable, and that kind of
led me and my manager down the road of, well,
why don't we do a collaborations album to set up
your solo full length album? And the whole idea behind
this album was not to focus on me as an artist,

(09:01):
but with whoever I'm collaborating with, let's taylor to their
strengths and you'd be a part of what makes them great.
And that was the birth of the name ontology, which
is metaphysical term for the relationship between two things. Ontology
is that? Also? Is that a book written by l

(09:22):
Ron Hubbard as well? It is part of scientology? I think,
isn't it? Is there something you want to tell us, Ryan?
I need to google that before I released the name,
because yes, I'm not sure. Have you taken the personality
test as well? Or it's free? I hear it's free.
I'm not OK. Where did you stumble across ontology because

(09:46):
I've never heard the word before. Were you just spending
too much time with a dictionary or what was happening? Yeah?
I wake up in the morning and then that's the
first thing I do. I just run through some words, right.
I took a lot of philosophy classes in college. Okay,
all right, I just remembered a lot of that stuff
and thought it would be perfect with the mantra of

(10:07):
what we were trying to do with this album. So,
as you said, it's a living album, so you're building
it as you go organically with these other collaborators that
will lead up to Room to Dream also coming in.
So explain why do it that way? I didn't want
to push for a collaboration just to finish this album.
I wanted to be able to find the perfect collaborator

(10:29):
and release it. As those come wrong, That's that's where
I come in. What what can we collaborate on? Whatever
you want to do. Let's do a workout next me
and you just like, maybe I can narrate something on
the project. Yes, I need your beefy the low voice,

(10:51):
and that's right. I'll be like William Shatner, you know
he does those like narration albums. Done, you're the next collaborator.
The workout Jim thing. Does it work for you? Are
you motivated to go in the garage and work out?
Because I find it hard to do I'm doing it.
And by the way, Chubby Cody made an appearance early

(11:12):
on in the quarantine for like the first month. And
because you're too close to all the junk food, like
the chips are right there, get out of here, man,
you you are ripped, dude, seriously, No, no, no, not
like you though. It's and so what I did, though,
is I bought all the stuff for the garage and
then I I work out with a friend who, by
the way, I have to have someone kind of motivate me.

(11:33):
If you're not going to the gym, you have to
that's some sort of like motivation to get it done.
Otherwise I just don't do it. So, um, has it
come easy for you? There's a little time where where
I took some time off just because I didn't have
a a mountain to climb, per se. I've always attested
my motivation towards something to look forward to, and I've

(11:58):
been doing a lot of Iron Man stuff and all
these races have been canceled. And once the race that
I was prepping forward got canceled, there's probably two to
three weeks where I didn't do much at all. I
went a little crazy that I didn't have anything to
push towards. So I made something up to push for,
and um, I've been doing a lot of stuff with

(12:20):
Ironman and the Ironman Foundation, which is an incredible charitable organization.
And you're gonna think I'm crazy, and I think I'm crazy.
It was stupid idea, but it was crazy for a
wonderful cause. And I did a twenty four hour bike
ride on my trainer inside to rate money for COVID

(12:41):
relief through the Ironman. I saw this on your Instagram
and I thought, he's he's seriously going nuts in the quarantine.
It was brutal twenty four hour bike ride. My but
hurt for weeks. Uh. So you raised money through mentioned
rock this town in the Iron Man Foundation, and you

(13:02):
actually have your own charity two Kinders of Kids, which
I know you know a lot of people hurting now
more than ever. So what are you guys working on?
Um on next? Obviously Christmas time coming up right, So
actually bringing it back to what we started, the conversation
with Kinder's kids was burst out of the Tesclus tornado.
When I was going to help some people, I remember

(13:22):
coming across a family that was standing on a slab
where their house used to be and there was a
child clutch into a toy and that stuck with me forever.
And years later when I became touring all the time,
we all have riders. And that's for people that don't
know it's it's like water, towels, foods, certain things you

(13:44):
might need the venue that you can't get on your
bus or van or hotel, just regular things. And I
added to the writer a fifteen dollar or less toy
and most of the venues would call and ask why, why,
why do you need a toy? This is weird? And
now explain that I'm gathering all these toys so I

(14:08):
can give them the kids that were affected by natural
disasters around Christmas time. And Heather and I have been
trying to build this organization to give us many toys
to kids that were affected by natural disasters every Christmas.
And if people want to get involved with that is
the best place to go. Your socials are a where
uh my Socialist or Kinders Kids Foundation dot com. You

(14:30):
talked about sort of the influences with the music, how
it's a mesh of sort of different styles. Who are
your influences and is there anybody you've met along your
journey since in Nashville that you've been star struck by.
My mom would play the Troubadour era of California when

(14:53):
I was a kid, so like James Taylor, Linda ron Stat,
the Eagles, Jackson Brown, all that stuff, so that that's
kind of what got me started through music. And then
she started playing me, uh Fogerty gold CCR, that era
of stuff. And then she found John Mayer and she

(15:14):
played me this record and I became absolutely enamored, and
I at test John Mayor to inadvertently teaching me how
to play guitar, as I learned every single lick and
toward on every one of his albums. It's so crazy
how I hear that over and over again. By the way, Ryan,
every so often, every couple of weeks, someone I'll asked

(15:34):
this question, and I hear John Mayor so often. He's
influenced so many people. He's he's incredible. He is incredible.
But the only well I've been starstruck um a lot,
obviously when I met you at the gym, But the
biggest time was I was on tour with John Fogerty

(15:56):
and it was the second show of the night I
played the show that I before and and John was
watching and he could tell I was a little down
about the amount of people in the crowd. And mind you,
this was an arena, so why would the arena be
full for the first of three? Um, it was me

(16:17):
easy top. And then Fogerty and he came to me
at my sound check at the second night and I
was kidding my vocals and he walked on stage and
tapped me on the shoulder and I was like, oh,
excuse me, oh, Mr Fogerty, And only Fogerty can just

(16:38):
bouncing somebody's sound check and nobody's gonna say anything. And
he said, hey, thank you so much for being on
this tour. I really like your music. And I just
want to tell you I don't ever play at the
empty seats son, And from that moment on, that's what
I think about every time I'm playing. You're playing for
the people that are there, that love you and care

(17:00):
enough to be there to listen to you. It doesn't
matter who's not there, it matters who is. You got
a lot of tattoos, soup, Do you have a favorite
and do you have plans for more? Is the quarantined
attempted you to um to expand. No. I I finished
my sleeve a little while ago, and I told myself,

(17:21):
I'm never gonna get another one unless Amanda Wa Cobb
is willing to do one for me. And she's an
unbelievable artist. She's in New York, and uh, I think
Mary Morris just got one last year, a couple of
years ago from her, and it looks like watercolor on skin.

(17:42):
It's unbelievable. But I am I am done unless I
can talk to her. But there's there's a bunch of favorites.
I've got a lot of stuff that it's it's for family.
I have my wife's favorite flower. I have a bunch
of stuff, but probably two of my favorites was my

(18:02):
very first one. That's on my left wrists. So when
I'm playing guitar, it's determination in Greek. So every time
I'm looking down at my guitar, it's reminded me of that.
And also I have the coordinance of where my wife
and I got married that is embedded and part of
my sleep. That's cool. Where did y'all get married in Jamaica? Jamaica? Okay,

(18:24):
we got engaged in jama Jamaica's that's crazy. You probably
can hear my dog Teddy, who is barking at something. Um.
We got him in February, right before the quarantine started,
not knowing any about what's gonna happen. So he's become
you know, but we we bonded. He thinks I'm like
a stay at home mom though, And he thinks I'm
in this like little room in the guest room, like
talking to myself all day. Like why is he still

(18:46):
She's still talking to himself? This human is crazy. He's
just like him. Yes, but we gotta get your dog
Mischa on my Teddy time on Socials at some point
because the dogs meat we little virtual puppy played eight.
So yes, I actually have her right here. Uh if
you want to hear her sing? Would you like to hear? Yes,

(19:09):
a little bit. I got her worked up. She's she
just woke up from a nap. Hey, do you want
to sing for Cody sing? Oh my god, that's good.
That's awesome. Good girl. Did she get a treat after that? Oh? Absolutely? Okay, alright,

(19:35):
that was really good. Let's wrap with little game here,
Ryan or Ryan out? Ryan Ryan out? Things you're into
or not I love this. That was I'm proud of you.
That was great. It took some time. This again, it's

(19:55):
very boring here and I just make things up all day.
That's what I do. Uh. First one, Dr Faucci, Ryan
or ry out and Okay, we're not gonna get political doory. Um,
well he's a doctor. He's a lot smarter than me.
So um the Titans Ryan or right out in UFOs. Oh.

(20:22):
I'd like to say I'm in, just just to believe
that there's something else out there. I can't say him
out because I do like science fiction. So Ryan, okay,
you're an Alabama native, as is this guy chatting Tatum
Ryan or right out Ryan, who doesn't want to have
that guy's face and body like he's ripped. He's beautiful.

(20:47):
TikTok Ryan or ry out was right out until Heather
started showing me some videos and I was just laughing
my ass off. I was like, all right, Ryan, Ryan,
it's addictive. I find I'm the same way. I'm like,
this is so stupid, and yet I just keep scrolling.

(21:08):
I just wanted who's next, Let's see the next. I
can't get into like me doing the dance stuff just
because look at me. I can't dance, but I like
watching them. Um, Ship's creek, Oh Ryan, David, Yeah, it's

(21:28):
such a great show. The baby do I hear the
sound of a babbey. This wine is terrible. Hand me
into the glass. And finally Ryan or right out, Cody, Allen, Ryan,
come on correct, all right, Ryan Kinder, thank you for

(21:50):
the time, man, Um, check out the music. Everybody needs
to go check out Ryan Kinder's music. Seriously, Um, I
love you to death. Thank you for this is then
Cody Cast. Subscribe now on iTunes listen anytime on the
I Heart radio app. Cody is heard on hundreds of
radio stations across America and seen on CMT Hot twenty
Countdown every weekend or more. Go to CMT Cody dot com.
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