January 10, 2019 • 19 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Cody Ellen's podcast. This is Cody Cast. Kurt's
going to trip over the camera first, that's how we
start these interviews. Um yeah, so I love the name
of the album. First of all, Ryan, good to see you,
by the way, Thank you very much on this cold
January day. Thank you. Actually it's not too cold outside today.
(00:21):
It's rainy and miserable. Rainy, miserable, which is the way
we like it in Nashville in the wintertime. That's pretty
much the this is the sample day. It's how you
describe it to people. Wintertime. Actually, it's a little bit
like Seattle. You've I lived in Seattle for a little while,
sure you've traveled there. It's uh, you know, it's rainy, cloudy,
gunky for the entire winter. Nashville not much different. It's
(00:44):
about the same, if I'm being honest. No snow, but
a lot of rain. Where you which from Originally? I
was born in Chicago and grew up in West Michigan, right,
which is the name of the album, Michigan for the Winter,
which is also one of my favorite Hallmark movies. I
don't know if you saw that one, Michigan for the One.
I didn't know about that. No it's not. I'm joking,
but it was great for a Hallmark movie. I was like, Man,
did I steal something and I didn't know it. You
(01:07):
guys watched those, by the way, because I do not.
You don't seem like Marion watched one and uh, we
were in London and she was kind of jet lagged.
She watched like a Hallmark Christmas movie over there that
was like made for TV and terrible, and she said
she couldn't take her eyes off of it. So they're
all terrible, is the truth. But it's like a train wreck.
You just keep watching it because you're just curious as
(01:28):
to where this cheesiness is leading. And uh, we get
sucked in to them over the holidays. But I can
say I met my limit now, Like I'm glad the
Hollies have passed and the Hallmark movies are off, although
they're still showing, you know, they're still showing Christmas movies.
They're still showing like on the Hallmark channel. And granted
I worked for CMT, so I have a bone to
pick with any other channel that's on cable. Maybe there's
(01:48):
like I don't know, like five percent of the core
audience that hasn't realized that Christmas or is not ready
for Christmas to be over, and they'd like to continue
this season, I suppose. So I bet they'll still be
showing those things because they probably still have people watching,
like February March. Yeah, anyway, back to you, Ryan, Um
and to a T is the single which the first
(02:08):
time I heard it, I thought, man, that is so
brilliant because you've always heard that phrase to a T
and it's always meant I think for most people, like
I figured you out, I've got you, you know, down
to a T. But in the song, it's about getting
heard down to a T exactly a T shirt. Uh.
The original idea was just the title to a T
(02:31):
and my friend Laura brought it to me kind of
as a challenge, like this is a hard song to write,
but I think it'll be special if we can do it.
And um, it's been really cool to see like people
really react to it because the sentiment is universal. It's
like what you want to when you fall in love
with someone, you want to like know everything about them
and um. But I think the song says it in
a really like fresh way and something that hasn't been said,
(02:54):
like quite like that before and that's why I loved
about it. And you know it's kind of set to
uh it's a little rhythm too. It's a good love song.
I mean, I think it's got all the elements to
be a huge hit song very much. When you go
into songwriting, and do you ever think that you can't
think that way. You gotta think what's the best idea? Right? Yeah,
as songwriting is different every day and uh, you know
(03:14):
it starts differently. It's like either a title or it's
a track, or a field or an idea, and um,
you know, I think we knew when we were writing
this that it could be really special. Though it took
a couple of days to finish, which isn't normal. It
didn't like fall out of the sky like a lot
of the writing of the song was was I don't know.
It's like the back half of the chorus is like
doing math, like with the rhythm and with like getting
(03:36):
from the eye to the t and like how do
I do that in a way that's creative? I don't
know when you but when you it all comes together,
it's really I mean that's the reason that everybody the
biggest payoff is always the first time you hear the demo,
like when you get it back and it's it's really
it's been a special song and it's it's really fun
(03:57):
to get to come to country radio with it. I
wish you the absolutely with that. I mean, like, I
think it's gonna be big and I love it myself,
and I'm already fan of yours. It happened for a
long time. Thank you. I feel like every time I
see you, though, it's always like really quick in passing.
You'll be like there and I'll be like hey, it'll
be like we don't ever really get to actually talk.
I know. That's the bummer sometimes about doing this is
(04:19):
there's so many great people who do country music and
you just see them in passing almost. But you know,
I always love to see you, so I love to
see you too, and it's always but like I said,
it's always very short conversations, except for that one time
in um Mexico and the crash. My plly, what a
great festival. That was amazing was that last year that
was last week chatted. I been trying to go back.
(04:39):
They didn't didn't invite me back this year. Maybe next
year they invite you back. Yeah, they invited me back.
You get to go every year, don't you not jealous?
Maybe we cause too much trouble with whatever? They were
making a drink at that little booth from Man, I'll
tell you what that that most festivals are fun, but
that festival is wild. It's fest one wild. It's like
Nashville on spring break her and by the way, she
(05:00):
had mentioned your wife sings background vocals harmonies on to
a t Yeah. Uh. Somebody said it was supposed to
be like a duet, but what happened? I don't know.
I gotta I gotta ask, Like, I don't know, I um,
someone's it was someone's idea for it to be a duet,
and I don't know. Neither one of us really wanted
it to be like that. I don't know. She's got
a whole album coming out and I we just kind
(05:21):
of wanted to play it cool. So she was awesome
about like she knows she has an open invitation to
sing on whatever she wants, and truthfully, like if it
wasn't for her, this song probably would never have come
out the way that it did because she was so
supportive of it and said, you need to really you
need to run with this one, and uh, that got
other people excited. And it's pretty fun to have like
a Grammy Award winning singer as a part of your
(05:43):
A and our team. So, um, I don't know. She's
been awesome about being supportive and like really participating in
what I do, and like, I don't know, it's it's
without her. I don't think this song every would have
seen the light of day. It's so good. Um, the
debut album, you said there are three colors to the album,
which I thought was so smart. Also because there's this
thing called I looked it up Sineth the City Cia.
(06:09):
Did I say it right? It sounds right, It sounds
kind of right. Um, But it's like where you you
hear in color? And I've heard people who have this
talent where they hear something as music or otherwise and
they see a color when they hear. Have you purpose? Yeah,
I have, And I don't have that by any means,
but I've heard I. You know, I think every album
should be some sort of journey, you know. And uh,
(06:31):
I think the most important thing for me now is
like to make sure that the songs that we put
on there are the best representation of me. As a songwriter,
and also we want to have hits, and obviously we
want it to do well and have songs that work
at radio. But I think about me that really, like
I think people connect with is like my perspective, and
(06:51):
that the only way that you can truly express that
an album is to be the guy with the pen.
And so I the colors are like a journey, right,
and I think people when they associate with my journey,
they're doing it through like the words that I right now.
And so realizing that has really made it easier for
me and made me like a more comfortable artist and
(07:11):
somebody who's a little bit more comfortable in my own
skin and who's I don't know. It takes a long time,
I think, to learn how to be like an artist
and to be like behind a mic and be like
in front of a camera and like all the other stuff.
Like I I've always just been a guy who writes
songs and throws them up against the wall and sees
which one stick. And now that we have to do it,
you know, I've had to learn this part of it,
(07:33):
and I really have come to enjoy it. Has Marin
been helpful and sort of because she's such an obviously
star and um total package you know, has all the
elements of what you'd want in a superstar. Um has
she helped you with them? Oh, of course, And like
most of it, most of it is just watching. Like
I've been to every Awards show. I've seen it, like
(07:57):
every all the TV stuff. I know how it works.
Nothing is like I mean, it's intimidating because it's scary
to like whatever, walk a carpet because that's or whatever. Like,
but I've I've gotten to watch it all and gotten
to participate with her and so like that at least
I'm not walking in blind, you know, I know what
to expect and um, the way she carries herself. There's
a lot of people in country music that I really
(08:18):
respect and I've learned a lot from not just Marion,
but like Thomas Rhett is somebody that I really respect
for the way he goes about his business. And Tyler
Hubbard is another guy where you like, I was on
tour with him and I didn't hang out with him
a whole lot, but I watched him the entire time
and just really like grew to respect him as like
a songwriter and a business person. And as a leader
(08:39):
and um and then with Mary and it's just like
I've she is so good. She's been doing it since
she was eleven years old. So she's so good at
every single part of this that like I try, you
know to at least a lot, I find myself a
lot of times like reminding myself, like what would she
do here? So I'm really lucky to have not just Mary,
(09:01):
but a lot of people that I've gotten to observe
and take a lot of like different things from. Yeah,
that could be interesting in a relationship, I would imagine,
because when you criticize, where you say, oh, honey, maybe
sold the guitar this way or whatever like that can
be Is he ever like uncomfortable or like no? Because
she wants me to succeed and I want the same
(09:23):
thing for her, And I think she can tell when
I'm I mean, we the thing is with us as
songs always like when we met each other writing songs,
and like her new album she wrote so many songs
for and so she knows the ones that I flip
out over and I know the ones that she flips
out over. And it's really cool to see that whole process.
I've heard every demo and then every first mix and
(09:43):
like all the different thoughts, and you know, it feels
like I'm more a part of her album than I
am even of my own stuff sometimes, and like she
does my career in the same way. And uh like
but as far as like I have, no I will
never be as famous as Marion Morris, and I am
totally okay with that. And I think once you like
come to not come to grips with, but once you
kind of I don't have that. Well, it's just I
(10:05):
don't have that pressure, Like I don't have to be
like I don't like she loves doing like television and
award shows and stuff like that, and I don't. I
have never had to do it. But I don't also
like have to do it in the same way that
she does, Like I can find the things that like
I'm really great at two and make that a part
of who I am, and so like learning from her
(10:27):
and also like allowing myself to not compare my success
to hers, but also not like having not the same
kind of artists that she is. But that being said,
she gets to win when I win, you know, and
I get to win when she wins because like that
is kind of how a good relationship works, I hope
and uh um, but it's you know, without her, I
don't I still I wouldn't be doing this same out
(10:48):
to quit a long time ago. Yeah, it's like to
have a partner who's encouraging and pushes you, but also
at the same time has their own world too that
they get be successful then. So so yeah, it's a
it's a yang and yang. It's what it is. Ryan, Um,
so have you always been tall like this? How tall
are you? Six? Three? Okay? So yeah, I got to
be that tall and like ninth grade, so you must
(11:10):
have been like so popular. I went to a really
small school, um, and so I had to play every
sport or else, like it was like in danger of
not feeling a team. So that's kind of more of
what I dealt with than the other stuff. But but
you were kind of a jock. Yeah, I loved baseball.
I loved playing baseball, and I was a catcher in
high school and uh but that was my I still
(11:32):
love sports now, I kind of I think a lot
of people who do music I wish they could do sports,
And a lot of people do sports wish they could
do music. So it's kind of like the connection seems
to always be there. But but yeah, I've always been
been a tall dude. In the video for Marin's Rich
in case you don't know, folks, uh, you're the handsome
cowboy who's actually pulled to the streets first of all,
(11:53):
and then shows up on the video. She's it was
a giant con. Nobody saw it coming, and you have like, uh,
seventy two abs. We all know that. Well, yeah I did.
Then Yeah, oh wait the holidays have broken you down. No,
I'm still I'm still in pretty good shape. But but that, Yeah,
when you're gonna be on camera, you know you gotta
(12:13):
definitely go get a pump in, right, trust me, I
know all about it. Um Aaron, Yeah, she's gonna come
in next week. Man, she's awesome. You will love her.
She's we know each other. We have met her a
couple of years ago, and she's got so much energy
and she's so fun. It's like a crazy person. She
eats oatmeal, egg whites and blueberries for breakfast the day
(12:35):
and she's so clean and all she does is work out,
so she's got energy. It is incredible. Yeah, I know,
we went out and she was like, do you want
to beat juice in vodka? And I'm like, who thinks
of that? She brings her own beat juice, She brings
her with vodka, and there we are. Likes it. She's
a crazy person. She got a book out and so
(12:56):
we're gonna talk about that and all of your stuff
she does with all the stars, including yourself. I I
work out with Maren and her whenever Marion's doing that.
And then I also love to work out with Kevin
Kluge's been in here before. Really yeah, he's Sam's trainer
and now he's I think he's working with Luke Combs now,
and uh, he's a really special dude. I I physically
cannot walk today because I did a New Year's like
(13:19):
a January second, like first work out of the year
with him, and he crushed me to the point where
he's like, we're gonna do like we didn't like not
max weight, but like heavyweight, and we did do fifty
reps like back squad reps in twelve minutes, and uh,
as I've never I was. Actually he pushed me really
(13:39):
hard and I was proud to finish, but like, I
don't know if that was that was tough, but he's
he's a great trainer. Aaron is amazing. She's part of
our family now, and you know we I don't know.
There's a lot of great people in Nashville at work
in music, but aren't um aren't necessarily doing musical things,
and like the the amount of people are like that,
(14:00):
this all go. It's it's always incredible to me. How
can I be a member of the family. I don't know.
You gotta show up with with Aaron, do a lot
of squat lunges and whatever that's You gotta just make
it a game. You gotta be like, if I do this,
I can drink four beers all. We're gonna play a
little game. Next time Marin comes in and I'm gonna
ask her the same questions, sort of like a you're
(14:23):
sort of newlywed game, always going to be newly with
There you go. So what's her least favorite chore around
the house. She hates putting dishes in the dishwasher? Do
they stuck up? No? No, because you put the dishes. Yeah,
but don't tell her that part. Her favorite TV show
to bench Veep. I love that show too. Yeah, it's
(14:46):
the best comedy on TV. Yeah, my favorite too, love
it okay, because she loves it. No, it's genuinely I'm
more looking forward to that season of finale than I
am for Game of Thrones. Yeah, it's gonna. I think
that's just gon to be like waterworks the entire season.
What thing about you would she say annoys her the most? Oh,
(15:07):
my god, so much. I have no idea. There's so
many things that I could point to, like she's just
so annoyed. Um, I don't know. I don't keep her
I think she gets annoyed at I don't keep her
bus very clean sometimes and that I'll say that, Um, yeah,
(15:28):
let's let's keep it right bus cleanliness. What is her
dream vacation? Oh, she's been wanting to go to the
beach for so long. I'm gonna say two things, and
I should get credit for each. Northern She wants to
see the northern lights. That's my like my wild guest,
like if she goes off script, But um, she loves Mexico,
so I'm gonna say Mexico. Oh, maybe Italy. She wants
(15:52):
to go back to Paris. She she wants to go everywhere.
When she's in here, she'll probably named one of those
eighteen places I should get credit. Um. But but the
thing is we get to go so many places, like like,
we've been to Paris this year, We've been to London
this year, and we've been all over this like the country.
But she just she's really wanting to go to the beach.
(16:12):
So what's been your favorite spot this year? Was your Paris?
Paris was? I mean we I had never been and
it was really special. Um, yeah, that was that was
really cool. We went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon
and it was really that was something like that place.
There's nothing that looks like Bora Bora. It is truly
one of a kind. Where is that now? It's like,
(16:35):
you go, is it? West? Is in the Pacific? Hawaii
is halfway there, so it's like in between Hawaii and Australia,
but not like our New Zealand. It's not all like
but it takes about a day to get there. Maldeep,
she's down there too, right and I've heard that's amazing. Um.
So what's been your favorite moment of this first year
(16:57):
being married? Um? I bosually just getting married always point
to that as being like that. I just still can't
believe I get to be married to her. Um and
then um beyond that, like I've really enjoyed. I put
out two singles this year and I wrote a number
one for Luke Brian Sunrise is Mine, um, and I
(17:21):
wrote yeah, Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset for Luke Brian. And I
just really love just being able to make music in
this town still, like that's its own reward and so
um people you know, getting married, there's nothing that even
comes close to that. But just had a great year
musically and creatively, and I'm so excited to stay in
that headspace. And by the way, you're so humble and nice.
(17:42):
But you've written for not just Luke but f g
L and Blake and Dirks and Lady at the Bellum
and Rascal Flats And was it a timcgrass song that well?
Marion and I wrote a song for Tim McGraw called
Last Turn Home and it was her first cut as
a writer. It's like the first success that she ever
had in Nashville. So um, we still sing that song
like when she has a long stad, I'll come out
(18:03):
and sing with her. And it's actually it looks like
it might be a part of my album too, So
we're really excited about I don't know, that's a huge moment,
very cool. Anytime anyone records your song, it's so special
because they could potentially sing it like for the rest
of their life. So I've been really blessed as a songwriter.
That's how I got my that's how I started here,
(18:24):
is just as a writer for other artists, and so
I just I'm really thankful that people would take a
shot on my songs. And you're right, you ran off
the list and it's still really just such an honor
to be associated with those people. Dude, I'm so glad
you came in today and I'm glad we have an
actual conversation, not just a quick one. And I want
people to check out in Michigan for the winner and
(18:46):
to a t I hope it's just a gigantic, enormous
success for Thank you very much, appreciate it. Thanks Ryan.
We're gonna give a rout of applause. We are, Yeah,
we are. That's what we do here. We applauded people
and their success. They're music. Thanks for listening to Cody
Ellen's podcast This is Cody Cast.
This is Cody Ellen's podcast. This is Cody Cast. Kurt's
going to trip over the camera first, that's how we
start these interviews. Um yeah, so I love the name
of the album. First of all, Ryan, good to see you,
by the way, Thank you very much on this cold
January day. Thank you. Actually it's not too cold outside today.
(00:21):
It's rainy and miserable. Rainy, miserable, which is the way
we like it in Nashville in the wintertime. That's pretty
much the this is the sample day. It's how you
describe it to people. Wintertime. Actually, it's a little bit
like Seattle. You've I lived in Seattle for a little while,
sure you've traveled there. It's uh, you know, it's rainy, cloudy,
gunky for the entire winter. Nashville not much different. It's
(00:44):
about the same, if I'm being honest. No snow, but
a lot of rain. Where you which from Originally? I
was born in Chicago and grew up in West Michigan, right,
which is the name of the album, Michigan for the Winter,
which is also one of my favorite Hallmark movies. I
don't know if you saw that one, Michigan for the One.
I didn't know about that. No it's not. I'm joking,
but it was great for a Hallmark movie. I was like, Man,
did I steal something and I didn't know it. You
(01:07):
guys watched those, by the way, because I do not.
You don't seem like Marion watched one and uh, we
were in London and she was kind of jet lagged.
She watched like a Hallmark Christmas movie over there that
was like made for TV and terrible, and she said
she couldn't take her eyes off of it. So they're
all terrible, is the truth. But it's like a train wreck.
You just keep watching it because you're just curious as
(01:28):
to where this cheesiness is leading. And uh, we get
sucked in to them over the holidays. But I can
say I met my limit now, Like I'm glad the
Hollies have passed and the Hallmark movies are off, although
they're still showing, you know, they're still showing Christmas movies.
They're still showing like on the Hallmark channel. And granted
I worked for CMT, so I have a bone to
pick with any other channel that's on cable. Maybe there's
(01:48):
like I don't know, like five percent of the core
audience that hasn't realized that Christmas or is not ready
for Christmas to be over, and they'd like to continue
this season, I suppose. So I bet they'll still be
showing those things because they probably still have people watching,
like February March. Yeah, anyway, back to you, Ryan, Um
and to a T is the single which the first
(02:08):
time I heard it, I thought, man, that is so
brilliant because you've always heard that phrase to a T
and it's always meant I think for most people, like
I figured you out, I've got you, you know, down
to a T. But in the song, it's about getting
heard down to a T exactly a T shirt. Uh.
The original idea was just the title to a T
(02:31):
and my friend Laura brought it to me kind of
as a challenge, like this is a hard song to write,
but I think it'll be special if we can do it.
And um, it's been really cool to see like people
really react to it because the sentiment is universal. It's
like what you want to when you fall in love
with someone, you want to like know everything about them
and um. But I think the song says it in
a really like fresh way and something that hasn't been said,
(02:54):
like quite like that before and that's why I loved
about it. And you know it's kind of set to
uh it's a little rhythm too. It's a good love song.
I mean, I think it's got all the elements to
be a huge hit song very much. When you go
into songwriting, and do you ever think that you can't
think that way. You gotta think what's the best idea? Right? Yeah,
as songwriting is different every day and uh, you know
(03:14):
it starts differently. It's like either a title or it's
a track, or a field or an idea, and um,
you know, I think we knew when we were writing
this that it could be really special. Though it took
a couple of days to finish, which isn't normal. It
didn't like fall out of the sky like a lot
of the writing of the song was was I don't know.
It's like the back half of the chorus is like
doing math, like with the rhythm and with like getting
(03:36):
from the eye to the t and like how do
I do that in a way that's creative? I don't
know when you but when you it all comes together,
it's really I mean that's the reason that everybody the
biggest payoff is always the first time you hear the demo,
like when you get it back and it's it's really
it's been a special song and it's it's really fun
(03:57):
to get to come to country radio with it. I
wish you the absolutely with that. I mean, like, I
think it's gonna be big and I love it myself,
and I'm already fan of yours. It happened for a
long time. Thank you. I feel like every time I
see you, though, it's always like really quick in passing.
You'll be like there and I'll be like hey, it'll
be like we don't ever really get to actually talk.
I know. That's the bummer sometimes about doing this is
(04:19):
there's so many great people who do country music and
you just see them in passing almost. But you know,
I always love to see you, so I love to
see you too, and it's always but like I said,
it's always very short conversations, except for that one time
in um Mexico and the crash. My plly, what a
great festival. That was amazing was that last year that
was last week chatted. I been trying to go back.
(04:39):
They didn't didn't invite me back this year. Maybe next
year they invite you back. Yeah, they invited me back.
You get to go every year, don't you not jealous?
Maybe we cause too much trouble with whatever? They were
making a drink at that little booth from Man, I'll
tell you what that that most festivals are fun, but
that festival is wild. It's fest one wild. It's like
Nashville on spring break her and by the way, she
(05:00):
had mentioned your wife sings background vocals harmonies on to
a t Yeah. Uh. Somebody said it was supposed to
be like a duet, but what happened? I don't know.
I gotta I gotta ask, Like, I don't know, I um,
someone's it was someone's idea for it to be a duet,
and I don't know. Neither one of us really wanted
it to be like that. I don't know. She's got
a whole album coming out and I we just kind
(05:21):
of wanted to play it cool. So she was awesome
about like she knows she has an open invitation to
sing on whatever she wants, and truthfully, like if it
wasn't for her, this song probably would never have come
out the way that it did because she was so
supportive of it and said, you need to really you
need to run with this one, and uh, that got
other people excited. And it's pretty fun to have like
a Grammy Award winning singer as a part of your
(05:43):
A and our team. So, um, I don't know. She's
been awesome about being supportive and like really participating in
what I do, and like, I don't know, it's it's
without her. I don't think this song every would have
seen the light of day. It's so good. Um, the
debut album, you said there are three colors to the album,
which I thought was so smart. Also because there's this
thing called I looked it up Sineth the City Cia.
(06:09):
Did I say it right? It sounds right, It sounds
kind of right. Um, But it's like where you you
hear in color? And I've heard people who have this
talent where they hear something as music or otherwise and
they see a color when they hear. Have you purpose? Yeah,
I have, And I don't have that by any means,
but I've heard I. You know, I think every album
should be some sort of journey, you know. And uh,
(06:31):
I think the most important thing for me now is
like to make sure that the songs that we put
on there are the best representation of me. As a songwriter,
and also we want to have hits, and obviously we
want it to do well and have songs that work
at radio. But I think about me that really, like
I think people connect with is like my perspective, and
(06:51):
that the only way that you can truly express that
an album is to be the guy with the pen.
And so I the colors are like a journey, right,
and I think people when they associate with my journey,
they're doing it through like the words that I right now.
And so realizing that has really made it easier for
me and made me like a more comfortable artist and
(07:11):
somebody who's a little bit more comfortable in my own
skin and who's I don't know. It takes a long time,
I think, to learn how to be like an artist
and to be like behind a mic and be like
in front of a camera and like all the other stuff.
Like I I've always just been a guy who writes
songs and throws them up against the wall and sees
which one stick. And now that we have to do it,
you know, I've had to learn this part of it,
(07:33):
and I really have come to enjoy it. Has Marin
been helpful and sort of because she's such an obviously
star and um total package you know, has all the
elements of what you'd want in a superstar. Um has
she helped you with them? Oh, of course, And like
most of it, most of it is just watching. Like
I've been to every Awards show. I've seen it, like
(07:57):
every all the TV stuff. I know how it works.
Nothing is like I mean, it's intimidating because it's scary
to like whatever, walk a carpet because that's or whatever. Like,
but I've I've gotten to watch it all and gotten
to participate with her and so like that at least
I'm not walking in blind, you know, I know what
to expect and um, the way she carries herself. There's
a lot of people in country music that I really
(08:18):
respect and I've learned a lot from not just Marion,
but like Thomas Rhett is somebody that I really respect
for the way he goes about his business. And Tyler
Hubbard is another guy where you like, I was on
tour with him and I didn't hang out with him
a whole lot, but I watched him the entire time
and just really like grew to respect him as like
a songwriter and a business person. And as a leader
(08:39):
and um and then with Mary and it's just like
I've she is so good. She's been doing it since
she was eleven years old. So she's so good at
every single part of this that like I try, you
know to at least a lot, I find myself a
lot of times like reminding myself, like what would she
do here? So I'm really lucky to have not just Mary,
(09:01):
but a lot of people that I've gotten to observe
and take a lot of like different things from. Yeah,
that could be interesting in a relationship, I would imagine,
because when you criticize, where you say, oh, honey, maybe
sold the guitar this way or whatever like that can
be Is he ever like uncomfortable or like no? Because
she wants me to succeed and I want the same
(09:23):
thing for her, And I think she can tell when
I'm I mean, we the thing is with us as
songs always like when we met each other writing songs,
and like her new album she wrote so many songs
for and so she knows the ones that I flip
out over and I know the ones that she flips
out over. And it's really cool to see that whole process.
I've heard every demo and then every first mix and
(09:43):
like all the different thoughts, and you know, it feels
like I'm more a part of her album than I
am even of my own stuff sometimes, and like she
does my career in the same way. And uh like
but as far as like I have, no I will
never be as famous as Marion Morris, and I am
totally okay with that. And I think once you like
come to not come to grips with, but once you
kind of I don't have that. Well, it's just I
(10:05):
don't have that pressure, Like I don't have to be
like I don't like she loves doing like television and
award shows and stuff like that, and I don't. I
have never had to do it. But I don't also
like have to do it in the same way that
she does, Like I can find the things that like
I'm really great at two and make that a part
of who I am, and so like learning from her
(10:27):
and also like allowing myself to not compare my success
to hers, but also not like having not the same
kind of artists that she is. But that being said,
she gets to win when I win, you know, and
I get to win when she wins because like that
is kind of how a good relationship works, I hope
and uh um, but it's you know, without her, I
don't I still I wouldn't be doing this same out
(10:48):
to quit a long time ago. Yeah, it's like to
have a partner who's encouraging and pushes you, but also
at the same time has their own world too that
they get be successful then. So so yeah, it's a
it's a yang and yang. It's what it is. Ryan, Um,
so have you always been tall like this? How tall
are you? Six? Three? Okay? So yeah, I got to
be that tall and like ninth grade, so you must
(11:10):
have been like so popular. I went to a really
small school, um, and so I had to play every
sport or else, like it was like in danger of
not feeling a team. So that's kind of more of
what I dealt with than the other stuff. But but
you were kind of a jock. Yeah, I loved baseball.
I loved playing baseball, and I was a catcher in
high school and uh but that was my I still
(11:32):
love sports now, I kind of I think a lot
of people who do music I wish they could do sports,
And a lot of people do sports wish they could
do music. So it's kind of like the connection seems
to always be there. But but yeah, I've always been
been a tall dude. In the video for Marin's Rich
in case you don't know, folks, uh, you're the handsome
cowboy who's actually pulled to the streets first of all,
(11:53):
and then shows up on the video. She's it was
a giant con. Nobody saw it coming, and you have like, uh,
seventy two abs. We all know that. Well, yeah I did.
Then Yeah, oh wait the holidays have broken you down. No,
I'm still I'm still in pretty good shape. But but that, Yeah,
when you're gonna be on camera, you know you gotta
(12:13):
definitely go get a pump in, right, trust me, I
know all about it. Um Aaron, Yeah, she's gonna come
in next week. Man, she's awesome. You will love her.
She's we know each other. We have met her a
couple of years ago, and she's got so much energy
and she's so fun. It's like a crazy person. She
eats oatmeal, egg whites and blueberries for breakfast the day
(12:35):
and she's so clean and all she does is work out,
so she's got energy. It is incredible. Yeah, I know,
we went out and she was like, do you want
to beat juice in vodka? And I'm like, who thinks
of that? She brings her own beat juice, She brings
her with vodka, and there we are. Likes it. She's
a crazy person. She got a book out and so
(12:56):
we're gonna talk about that and all of your stuff
she does with all the stars, including yourself. I I
work out with Maren and her whenever Marion's doing that.
And then I also love to work out with Kevin
Kluge's been in here before. Really yeah, he's Sam's trainer
and now he's I think he's working with Luke Combs now,
and uh, he's a really special dude. I I physically
cannot walk today because I did a New Year's like
(13:19):
a January second, like first work out of the year
with him, and he crushed me to the point where
he's like, we're gonna do like we didn't like not
max weight, but like heavyweight, and we did do fifty
reps like back squad reps in twelve minutes, and uh,
as I've never I was. Actually he pushed me really
(13:39):
hard and I was proud to finish, but like, I
don't know if that was that was tough, but he's
he's a great trainer. Aaron is amazing. She's part of
our family now, and you know we I don't know.
There's a lot of great people in Nashville at work
in music, but aren't um aren't necessarily doing musical things,
and like the the amount of people are like that,
(14:00):
this all go. It's it's always incredible to me. How
can I be a member of the family. I don't know.
You gotta show up with with Aaron, do a lot
of squat lunges and whatever that's You gotta just make
it a game. You gotta be like, if I do this,
I can drink four beers all. We're gonna play a
little game. Next time Marin comes in and I'm gonna
ask her the same questions, sort of like a you're
(14:23):
sort of newlywed game, always going to be newly with
There you go. So what's her least favorite chore around
the house. She hates putting dishes in the dishwasher? Do
they stuck up? No? No, because you put the dishes. Yeah,
but don't tell her that part. Her favorite TV show
to bench Veep. I love that show too. Yeah, it's
(14:46):
the best comedy on TV. Yeah, my favorite too, love
it okay, because she loves it. No, it's genuinely I'm
more looking forward to that season of finale than I
am for Game of Thrones. Yeah, it's gonna. I think
that's just gon to be like waterworks the entire season.
What thing about you would she say annoys her the most? Oh,
(15:07):
my god, so much. I have no idea. There's so
many things that I could point to, like she's just
so annoyed. Um, I don't know. I don't keep her
I think she gets annoyed at I don't keep her
bus very clean sometimes and that I'll say that, Um, yeah,
(15:28):
let's let's keep it right bus cleanliness. What is her
dream vacation? Oh, she's been wanting to go to the
beach for so long. I'm gonna say two things, and
I should get credit for each. Northern She wants to
see the northern lights. That's my like my wild guest,
like if she goes off script, But um, she loves Mexico,
so I'm gonna say Mexico. Oh, maybe Italy. She wants
(15:52):
to go back to Paris. She she wants to go everywhere.
When she's in here, she'll probably named one of those
eighteen places I should get credit. Um. But but the
thing is we get to go so many places, like like,
we've been to Paris this year, We've been to London
this year, and we've been all over this like the country.
But she just she's really wanting to go to the beach.
(16:12):
So what's been your favorite spot this year? Was your Paris?
Paris was? I mean we I had never been and
it was really special. Um, yeah, that was that was
really cool. We went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon
and it was really that was something like that place.
There's nothing that looks like Bora Bora. It is truly
one of a kind. Where is that now? It's like,
(16:35):
you go, is it? West? Is in the Pacific? Hawaii
is halfway there, so it's like in between Hawaii and Australia,
but not like our New Zealand. It's not all like
but it takes about a day to get there. Maldeep,
she's down there too, right and I've heard that's amazing. Um.
So what's been your favorite moment of this first year
(16:57):
being married? Um? I bosually just getting married always point
to that as being like that. I just still can't
believe I get to be married to her. Um and
then um beyond that, like I've really enjoyed. I put
out two singles this year and I wrote a number
one for Luke Brian Sunrise is Mine, um, and I
(17:21):
wrote yeah, Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset for Luke Brian. And I
just really love just being able to make music in
this town still, like that's its own reward and so
um people you know, getting married, there's nothing that even
comes close to that. But just had a great year
musically and creatively, and I'm so excited to stay in
that headspace. And by the way, you're so humble and nice.
(17:42):
But you've written for not just Luke but f g
L and Blake and Dirks and Lady at the Bellum
and Rascal Flats And was it a timcgrass song that well?
Marion and I wrote a song for Tim McGraw called
Last Turn Home and it was her first cut as
a writer. It's like the first success that she ever
had in Nashville. So um, we still sing that song
like when she has a long stad, I'll come out
(18:03):
and sing with her. And it's actually it looks like
it might be a part of my album too, So
we're really excited about I don't know, that's a huge moment,
very cool. Anytime anyone records your song, it's so special
because they could potentially sing it like for the rest
of their life. So I've been really blessed as a songwriter.
That's how I got my that's how I started here,
(18:24):
is just as a writer for other artists, and so
I just I'm really thankful that people would take a
shot on my songs. And you're right, you ran off
the list and it's still really just such an honor
to be associated with those people. Dude, I'm so glad
you came in today and I'm glad we have an
actual conversation, not just a quick one. And I want
people to check out in Michigan for the winner and
(18:46):
to a t I hope it's just a gigantic, enormous
success for Thank you very much, appreciate it. Thanks Ryan.
We're gonna give a rout of applause. We are, Yeah,
we are. That's what we do here. We applauded people
and their success. They're music. Thanks for listening to Cody
Ellen's podcast This is Cody Cast.
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