Singer-songwriter Mike Ryan has been to Odessa quite a few times over the years.
He’ll make his return this week when he performs at Dos Amigos at 6 p.m. Friday.
The country music star who is originally from San Antonio will be touring in support of his recent single “Jacket On” which was co-written with songstress Brandy Clark and Brent Anderson.
He’s enjoyed his numerous stops in the Permian Basin.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Ryan said. “Any show is wonderful to play. We’ve played at dos amigos a couple of times before. We’ve had a hell of a time, every time we’ve been out there. We’re looking forward to coming back.”
It was last October when Ryan released his fiddle-and-steel heavy single “Jacket On”. Mike simultaneously debuted the clever track in a 48-hour exclusive premier.
The single is now available at digital retailers everywhere.
Following the release of his new single, Ryan went on a 14-stop tour to finish up 2021.
He’s recently seen the pace increase as the number of shows and gigs he’s had have gone up since the pandemic.
“You know, it was kind of slow at first,” Ryan said. “We’re just trying to figure things out like everybody else was. I guess 2020 was pretty much done. 2021 was alright. We did maybe half of the shows that we normally do in 2021. That was a little bit better. It seems like we’re back on track to play as many shows as we had before. That’s good. We’ve enjoyed getting back and playing at some places that we hadn’t been to in a while. It feels like the energy has been pretty strong. I don’t know if it’s because people have been cooped up or what but getting back into the live music has been an exciting time.”
However, during the pandemic, he and his bandmates didn’t stop playing as they found a way to stay busy.
“We’ve been playing the entire time,” Ryan said. “But getting everybody else to come out and open back up took time but we’re glad that it’s back to normal.”
Ever since he was in high school, Ryan wanted to be a country musician.
He attended Macarthur High School in San Antonio, graduating in the class of 2004.
It was his senior year when he started playing guitar.
“I just had always wanted to learn,” Ryan said. “My dad and my brother had played. After football was done, I had more time on my hands.”
Ryan said he played “a little bit of everything” when he was on the football field, playing tight end, as well as defensive tackle and linebacker.
“I didn’t know that music was something that was going to be taking me and making a career out of,” Ryan said.
While attending North Texas University, that’s when Ryan started writing songs and “saw something start to happen.”
“It was the best way that I could make extra money or any money as well,” Ryan said. “I had a few odd jobs in school but playing guitar in school was the most fun. It was sometime around my junior or senior year of college where I started to take it a little more seriously.”
Since 2010, he’s been singing and playing full time, accumulating fans across the U.S. and throughout the world.
He’s garnered over 200 million career streams to date with 26 of his songs racking up over one million streams each and 13 of those with over five million streams.
He’s been featured by Aplle Music’s Breaking Country Playlist, Pandora’s Artist Watch, SiriusXM “The Highway”, Austin City Limits and he performed during a special broadcast live from the White House.
Seven number 1 songs have landed on the Texas Music charts his third, full-length studio album “Blink You’ll Miss It” also landed at #15 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Albums chart and Top 40 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart.
“I’m just happy for the recognition,” Ryan said. “It’s not necessarily what I do it for. The accolades are certainly welcomed. But I just am happy that I get to do what I love and get people to come out and support me and believe in me as we go on this journey. But it’s been really cool. I’m glad that people are really enjoying the songs and that’s been the goal this entire time to write songs that people will be moved by and getting the recognition is really cool.”
Being able to perform, write music and stay on tour all while having a family can be difficult but Ryan has found a way to make it all work.
“My family has been really supportive,” Ryan said. “I come from a musically inclined family. We have a lot of band directors and players. It’s been nice having them in my corner. My two boys have certainly given me a reason to do things and to push harder, even if I’m feeling tired or struggling with whatever is happening in life.”
He talked about some of the challenging aspects of being on the road a lot.
“Sometimes it gets difficult,” Ryan said. “There are times when I can’t wait to get back on the road and there are times when I can’t wait to get back home to family. I’ve always got stuff pulling me in different directions but it’s nice and for me, I feel pretty lucky. I found out early in college that working for the man just wasn’t in the cards for me. I’m happy that I get to do what I love. Sometimes it’s difficult now that I have the boys and the family at home but me and Sarah have been strong this whole time. We’ve traveled a lot since we’ve been together. It’s nothing new. We enjoy this lifestyle.”
He does anywhere from 80-120 shows in a single year.
When trying to write music, he talks about keeping his mind open throughout the day to little things like conversations and to try and find any sort of inspirations for any songs he can find.
“Sometimes there are real stuff that happens that’s unavoidable and that can cause some inspiration,” Ryan said. “Just as far as keeping my mind opened to the possibilities of songs coming from wherever they may be coming from and then taking some of those things and writing it down from time to time.”
Once Ryan gets a bunch of ideas, he’ll typically call up some friends who like to write music with him and they’ll start tossing ideas around.
“We’ll start bouncing some things off each other because some things that may seem like a good idea to you are actually terrible and you need someone to tell you that before you write it,” Ryan said. “Also, there some things that you may have that don’t sound like a good idea but actually are and the next thing you know, you have a hit song on your hands. Song writing is a cool, enjoyable thing. For me, it has been for a long time but I’ve always wanted to have a head in writing and not just cut outside songs in writing. There’s something that’s inspiring for me and other people. It’s cool to see the personality in songwriting.”
One of the songs he’s helped write was Brad Paisley’s top 20 “Last Time For Everything”.
“We were writing one day,” Ryan said. “I was in a session with Chris DuBois and Brent Anderson. We were sitting around and coming up with this idea and sketched out a first chorus thing. We had a road map of where the song was good.”
The next day, DuBois and Anderson had a session with Paisley where they pitched the idea.
Paisley loved it.
“They ended up finishing it that night,” Ryan said. “(Paisley) was in the middle of recording a record and he recorded it the next morning. Then Chris called me later that week and said, ‘Hey, remember that song we started writing? We finished it with brad and here’s what it sounds like with his new record’ It was pretty exciting. I’m happy with the way it turned out. Putting Brad on it was a great idea because he had some strong ideas but the guitar part that he put down made the song in my opinion. It was just a great song and the guitar part made it much better.”
When talking about his favorite albums, Ryan says “Bad Reputation” ranks near the top for him.
“It has a full length record,” Ryan said. “We’re about to put another one of those out. We’ve just finished a record that we’re going to be releasing very soon. The last couple of projects have just been singles or 4-5 songs. But bad reputation album really opened a lot of doors for me. It’s been my entire body of work. It’s been top to bottom a perfect representation of what I’ve been trying to do in this life and business. I’m super proud of it.”
