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Uncle Ryano recently sat down with VENTS Magazine to talk about his comical new single “The Turkey Fought Back”. The interview is below.
The Turkey Fought Back” is such a funny idea. How did you come up with the story of turkeys learning kung fu from watching Bruce Lee movies?
I actually had an uncle who lived on Lake Tyler where I grew up, and he used to leave a radio playing 24/7 in his boathouse. He swore that it kept the Raccoons and other Bayou critters out of the boathouse. With that as a funny memory, I watched the presidential pardoning of a turkey one particular Thanksgiving and thought it would have been funny if the Turkey had “flipped around and gone to town” on him!
The outrageous thought and funny memory collided in my mind, and “The Turkey Fought Back” is the result!
You call your music “American music” because it mixes country, blues, rock, and folk. How did growing up around East Texas and Louisiana influence your sound?
In East Texas, our music is just like our people, a combination of everything. Growing up with Motown, old country classics, gospel, rockabilly, Texas Swing, Tejano, Zydeco, Rock, Jazz, delta blues, along with the pop music of the 1980s.
The first concert i ever attended was at Tyler’s “Oil Palace”: Ricky Skaggs & George Strait. My second concert i attended was also at the Oil Palace, and the acts were “Eazy E” & “Too Short”; both concerts had a packed crowd. That’s what America and her music looks like.
When you write a funny song like this, does the story come to you first, or do you start with a melody and build from there?
First, it’s a concept; then I mentally see it unfold like watching a mental movie. Then, depending on the wording, the syllables will form a cadence, which becomes the initial heartbeat that becomes a drum beat; the subject matter will determine the melodic arrangement, which is designed to relay the emotion.
You shared the song with Billy Ray Cyrus, who encouraged you to keep working on it. What did that feedback mean to you?
The world knows BRC as a country singer and an actor. I’ve been blessed to know him as a man, a good man. He knows the road I’ve been on, both personally and professionally and his comments have more weight because his understanding is much deeper. His honest excitement and joy were infectious in regard to this song. Maybe because i was so close to it, his steady pushing was instrumental in me allowing myself to see everything this song could be. The song and music were complete when I shared it with Billy, so he was able to actually hear the finished concept.
You also directed the animated video, which has an ’80s cartoon style. What inspired that look, and was it fun bringing the turkeys’ wild adventure to life?
This was only possible with the incredible talent of Kevin Travers and his team at clickthruvids.com. The style of animation is much simpler, while adequately reflecting the story in real time. Simple animation seemed like the best approach for the light-hearted, outrageous story we wanted to relay. Kevin and his team made it a lot of fun, and they went above and beyond to ensure my vision was completely realized in the visuals of the song.
You’ve always mixed serious songwriting with a good sense of humor. Has comedy always been a big part of your music?
Music is life, and life is pain. The greatest comedians come from painful childhoods; mine was no different. I have been blessed, and I have been broken into pieces. This will either kill you, or you can find a way to laugh in the face of heartache. Once I developed this skill, I found it helped others as well. Life is beautiful, life is messy, life can be hard, but it’s much harder without music and a sense of humor. Being honest, never taking yourself too seriously, and finding the wonder in the little things most people overlook. This is how I live and also how I approach the music I compose and the lyrics I write.
After taking time to focus on family, you’ve returned to releasing music. How has that time away shaped you as an artist?
As an artist, it helped me recenter my perspective and connect at a deeper level with people. As a writer and composer, it has been immeasurable.
Through Bottle Rocket Records, you’re helping younger artists learn the music business. What’s the most important advice you like to share with them?
The music business is 1.8% music and 98.2% business. If you aren’t willing to efficiently dedicate every waking minute to the craft, you don’t love it enough. If you aren’t willing to invest all of yourself, your love, your time, your own money, tears, sweat, blood & gasoline into growing and building, you’re not a good investment for other people. Talent has never been in short supply; dedication that doesn’t require motivation is rare. Be consistently consistent.
What’s coming up next for you? Are you planning any new music, collaborations, or live shows?
We currently have 36 songs released to streaming platforms, and we are currently working on the next 24 songs. My song “Run Wide Open” is currently climbing the Cashbox Independent Country Music chart, My super collab song “Change It” is now out, and making its way out to radio. The Video should be rolling out soon. My new radio station with Rob Charles, http://tribenation.net has now hit 4.8 million weekly listeners across 86 stations in 192 countries, and our hit podcast “The Uncle’s Show” has been really taking off. If you add in all the artists I’m mentoring and producing in the studio, with my partner Bryan Austin Cuevas, and the live shows I began doing and we are scheduling with my dear friend and performer Tom Wurth… a better question might be “what are you not doing?” Haha
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with your fans?
Well, first of all, thank you. Thank you for sharing your time, your life, sometimes money, and always love with me. I don’t think I’ve ever had fans; I have supporters and investors. You are the ones who bring all of the beauty to what I make. You are my magic. You have always been, and always will be, the true rockstars of my show!
“You are loved and appreciated!”
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