Ryan Hurd is one of Nashville’s most prolific songwriters, co-writing mammoth hits including ‘What If I Never Get Over You,’ ‘Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset’ and ‘Lonely Tonight.’ An incredibly unique artist in his own right, Hurd has experienced huge success over the past few years, with the release of his Platonic – EP and now a new single with his wife Maren Morris. Here, we interview Ryan about the new single, the past year and his favourite C2C memories.
Hi Ryan, lovely to talk to you today. Hope you’re staying safe during this tornado?
I’m looking out of the window, it seems to be calm just wet, but we’ll see.
Not a big change from London! It’s strange thinking that C2C would have been a few weeks ago now.
We’re very much missing London these days and we love that festival. There’s not a lot of things that live up to the hype, but that’s certainly one of them. It was a lot of fun and the theatre was just so amazing – that moment for an artist when they realise there’s a bit of a fan base, that’s what I remember from that trip, thinking ‘Oh gosh, we can actually do this over here.’
I think it always takes a few artists by surprise, because they don’t really have any expectations going in.
Most country artists haven’t even been there – I had never been until we had to come play. I just have so many great memories of C2C and playing shows, especially in London – what an amazing place to play music. There’s a different energy than we’re used to, but in a good way.
It definitely has a particular energy and flavour here. And congratulations are definitely in order, this has been a pretty big week for you guys – the number one most added song on country radio and your son’s first birthday – there’s a lot to celebrate right now!
Yeah, that and our anniversary was last night. I mean, this time of year is crazy for us and having the most added song on the radio in the States – I’ve never had that before, Maren’s had a bunch, but you know, you always get really nervous when you release a song. For me, it’s extra pressure to have Maren on it, because if it fails, then it’s my fault, so we are just so thankful for all the people that have got behind it and all the fans that have listened to it. It’s been a really amazing experience and then to have it all this week, I guess I didn’t realise when I saw it on the calendar. Sometimes you don’t put two and two together and realise how much crazy stuff is going on. We had Hayes’ birthday party on Saturday and then on Monday was ‘add’ day, Tuesday was his birthday and then Wednesday was our anniversary. Looking back on it, I just didn’t realise when it was going on how special it all was.
Well, this song is so special. I know you’ve talked a lot about how there were various versions of the track before you decided on this version. So, from the first time hearing it to now, can you talk a bit about the journey of that song?
Sure! We didn’t write this song, which is something I like about it. I don’t think I could have written it any better, so that’s when you know you’re supposed to record it. The demo of it is a guy named Jerry Flowers singing and playing guitar – the guitar part of the demo is a part of the song. What we did with it, just took a second, it’s a special song. It’s not as straightforward as far as production goes, I think that’s maybe why it fell to me, instead of one of the other artists that had held it at one point. This version of it is my producer Aaron and my guitar player in my band, Teddy, building this track out. For whatever reason, this version is the one that really spoke to us and the timing couldn’t have been better. I mean, that’s the biggest thing with this duet is timing, having Maren and my single cycles line up, because I don’t think we’d be on the radio otherwise.
Something good has got to have come out of this past year! This is definitely one of those things.
We’re just thrilled. I mean, as I told you earlier, I know the pressure of having her on a song. I’m really proud of Maren for spending a whole year collaborating, it’s such a cool thing.
At the same time as being first-time parents! Do you think that’s changed your approach to songwriting and artistry?
I think it makes you a little more serious about art, just because it has to, you’re not messing around. It makes you a little more serious about it all, but the content hasn’t necessarily changed. I haven’t forced that at all. Maren’s things are leaning that direction, but for me I haven’t had anything really hit me that hard.
It’s probably more of a change logistically. Even looking at your video – which is stunning – there’s other scheduling things to think about. Can you talk a bit about the creation of that video?
Oh man, that’s all Maren and TK. I was the one banging on the recording, but when we were going to put it out there, Maren was really serious about doing a video before the song was released, with it all coming out together. She was the one who worked with TK to make that idea come to life, and people have really loved the rotating floor and that was definitely something that took us out of our comfort zones. I think that the work totally paid off, it’s such a beautifully shot moment and for as nervous as we were the entire time, it turned out awesome.
It definitely paid off. I wanted to talk a bit more about your live EP release. ‘Every Other Memory’ and ‘Wish for the World’ are two songs that have been very special for the last year and got us through. Can you talk a bit about those two tracks?
Yeah, thank you for liking those projects. ‘Wish for the World’ is the last song on that project and the recording of the studio version was made by Jacquire King and Aaron Eshuis, which is cool for me. Jacquire did Kings of Leon and he was just an amazing dude to work with. I close my set with that song. It just is a really cool way, I think, to end a night and it felt natural. I wrote that song with my friend Aaron, who produced it. I had that song title and I didn’t exactly know what I wanted it to be, but those lines just sort of started falling out. It’s cool to write that kind of song with your friends, because I feel like each line is a little prayer. I love that the last thing people hear from my show – I know everybody wants to drink 50 beers and have a great time and there’s a lot of ways you can end a night – but I love that people leave with my hope for all of them. For all those people that come and see our show, I want you to have a great time, but I want you to leave and feel like something amazing happened in that room, and that’s why that song sets off such an amazing moment for people. I think it’s the most connected that everyone is the entire night. I wrote that and put it out before the world shut down, and so it’s amazing to think of it in that context.
The live version is actually the one that I’ve listened to the most, it feels a little like the ‘Wish for the World’ is to get back to that, be able to hear live music again and hear it in that form.
That’s a really good point. I appreciate you connecting those dots, because it’s true. I mean, what a blessing to have that recording now.
It’s a reminder that we’ll get back to that eventually, it’ll be great to see that live. Obviously the single is the focus right now, but do you know what the rest of the year is going to look like in terms of releases?
Man, I don’t know what it’s gonna look like. I think that’s the fun part. Obviously, we have more songs that we want to release and it’s fun to see what people on my team are gravitating toward, that’s how you make decisions – what my gut says, but also what the people around me are saying who I trust. Obviously, we’ll have some songs come out. I don’t know what form they’ll take – whether it’s an album or an EP or whatever, but they’re sitting there and they’re ready to go. I think the ones that are ready to go are a little more toe-tapping – ‘Chasing’ is definitely a ballad. We have some more fun stuff coming, so I’m excited about all of it. I love making music in this town. I love getting to write music for other artists and I love just having my own project on Arista Records. It’s so cool.
Nashville is an incredibly special town filled with special talent and artists. It’ll be great for people in the UK to finally get back and artists get back to touring here in turn.
Oh we’re coming.
Well, thank you so much for your time today, and congratulations again on everything and happy birthday to Hayes!
Thank you very much. Have a great one.
