 Named one of Billboard's Top 10 Country Artists to Watch in 2014, singer-songwriter Ryan Broshear recently released his new EP, Paint It Red. The Kickstarter funded record blends both traditional sounds with more contemporary ones on it's six tracks which include his new single, "Spin Me." As the tune begins to make waves at radio, Broshear kindly took the time to speak about the EP, the single and what's ahead. Your current single “Spin Me” is a really clever take on the beginnings of a new relationship. I’m really excited about the song, which I was lucky to write with my producer and longtime friend Daniel Agee. “Spin Me” is the first song I recorded where someone else started the idea of it. I knew I wanted a song that talked about the early stages of a relationship and young love, but I didn’t have anything. So I went into the writing session saying what I would like to write about, but also being open to see what flowed. Turned out, Dan had something along those lines written, so he played what he had so far and I absolutely loved it. I jumped in with him and we were able to finish the song; when we were done we knew it would be an awesome element to the album. We’re real excited about how it came out. The song is one from your latest EP, Paint It Red, which was funded via Kickstarter. The EP came out this past summer and the fans helped raise the money for it to come to life. I was scared when we set it up because if you didn’t completely fund it, you received none of the money. But over 190 people directly funded it through Kickstarter and then dozens more helped with different things like raffles and drawings in their own communities. In the end, we met and succeeded our goal. Initially I wanted to do a twelve song album, but we didn’t know if we could bring funding for it so we scaled it back to five songs and as we were going along we found out we could make six work, which ended up being a pretty good sized EP. Congratulations, that really speaks to the fan base. You wrote or co-wrote five of the six tracks? I wrote all of the songs on my first album, with co-writes from my wife Amy, and a goal of mine with this one was to bring in songs I got to co-write with Dan. We ended up with “Spin Me” and “Friday Night in A Small Town,” which became almost like the title track to Paint It Red. I had that song in a writing folder, and shared it with him and he came up with the funky music and helped me finish it up. The one song I did not have a hand in writing is “Boots.” Justin Michael Weaver who plays lead guitar for Wynonna wrote that song with Dan. It’s a song I’ve been playing live for the last couple years and has become one of my crowd favorites, so we knew we had to cut it for this EP and it came out awesome as well. You mentioned “Friday Night In A Small Town;” why did you pull that specific lyric -- paint it red -- from that song for the title of the album?
A lot of the album has a small town type of theme, whether it is growing up there, what goes on there or what you do there. In a small town when you go out on a Friday night and raise a little bit of hell.....word tends to get around. I remember as a kid going to do something and my mom would be like ‘Hey what were you doing last night?’ with that 'You’re busted' kind of feel (laughing). Paint It Red is when you go out on a Friday night, make a little noise, have fun and cut loose. The six songs on the EP blend more traditional songs with contemporary ones. Is keeping a traditional sound important to you? I never want to be someone I’m not or try to be somebody just to catch a trend. I believe in staying true to who you are in writing and music. If I wrote along the lines of my favorite music, it would sound more like old Merle Haggard, but to get on today’s radio you have to pay attention to what is going on. We wanted to keep it edgy, fresh and new for today’s market, but still be true to who I am. Who then inspires you, be it someone from today or the past? I have three main influences that made me want to do this. The first one to capture my attention when I was young was Garth; I got my first guitar because of him. Then, George Strait because of the longevity of his career; he’s still making hits after he “retired.” And Merle Haggard who just has a way with words that can cut through to the soul of an issue. Those are my three main influences, but there are new artists I pay attention to and watch, like Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore. And I’ve always been a fan of Joe Nichols, who I’ve gotten to work with. He does that traditional country with a modern twist with his music. Circling back to the album, I wanted to ask about the story behind a particular song, “Something Wrong with The Radio.” That song I really love. I went to the Ryman for first time to watch Randy Rogers Band and Wade Bowen. I’m a big fan of theirs and Texas country - the music just sounds different and really cool, like rock and roll meets traditional country in a lot of regards. The morning after that show, I came up with the first line and my wife Amy co-wrote the rest of the song with me. We had it about 99% done, but it needed one little kick or twist, so I took it into the writing session with Dan and he helped me finish that one as well. I just love the traditional feel of that song, the real strong steel guitar and the lyrics where every song he hears on the radio seems to have her in it so that he just can’t take it anymore and pulls to the side of the road. It’s my personal favorite from the EP. So, what’s ahead for 2016? I’m excited about the opportunities that have come about from “Spin Me.” I have a great team of radio promoters who are helping me work the song to stations around the country. I’m hoping it will be a strong charting song that will bring the music to new fans as well as bring the music to the radio of fans we already have. I’ve built great relationships with radio, communities and the fans from Michigan to New York to Texas. It’s been exciting to watch those relationships grow and watch the fan base grow. I've been very blessed. Another goal is to get out and play as many shows as we can. We have a show with the Swon Brothers coming up, one in Chicago and a festival in my hometown. No doubt there will be more opportunities coming up and we’ll play based around where radio plays the song the most and maybe follow up it up with another single. Finally, since we are still seeing “Best Of” lists for 2015, what was your favorite album of the past year? My favorite album of 2015 is probably Chris Stapleton’s Traveller. I really dug that album and played it quite a bit. For more information visit his official website Find him on Facebook & Twitter Purchase Paint It Red here
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