Bryan Ragsdale Records "Where Cowpokes Grow"

When Bryan Ragsdale entered the studio we were immediately struck by his likable way and easy going charm. The recording sessions were punctuated by his stories of life under a big sky and it quickly became clear that his songs were tied unshakably to his way of life. His honest optimism will shine through on a record that is a pleasure to be a part of.

Bryan started singing, like many artists, in church. At the tender age of 4 he began concert piano before switching to trumpet when he turned 12. An accomplished musician, he toured worldwide with various youth organizations playing his instrument, but discovered at 16 that "girls don't really like trumpet...so I taught myself to play the guitar."

Bryan remembers the moment when he decided that becoming a singer/songwriter was the path he had to take. "I was attending college," Bryan said, "and I got a gig where I was opening for Willie Nelson. I heard him play "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," and his voice was all raspy, but the song was so powerful...I knew then. I knew I wanted to make the crowd react like he did."

Bryan spent a lot of years playing music and working during the day, until he reached a turning point in his life in 2004. "I went through a divorce," he says, "and I just decided that I was going to do what I wanted to do in life and if I needed to go back and get a real job, I would."

Since then, the cowboy bard has enjoyed increasing success. Bryan may become the official "voice of Wyoming" and has other plans in the works with his home state. Ragsdale is also working on a deal with a company in Nashville that will distribute "Where Cowpokes Grow" nationally next summer.

But there's a special demographic that Bryan wants to make sure isn't forgotten. As a former Navy counter narcotics officer, Ragsdale has always had a soft spot for the brave members of our armed forces. Using the profits he makes from the sale of "Where Cowpokes Grow", Bryan is going to reach deep into his own pockets to make sure that a copy of his new CD reaches the hands of every single one of the 165,000 service men and women currently overseas. He will also donate a copy to every cancer patient and survivor in the state of Wyoming.

When I asked him why this is so important to him he explained: "If you do music... to me... the most important people that need access to that music are the people who need the music to get through something in their lives."

Bryan has been working on "Where Cowpokes Grow" since 2005, and although he had a deal with a big label in Nashville, he walked away from it in order to make the record himself. He says he wanted to make a record that reflected the values he grew up with in rural Wyoming, the values he teaches his children, and the values that are easily forgotten in the commercialism of modern music.

With so many studio choices available to him, and certainly many options closer to home, we asked Bryan what brought him to Spiral. He explained that the production and mixing Spiral owner Steve Lemmon provides are phenomenal and having access to studio musicians like Ryan Tilby brings the record to a whole new level.

Ragsdale describes "Where Cowpokes Grow" as a crossover between country, bluegrass, and folk. When I asked him about his favorite song, he said, "The High Road is such a good song. It's amazing the amount of homeless people in Nashville, that's what the song talks about. There was a little boy who sat outside the club where we played. He just refused to comply with societal norms...he was a runaway teen...and one day he just disappeared, we never saw him again. But the hope always was that he had gone home...so that's what the second verse of the song is about."

It was a pleasure to host Bryan at Spiral and we look forward to the release of his ablum, "Where Cowpokes Grow," in January.