By Andrew W. Griffin
Red Dirt Report, editor
Posted: February 22, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – Head Above Water, the new album from Texas singer-songwriter Brandon Rhyder released this week, is getting a lot of attention.
And the lead-off single, “Rock Angel,” has hit number one on the Texas Music charts this month and is reminding a lot of Texas/Red Dirt/country music listeners what an important talent Rhyder is.
Talking with Red Dirt Report this week from his home in Central Texas, Rhyder said it was a gamble releasing “Rock Angel” as the first single during the Christmas holidays but it was one that has since paid off.
“Any time you try to release a single, in the last part of the year, during the holidays, you get stations that play Christmas music for 2 to 3 weeks in there. We released (“Rock Angel”) in November and as it turned out, it was the right single to come out of the bag on top,” Rhyder said.
Rhyder noted that he is now working with Dallas designer Katy Messersmith on a cross-promotional merchandise deal which involves “Katydid Collection” “Rock Angel” T-shirts for women. They’re available at his concerts and online at www.brandonrhyder.com, although he said they sell out quickly.
“Any time you can get another partner in crime,” joked Rhyder. “It makes a world of difference.”
As for his touring schedule, Rhyder said he and the band – guitarist Charlie Richards, bassist James Hertless, keyboardist Ron D’Argenio, and drummer Cody Banks – are performing a heavy schedule of 200 shows a year.
“We never slow down. We’re constantly pounding the pavement with in-store performances, radio appearances … and we really have a great thing going with a great fan base and some radio and print support,” Rhyder said. “As artists we really rely on social media – the Internet with Twitter and websites – they can really help spread your music if you utilize them right.”
Playing guitar, which Rhyder does adeptly on stage, is a recent phenomenon for the Texan.
“I’ve only been playing guitar since the end of ’97 or early ’98. I don’t feel I’m anywhere close to knowing my craft,” he said.
Regardless of whether that’s true or not, Head Above Water is a fantastic record. We really like Every Night, as noted in this Red Dirt Reportreview last year, but this is a different and arguably better animal.
“This record does go back to the Conviction-style of record,” Rhyder said, referring to his breakthrough 2005 album. “With Walt (Wilkins) at the helm we deiced we’re going to go in and put the best 12 to 13 songs we’ve got together and let the cards fall where they may.”
During the time of the recording and release of Every Night, beautifully produced by Texas singer-songwriter Radney Foster, Rhyder reminisces about his time going to Nashville to see if he could further his career there.
“We met with a lot of major labels and several would tell me that I was the first person to walk in and sing on key,” Rhyder said. “But when it came down to it they would tell us they’re not interested or ‘we’ve got that already.’”
At the same time, Rhyder says he is surprised that his wistful, five-year old song “Freeze Frame Time” has not been snatched up by a Nashville country artist.
“I’m surprised someone in Nashville hasn’t snatched up (“Freeze Frame Time”) and made it a national hit,” Rhyder said confidently.
Either way, the experience in Nashville and the idiosyncrasies of the country-music industry made Rhyder reconsider his approach to his music.
“We came back home and said, ‘Let’s do it at home,’” he said. Inviting Wilkins to dinner they talked about what he should do on the next album and as Rhyder put it, “Everything started falling into place.”
When he says “everything,” he means it. Wilkins, being an old pro, had things under control at The Zone Studio in Dripping Springs, Texas.
“It’s in the studio where the magic happens, it’s where everyone comes in and is prepared,” he said. “It all just made for such an easy recording.”
And the songs on Head Above Water are top-shelf. Being from rural Texas, it made sense for Rhyder to offer a track like “It’s the Country That Saves Me.”
“Growing up in northeast Texas, songs like “Battery” and “It’s The Country …” they’re about going back home, a place where I can reconnect with my friends. And while I may never live there again – I love the Hill Country – I can go up there and reconnect and get myself right to face the world.”
Back to some of the songs on Head Above Water, which is being distributed by Thirty Tigers, songs like “You Burn Me” and “I’ll Take You” stand out in Rhyder’s mind as he talks about the brand-new record.
“The response from people has been good from coast-to-coast,” Rhyder said.
“With ‘You Burn Me,’ well, I wrote that a few years ago,” Rhyder said, noting that it was a song that was played live. “People said, ‘You really need to put this on the record,’ and we did.”
The song that got the attention of this reviewer was the hidden thirteenth track – “Queen Of My Roost.” As your Red Dirt Reporter noted in our review of Head Above Water over at Jeff Remz’s Country Standard Time website this week, ‘Queen Of My Roost’ is probably the most unique song Rhyder has ever offered” in that it is quite a bit different from the usual Texas-oriented country-rock and roots-rock Rhyder and the band normally record.
“That’s just me being an artist,” Rhyder says humbly. “I love Big Band music, stuff from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. That was my approach when I wrote that song. I write for the inspiration, I never write for the genre.”
And what of that interesting album cover, an image of Rhyder with his eyes closed and nearly submerged in water, a’la Martin Sheen’s “Captain Willard” character at the end of Apocalypse Now.
“Credit that to my bass player (James Hertless),” he said. “He is the one that came up with that premise.” Asked to elaborate on how it was photographed, Rhyder preferred to keep it a mystery.
Rhyder’s next visit to Oklahoma City’s Wormy Dog Saloon will be March 26. Asked about his live show, Rhyder said they are “full of energy” but aren’t too musically frenetic.
“I don’t like going to a show that’s 90 miles an hour the entire time,” he said. “I like shows that have definite moments. Our show is very intense and we’ve very upbeat for the most part. We do a ballad … we bring it up and bring it down and the fans respond to it. All the guys in the band are phenomenal musicians, although we’re all different musicians.”
Typically, he said, they close with the aforementioned “Freeze Frame Time,” a fan favorite.
In talking with Rhyder he brings up the country music world, specifically the state of Texas/Red Dirt/country music and Nashville.
“I think Nashville is in a strange spot,” he said. “I really think the music industry will change dramatically this year. Record labels are closing their doors. I have friends in this business who worked for those labels. It’s a changing industry.”
But Rhyder doesn’t seem affected. He’s already been to Nashville and back. He acknowledges that his business model has to adjust to the new scene but with a well-visited website and plenty of merchandise available along with fiercely supportive fans, Rhyder is riding high.
Being based in Central Texas and working alongside some of the scene’s top artists is a real thrill – key is the word “real.”
“At the end of the night it’s about the entire scene,” said Rhyder. “It’s the entire experience. Whatever band you support go out and buy their stuff – their CD’s, their T-shirts – and talk about it. That’s how this scene began. Keep spreading the word and going out there and do what you do.”
Adds Rhyder: “I’m truly proud to be a part of it.”
Copyright 2010 West Marie Media
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