Episode 105: Celebrating Four Years of "In No Hurry" with Ryan Ahlwardt

[00:00:05] Welcome back to another episode of the In No Hurry podcast and this is the four year

[00:00:14] birthday celebration episode.

[00:00:17] And I'm excited to have Ryan Allwater back with me.

[00:00:20] The music that you hear at the beginning of the show is created by Ryan and we've

[00:00:24] tried to do this every year.

[00:00:25] We missed last year for whatever reason, but we try to get on every year and celebrate

[00:00:30] the one year anniversary or I guess each year's anniversary birthday of the podcast.

[00:00:35] So Ryan was my first ever guest.

[00:00:37] He is the brains behind the music of the show.

[00:00:40] A good friend of mine, Ryan, welcome back to the show.

[00:00:43] How are you?

[00:00:44] I'm doing really well man.

[00:00:45] Thank you so much for hosting me.

[00:00:46] It is so funny to hear you say four years because I remember when we did our very

[00:00:52] first session and episode together in the basement of the Fisher's Public Library.

[00:00:59] Which I believe became the subject of scrutiny recently over some John Green books.

[00:01:05] Yeah, yeah, it really did.

[00:01:07] It's called the Hamilton County East Library or something like that.

[00:01:11] I believe they removed some books of John Green's and he obviously was not happy about

[00:01:18] it and that library, that specific library was in the news.

[00:01:21] So yeah, and now that I think the director has since resigned or retired or I don't

[00:01:26] know.

[00:01:28] That was a whirlwind and I have not been keeping up 100% with it.

[00:01:33] I don't know what ended up happening but.

[00:01:35] I believe it was very short.

[00:01:38] Shortly after that they reinstated his books being back in the library if I'm not mistaken.

[00:01:42] Yeah, they're like somebody listening to this might have known better but I follow

[00:01:45] him and I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

[00:01:47] If I was still teaching I probably would have followed it a little closer but the

[00:01:52] fact that he is a Hoosier and that library was the one where I literally recorded

[00:01:56] my first podcast episode was kind of ironic.

[00:01:58] So what we can ask him because I know he's an avid listener so yeah,

[00:02:02] we should agree.

[00:02:03] Yeah, well, I'll be sure to ask him.

[00:02:05] Yeah, so but man what's new?

[00:02:07] What's going on?

[00:02:08] I just I love seeing the clips.

[00:02:10] Yeah, there's a lot but I love seeing the clips of you and your in your indie

[00:02:12] show that you do with your friend Jillian, I believe is her name.

[00:02:16] Yes, it looks like y'all just have the time of your life doing that show.

[00:02:20] Yeah, it's you know, it's a lifestyle show.

[00:02:21] So we get to talk about all the really fun stuff that's happening in central

[00:02:25] Indiana and we are kind of the kids table of the station,

[00:02:30] which we know and we we we know that we have to kind of temper the enthusiasm

[00:02:35] as we walk through like the legitimate newsroom because we're more in like

[00:02:38] marketing and creative.

[00:02:40] But when we have to walk through like a room full of legitimate journalists

[00:02:45] and Jillian has a journalism degree like she spent years in on the on

[00:02:50] the news side of things.

[00:02:51] Yeah, but it's just an interesting world man.

[00:02:55] But it's super fun.

[00:02:56] We the show just started its third year back in September of twenty three.

[00:03:01] And man, it's it's it quickly became the most watched lifestyle

[00:03:08] and entertainment show in central Indiana.

[00:03:10] And that it's crazy, man, like all all hear about our ratings from our team

[00:03:16] and like insistently we're we're exceeding like

[00:03:23] a hoda and what's her name?

[00:03:26] The the Bush daughter.

[00:03:27] What do I Jenna?

[00:03:28] Yeah, and Hoda like the the Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson,

[00:03:33] like anyone who's anyone who's got like a daytime talk show.

[00:03:39] We're just consistently outpacing, which is a huge bust.

[00:03:42] I don't say that with any

[00:03:44] pats on my own back because it is a complete team effort.

[00:03:47] But I do think what we learned is that people really wanted

[00:03:50] some positive local programming coming out of the pandemic.

[00:03:55] And so it's just such a blessing, man.

[00:03:57] It's it's been amazing to be on the team and really share some joy and positivity

[00:04:03] and also just I mean, I'm learning from the show about what's happening

[00:04:07] in central Indiana as well.

[00:04:09] So having been a Hoosier since nineteen ninety two.

[00:04:13] It's it's fun for me to learn about what's going on in my community as well.

[00:04:17] So yeah, man, thank you.

[00:04:19] It's it's it's a joy.

[00:04:20] It is such it's it's just a delight and it's like the best job in the world.

[00:04:25] It really is.

[00:04:25] There's a ton of work behind the scenes that no one really sees except our team.

[00:04:29] But it's so much fun, man.

[00:04:31] Yeah, because I mean, I know whenever we first connected for the show,

[00:04:34] you were doing a lot of voiceover work.

[00:04:36] Obviously you were doing your creating new music at that time.

[00:04:39] Your Christmas album was about to come out, which we can get into some

[00:04:43] music that you have coming out or just came out.

[00:04:44] Actually, there was a song that just came out.

[00:04:47] But it this seems like it's right up your alley.

[00:04:50] And so what has been what has been, I guess, some of the similarities

[00:04:54] and biggest differences from, I guess,

[00:04:57] in a sense, performing in this type of a situation on camera versus what you did

[00:05:02] with Straight No Chaser.

[00:05:03] Yeah, that's a great question.

[00:05:05] I have Googled the amount of people that watch our show every day.

[00:05:11] And it it's almost no,

[00:05:14] it is too hard to fathom.

[00:05:16] I've I've performed on a stage.

[00:05:20] We got to open up for Barry Manilow back

[00:05:24] yeah, in London at the O2 arena in 20.

[00:05:28] What would that have been?

[00:05:29] Twenty eleven, I think.

[00:05:32] And it was like twenty twenty five thousand people.

[00:05:35] And it was a sea of people.

[00:05:36] And actually, there was a

[00:05:39] it's a pretty powerful spiritual moment

[00:05:41] where I really, you know, I'm standing on stage with my friends

[00:05:47] in Straight No Chaser at the time and looking out at this immense amount of people

[00:05:53] in very few times in my life has

[00:05:56] have I think God has spoken to me kind of audibly, where it's like you

[00:05:59] you you think it as words, but it's not your own words.

[00:06:03] That makes sense.

[00:06:05] And it was a simple sentence that said and I'll never forget it.

[00:06:11] I have a stage even bigger than this prepared for you.

[00:06:15] And I thought, you know, it was a literal stage, but really it's

[00:06:18] it's I think I'm living it now, you know, 12 years later,

[00:06:24] where it's a platform and honestly,

[00:06:26] cold like if I was in front of that many people every day for an hour,

[00:06:30] I probably need a lot more decompression time that I currently take.

[00:06:36] But to me, I played in the room and I played at the set.

[00:06:40] I played to the crew.

[00:06:41] I play to if it's appropriate to try to make my co-host laugh,

[00:06:46] to make myself laugh, to make our guests feel, you know, really welcome

[00:06:49] and that they want to come back.

[00:06:52] And so, you know, Straight No Chaser certainly primed me in many ways

[00:06:57] for this opportunity to really, you know, meet tons of new people every day,

[00:07:03] which was somewhat reminiscent of like a signing line after a concert,

[00:07:07] you know, in the days.

[00:07:10] But I think what I've learned the most, man, is that even

[00:07:14] even when it was with Straight No Chaser, like that was with a group of nine

[00:07:17] other guys, this there's probably maybe at any given moment, 10 to 15 people on set.

[00:07:25] It's it's really taught me a healthy reminder that like none of this is mine.

[00:07:32] Yeah. You know, there's a reason why it's

[00:07:34] it's not called the Ryan and Jillian show.

[00:07:36] The show is about Central Indiana.

[00:07:39] And we get to have a lot of fun while we are on that platform.

[00:07:44] But none of this is mine.

[00:07:45] And so I think, you know, in my early 40s, I've just kind of

[00:07:49] and maybe it's being a dad, maybe it's just being a husband of now

[00:07:52] going on 16 years of just a little bit more wisdom of understanding

[00:07:56] what this really means in the big scope of things.

[00:07:59] In Straight No Chaser, it was like, man, we got to launch this thing

[00:08:01] like, you know, once in a lifetime opportunity.

[00:08:04] Now it also is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

[00:08:06] But I've got a little bit more rearview mirror to look through

[00:08:09] and just realize that this could go away at any second.

[00:08:13] I hope it doesn't.

[00:08:15] But this is really the first time in my life, man, that I haven't worried

[00:08:20] or been so consumed with what are the next five years mean?

[00:08:24] What does this chapter mean?

[00:08:25] What is this pointing to?

[00:08:26] I think about that occasionally, but it's not like a daily

[00:08:31] obsession isn't the right word, but a daily.

[00:08:34] Focus of mine.

[00:08:36] That's what I was going to say. Yeah.

[00:08:38] Yeah, where, you know, now I just get it's I've heard myself use the metaphor

[00:08:42] of like, it's like a sandbox, man.

[00:08:44] I get to to play in it and just have a great time.

[00:08:48] I'm just curious.

[00:08:49] I mean, what has been the most rewarding part of doing that?

[00:08:53] Because I know you've gotten to meet a lot of new people

[00:08:56] and you've had a lot of fun times.

[00:08:58] And maybe what you just described is part of it.

[00:09:01] But just in terms of like the overall grand scheme of things

[00:09:04] of doing that show, what has been the most rewarding thing for you?

[00:09:09] And that's a really good question.

[00:09:13] I think the daily understanding that everything that I've done

[00:09:19] professionally, vocationally, creatively has led to this chapter

[00:09:26] and knowing that maybe 10 years ago, Ryan would have been really confused

[00:09:33] or maybe yeah, maybe confused by the path and maybe stressed out

[00:09:40] and anxious about the path that seemed more way more like a zigzag

[00:09:45] than the proverbial straight line.

[00:09:48] And I think I've just learned to rest more in the understanding

[00:09:56] that God brought me to this and he's got this and I don't need to try to engineer it.

[00:10:07] I mean, I remember saying to friends, family

[00:10:12] when I was presented with this opportunity

[00:10:15] and kind of in the interviewing process for it.

[00:10:19] I kept hearing myself say, man, if I get this, it's all God.

[00:10:22] Yeah, it's all God.

[00:10:24] Because I wasn't I wasn't looking for this.

[00:10:26] It wasn't anything that I even was wasn't on like the vision board

[00:10:31] like, man, I want to be on TV one day or I want to be a host of a lifestyle show.

[00:10:37] But through some friends, I had heard about it.

[00:10:42] And one friend in particular, through my name in the hat without me really knowing it

[00:10:46] and said, hey, this has you written all over it.

[00:10:49] You need to you need to submit, you know, your resume yesterday.

[00:10:54] For this. Yeah.

[00:10:55] And at that time, you know, I was doing the full time self-employment thing

[00:10:59] kind of a multifaceted creative live performing studio work

[00:11:05] voiceover work.

[00:11:07] I had built a Patreon community

[00:11:11] really since even before the pandemic hit.

[00:11:13] And so things were just multifaceted already.

[00:11:17] But this has really been it has been rewarding to have

[00:11:22] this is kind of like the flagship, so to speak.

[00:11:25] Yeah. And I can have a much more stable and

[00:11:31] for the most part, predictable family life and schedule, you know,

[00:11:37] our kids are nine and six.

[00:11:39] Lauren works part time at our church.

[00:11:41] So it's a pretty regular week.

[00:11:45] And I've also learned that with this as the foundation,

[00:11:50] I don't have to be driving myself into the ground so much with all

[00:11:55] the the shows and the gigs.

[00:11:58] But those shows and gigs over the past, you know, 10, 15 years

[00:12:03] have have really taught me and sharpened

[00:12:07] sharpened existing skills and taught me new skills.

[00:12:10] Yeah.

[00:12:11] And so it's it's rewarding to know that I can just step in fully confident

[00:12:16] into something that I didn't engineer or design.

[00:12:20] And just know that, like, God wants me here.

[00:12:24] I don't know for how long, but I'm not worried about that,

[00:12:27] like I would have been in the past.

[00:12:29] Yeah. In the spirit of the name of the show, I mean, you mentioned stability.

[00:12:34] And I mean, I can only imagine when you're doing a lot of different,

[00:12:37] I guess we could call it freelance.

[00:12:39] You know, you're doing a lot of freelance, I guess, but voice over work.

[00:12:41] You were kind of did you feel at that time

[00:12:45] of your life that you had to take on any job that came to you?

[00:12:49] Or basically what I'm getting at is do you feel like you're in maybe less

[00:12:52] of a hurry now because you have that stability?

[00:12:55] Does that feel like that's more of a rhythm for you?

[00:12:57] I think it's I would put hurry under or like not being in a hurry

[00:13:02] under the umbrella of.

[00:13:05] I have more and this is a luxury.

[00:13:08] I have more of an ability to say no.

[00:13:12] Yeah.

[00:13:13] To opportunities or projects that come my way.

[00:13:18] And I think that I don't know when I can't really pinpoint it,

[00:13:22] but there is something powerful and turning that corner of when you do say

[00:13:26] no to something you don't feel the guilt of saying no.

[00:13:29] Yeah. Because you know that you're saying yes

[00:13:32] to the most important people, relationships, things, projects

[00:13:37] that are really where you like you're super lane highway where you belong.

[00:13:42] And it's also been a blessing is through just over the years.

[00:13:46] I've been able to develop so many relationships that, you know,

[00:13:50] if a project isn't right for me, then I can absolutely connect someone

[00:13:56] with someone who I trust and respect

[00:14:00] that can easily get the job done.

[00:14:01] And then I get to be in some way a blessing to both parties

[00:14:07] by not being, you know, part of the gig.

[00:14:11] And I did learn recently over the past handful of years that

[00:14:16] I just love being a connector.

[00:14:19] I really, you know, within the

[00:14:23] there's a really cool test that my friend, Darren,

[00:14:25] early will wind and put me through.

[00:14:27] It's called the five fold ministry test.

[00:14:30] And it's based on.

[00:14:33] Oh, I knew I was going to forget the chapter in verse and book,

[00:14:36] but it's in the New Testament.

[00:14:37] I think it's where Paul might be in Ephesians,

[00:14:39] where he's talking about Christ's gift to the church

[00:14:43] are the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,

[00:14:45] the shepherds and the teachers.

[00:14:46] So another acronym is A Pest for that.

[00:14:50] And you can look it up and take yourself,

[00:14:52] but it's really cool like when you realize,

[00:14:54] oh, within the big, you know, within the church with a big C,

[00:14:58] I am an evangelist teacher.

[00:15:01] And so then I can go.

[00:15:03] OK, when I go out into the world, I can connect people.

[00:15:08] I can connect resources.

[00:15:11] And then I also really enjoy teaching as well.

[00:15:13] So that's been kind of cool to just kind of uncover.

[00:15:17] I know it's not necessarily related to like work per se,

[00:15:20] but it has been really cool to uncover.

[00:15:22] And, you know, now as my kids are getting older,

[00:15:25] it's like cool to try to pass down nuggets of wisdom

[00:15:28] that I've accumulated into their little worlds

[00:15:31] and hopefully pay that forward.

[00:15:33] But yeah, I know it's kind of a long answer to your short question.

[00:15:36] No, no, no, I love.

[00:15:37] I mean, that's one of the questions that obviously I asked

[00:15:40] just about every one of my guests is just about, you know,

[00:15:43] the hurry and hustle and yeah, it's the area that I hang out the most

[00:15:47] with the show and really in my own life.

[00:15:49] I've gone through seasons where I've not done well at managing that.

[00:15:53] And well, I think that's all of us too, man.

[00:15:56] You know, one of the things that I learned

[00:16:00] through our small group at church,

[00:16:01] which was a really interesting yearlong discipleship

[00:16:04] process was learning to work from rest instead of resting from work.

[00:16:12] Yeah, really, you know, really carving those moments out.

[00:16:17] And Lauren and I have talked where in this new year ahead,

[00:16:21] we really want to get more intentional with family time,

[00:16:26] with just having a social life, man.

[00:16:29] Like, you know, from Lauren, it's more of a hey, we get to go out

[00:16:32] and we get to have fun and we get to go make some music together.

[00:16:35] For me, since I've been doing it longer

[00:16:37] and from a professional standpoint,

[00:16:39] Lauren's been singing on stages for probably longer than I have.

[00:16:42] But for me, it's like the breadwinner perspective of,

[00:16:46] who there's a lot more pressure on dad.

[00:16:49] It feels a little bit more like work to me than it does.

[00:16:53] It probably feels more like play to Lauren.

[00:16:55] Yeah. So we have had some really good conversations about, man,

[00:16:58] we just need to we need to say yes to the right opportunities and no to everything else.

[00:17:03] Yeah. And and like I said,

[00:17:06] we then get to be helpful to people who are kind of maybe six or seven steps

[00:17:11] behind us or alongside us that we go, hey, this person can do it.

[00:17:18] So really, really just trying to work from rest as opposed to rest from work.

[00:17:22] I hope that resonates with someone out there.

[00:17:25] Yeah. And I think I mean, the area that I've been hanging out the most

[00:17:28] is just looking at this from like a millennial and even Gen Z perspective

[00:17:31] of just how a lot of us feel like we have to take on every opportunity

[00:17:37] that will give us an extra bit of money for extra little bit of cushion

[00:17:41] because we feel like we can't pay for anything right now.

[00:17:44] And so I feel, I mean, I've definitely dealt with that when I was a teacher.

[00:17:47] I mean, part of it was that I wanted to prove that I was a valuable asset

[00:17:51] to the team, but I also felt like I needed to take on

[00:17:54] like this club and this and that because I thought maybe it would help me

[00:17:57] make a little bit of extra money.

[00:17:59] And I was just exhausted whenever.

[00:18:01] I mean, that's why I started this show when we moved to Bollinger.

[00:18:03] And I was a teacher at that time and I was like, dude, I'm just absolutely

[00:18:06] wiped out mentally, physically, every which way.

[00:18:09] And I I I really feel for people that the reality is that they either

[00:18:14] feel like they have to say yes to everything.

[00:18:18] Sure. Or or they just like they realistically do for a season of life

[00:18:21] because they need to make ends meet.

[00:18:23] And it's I mean, you're running on fumes at some point, you know what I mean?

[00:18:26] Like you're just you're maybe making extra money that you don't have much

[00:18:30] left to give whenever you have the money come into you.

[00:18:32] So yeah, I love that, you know, work from rest versus resting from work.

[00:18:38] Yeah. And it's man, there's no there's no hard science to it.

[00:18:41] I think it's part science, part art where you have to know yourself,

[00:18:44] your own family dynamic, your own your own creative rhythm.

[00:18:49] You know, I tend to be more creative at night.

[00:18:52] I just do. Yeah.

[00:18:54] And that's something that I think I beat myself up about where I'm like,

[00:18:57] man, I'm staying up late and I'm working on this, that and the other.

[00:19:00] But the the creativity is flowing.

[00:19:03] And it's just like now I've just kind of come to a better understanding

[00:19:05] of like, OK, maybe I don't have to work as late into the night.

[00:19:09] But I can still have that time and space where I can be quiet

[00:19:13] and work and let the ideas come as the family's upstairs sleeping.

[00:19:18] And so I think to have in having a gosh,

[00:19:23] it would totally be a different story if I was single, you know, in a bad way.

[00:19:29] Having Lauren.

[00:19:32] Relationships, she is so micro focused.

[00:19:35] She's very much tactics.

[00:19:36] I'm very much macro and strategy.

[00:19:39] And so I think God puts the right people together for the right reasons.

[00:19:43] And maybe you can relate with that with Emily, but man,

[00:19:46] it's been amazing to see to just the blessing that that partnership can be

[00:19:50] for our own children within our own home.

[00:19:52] Yeah, I think it might have been John and I'm kind of going all over the place,

[00:19:56] but that's what we tend to do when we do these episodes.

[00:19:58] Yeah, I think it would have been.

[00:20:01] I love John A. Kuff and I always attributed this to him

[00:20:04] and I could be mis attributing it.

[00:20:06] But I think it was him.

[00:20:09] He said, you know, the place that I'm trying to be the most famous

[00:20:11] is in my own home.

[00:20:14] And famous, fine, you know, outside the home.

[00:20:19] But, you know, I want to be most known by Lauren and the kids.

[00:20:25] Right.

[00:20:26] And I want them to know how much I want to know them.

[00:20:30] And I think as a dad,

[00:20:35] ultimately that's what matters most like these kids don't

[00:20:39] these kids don't care if I can play guitar or sing or do voiceover

[00:20:43] or this that or the other. They don't care how much money we're making.

[00:20:45] They don't care about, you know, it doesn't wake them up in the morning and go,

[00:20:49] oh, man, I'm good because dad's on TV.

[00:20:51] Yeah, cool element of what we get to do.

[00:20:54] Like we visited the studio together and, you know, Gus got his own

[00:20:57] his first voiceover opportunity was so cool.

[00:21:00] And Olivia has has been on my albums and right.

[00:21:06] We're making Lauren and I are making this variety show

[00:21:09] that we just created together.

[00:21:11] And so there's opportunities when the kids come to soundcheck.

[00:21:13] It's like they get to see me and Lauren kind of be in our element.

[00:21:17] But at the end of the day, man, like

[00:21:21] I

[00:21:23] I want them to grow up and want to still hang out even when all that's gone.

[00:21:27] Yeah.

[00:21:27] And I have no idea where what we're going to be doing,

[00:21:30] where we're going to be when they're, you know, my age.

[00:21:34] But I still want them to know, gosh, mom and dad are awesome,

[00:21:39] just in general.

[00:21:40] Yeah.

[00:21:42] And oh, yeah, they get to do some pretty cool stuff and we get to do it.

[00:21:46] Yeah.

[00:21:47] That's kind of a little tangent there, but surprise.

[00:21:49] I love it.

[00:21:50] Well, and as you're talking, I mean, one thing that I've really tried

[00:21:53] to be very diligent about and I've had to I've had to cut out things

[00:21:58] in order to make this a reality, but it is very easy for me

[00:22:02] to allow distractions to keep me from doing tasks that I want to create.

[00:22:07] I mean, like I've been been wanting to write a book for years.

[00:22:11] And I finally am making a lot, a lot of momentum now.

[00:22:14] And that's an update we can talk about assigned with a literary agent this year.

[00:22:17] It's been a big year.

[00:22:18] It's been a big year.

[00:22:19] But, you know, I have allowed certain things to distract me in seasons.

[00:22:25] And it's like I've had to actively cut things out and like really be

[00:22:28] diligent about it and be like, OK, I'm not doing X, Y and Z until I finish X, Y and Z.

[00:22:34] So whenever you have gone through periods where you're creating new music,

[00:22:38] you're doing whatever the task is for you.

[00:22:41] What does that look like from like a discipline standpoint?

[00:22:45] Do you deal with distractions?

[00:22:46] And if so, how do you make sure that you don't allow them to derail the end product?

[00:22:54] Wow. I was just thinking about this today as I was real.

[00:22:57] Like I was I'm usually the first in at work because I take the kiddos

[00:23:01] to the bus stop and then it's kind of it's kind of nice because it's dark

[00:23:04] and it's quiet and I've still got about three hours until I really have to get

[00:23:08] like fully into show mode, like, OK, I'm headed to set.

[00:23:12] So those pockets of deep work happen early morning and typically late at night.

[00:23:17] And so. Usually I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to

[00:23:24] death scrolling on on Instagram or Facebook where it's like every

[00:23:28] notification I then go and check and I have to get really disciplined,

[00:23:33] especially at work when, you know, I need to finish writing scripts or I need to go.

[00:23:43] Kind of mine for new leads for guests on the show.

[00:23:47] Or I need to do some admin work, which admittedly is not my strongest suit.

[00:23:52] I've learned that I can do admin work, but Lauren swims in that lane.

[00:23:57] I like I kind of get in that lane and it's it just feels a little

[00:24:02] you need floaties in that lane.

[00:24:05] Yeah, precisely.

[00:24:07] That's a great way to put it again.

[00:24:09] But as far as like creating music, man, like I.

[00:24:14] Sometimes I welcome the distractions if they're the right distractions.

[00:24:18] And I mean that like if I'm feeling like

[00:24:22] I just need to go and have some alone time or go walk around the neighborhood

[00:24:26] or go listen to that podcast that I've always been, you know,

[00:24:31] it's just sad in my library and I haven't listened to it yet or go discover

[00:24:34] some new music or go be bored for a while.

[00:24:40] I kind of welcome that because in those moments like I and by board,

[00:24:44] I mean like folding laundry or like washing dishes or doing

[00:24:47] something mundane around the house is usually what I've learned when

[00:24:52] I can just kind of be still within my own mind and those ideas will start

[00:24:57] to come and I'll actually be able to hear them.

[00:25:02] And so if you are not a dishwasher or a laundry folder

[00:25:06] and you're a songwriter, I highly recommend that you pick those up

[00:25:09] because my experience it has helped me hear some

[00:25:12] hear some really cool lyrical ideas or just kind of have a thought

[00:25:16] that pops into my mind.

[00:25:19] I have learned the value of.

[00:25:21] I think that's

[00:25:23] asceticism is a little bit heavy of a word, but just solitude.

[00:25:29] In my walk, it's been really helpful like my commute to work, man.

[00:25:33] I listen to Tim Keller do a sermon

[00:25:37] and then I won't even put any music on like if he finishes sermon

[00:25:40] by the time I get to work on one point seven five speed.

[00:25:45] I just am quiet.

[00:25:47] I'm just quiet because I know how much kind of controlled chaos

[00:25:51] I'm about to enter into with talking to anywhere from.

[00:25:56] Eight to 15 new people in an hour's worth of time.

[00:26:01] I mean, that's a lot of mental energy every every morning.

[00:26:05] Probably being a teacher and doing that with three kids.

[00:26:08] Oh my gosh, I do not envy you in that regard when you were teaching.

[00:26:13] But yeah, I think.

[00:26:16] I am way more focused when I know something's on the books like, OK,

[00:26:20] I've got a songwriting collaboration with my friend Joe,

[00:26:23] or I'm going to write music with my friend, Mike Luegenbill,

[00:26:26] or I'm going to go to my friend, Sarah's house and we're going to work

[00:26:30] on a tune for, you know, a recording or for a commercial, you know?

[00:26:38] And that was that was an interesting season two recently that I got into is

[00:26:42] it's it's called sync S Y and C where you can write music for film, TV, media,

[00:26:46] all that kind of stuff.

[00:26:48] So that was a really interesting learning curve.

[00:26:51] I'm still learning just what those songwriting sessions look like

[00:26:55] with a partner versus, hey, I'm just trying to write a song about me.

[00:26:59] Then it's like, no, we're just trying to write a three minute song

[00:27:02] that is in this key at this tempo and feels like this.

[00:27:07] So I've kind of turned a corner just over the past year, year and a half

[00:27:11] of writing more about feel than writing like personal stories,

[00:27:15] like bearing my soul to the audience.

[00:27:17] You know, we're just like, how do I create a mood?

[00:27:20] And so that's kind of been an interesting thing as far as being a songwriter goes.

[00:27:25] It's just a fun season being in that in that mode.

[00:27:31] But yeah, I think sometimes distractions can be

[00:27:34] sparks of inspiration in disguise.

[00:27:37] Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good.

[00:27:39] And so you talk about music.

[00:27:40] You have a new song that just came out alone for Christmas.

[00:27:44] Yes, I love it.

[00:27:45] Ever you've got new Christmas music.

[00:27:47] Thank you to this this this little tune.

[00:27:50] Yeah. What was the inspiration behind that?

[00:27:53] I always love hearing the creative process.

[00:27:55] So what would the song come to be?

[00:27:57] The title is a little bit more morose than how it sounds.

[00:27:59] It sounds warm.

[00:28:01] It sounds very like I didn't know if I was going to get

[00:28:03] like an early 2000s emo song with that or what?

[00:28:06] So last Christmas,

[00:28:11] Lauren and the kids drove out to her hometown of Hudson, Ohio, outside of Cleveland

[00:28:18] about two days before I did.

[00:28:21] So they were going to go out there, have some extra time with with her folks

[00:28:24] and family, and I was going to do a couple of indie now shows.

[00:28:28] And I was going to be like, all right, I'm going to drop off my stuff at home

[00:28:31] and hit the road.

[00:28:32] And I'll see you guys on Friday.

[00:28:34] Well, we had like snowmageddon,

[00:28:38] is snowpocalypse, whatever you want to call it.

[00:28:41] And my car just decided that it was going to give up its last breath.

[00:28:46] Oh gosh, that I was supposed to go home.

[00:28:48] Honestly, man, I was I was, I think, divinely protected

[00:28:52] on my way home from work to home on the interstate

[00:28:56] because the instant that I got off the off ramp

[00:29:00] from the interstate, my car started to just like sputter

[00:29:03] and like kind of lurch forward.

[00:29:06] And it was just so weird, like all the alarms were going off on my dashboard.

[00:29:09] I'm like, what in the heck is going on?

[00:29:11] That happened to Emily's car last year.

[00:29:12] It's terrifying.

[00:29:14] And it's so scary.

[00:29:15] And, you know, I'm not sliding off the road into like a ditch,

[00:29:20] but I just barely got into our garage.

[00:29:23] And as I put it in park, the car just like belched everything in its soul.

[00:29:29] And so I'm like, well, this isn't good.

[00:29:32] So my dad being my dad comes over.

[00:29:34] He's like, son, I think your car is screwed.

[00:29:36] Like we got to get this to the auto shop as soon as we can.

[00:29:39] So it quickly became apparent that I was not going to be able

[00:29:42] to join the family for Christmas.

[00:29:44] Even if I got a rental car, I was going to have to drive through a blizzard.

[00:29:46] We just decided, listen, we're going to FaceTime a lot,

[00:29:50] but I'm not going to be there for Christmas, which was really hard.

[00:29:53] Yeah. Our kids took it differently.

[00:29:55] Gus, who's six, was just like, OK, dad, well, see you in a week.

[00:29:58] Olivia a little bit harder.

[00:30:00] Lauren was kind of in the middle of like,

[00:30:02] oh, you know, I've got to handle all this on my own now.

[00:30:05] But that's OK. You're safe.

[00:30:07] That's all that matters.

[00:30:07] This does feel like a good plot for a Hallmark movie, though.

[00:30:09] I will say honestly, bro.

[00:30:11] Dude, like that's what I was thinking when I kind of wrote the song.

[00:30:13] And so I was I was alone one night.

[00:30:16] I was alone all the nights, but I was downstairs in our living room

[00:30:20] and the stockings were up and the lights were kind of low

[00:30:23] and it was snowing outside.

[00:30:24] And I was like, well, I've got two choices here.

[00:30:27] I could sit and mope and feel sorry for myself,

[00:30:30] or I could try to put a bandaid on that

[00:30:36] pain by writing a song about this experience.

[00:30:40] And as I was starting to write it,

[00:30:43] I kind of had this vision in my mind of my friend,

[00:30:46] Sarah Scarborough's annual Christmas show at a venue called The Jazz Kitchen

[00:30:50] here in Indy.

[00:30:52] And she had invited me two years ago to be her special guest for that show.

[00:30:57] And I said, you know what?

[00:30:58] If she ever invites me again to do that show,

[00:31:01] I would love to sing this song with Sarah as like a duet.

[00:31:06] I just love her voice.

[00:31:07] She plays wonderfully on piano.

[00:31:09] Like that'd be really cool.

[00:31:10] And so that kind of helped lay the train tracks that the song then was built on.

[00:31:14] It was like, OK, I'm writing for The Jazz Kitchen with Sarah's voice.

[00:31:17] OK, cool. Got it.

[00:31:19] Now I need to write the story and it just flowed, man.

[00:31:23] It was amazing.

[00:31:25] All in one night, I think I fine tuned it a little bit the next day,

[00:31:28] but it just flowed and we recorded it

[00:31:32] in Bloomington at Airtime Studios where all the straight no chaser stuff had been.

[00:31:36] Oh, OK, cool. Yeah, it was cool.

[00:31:38] It was it was very much a homecoming for me.

[00:31:40] None of them, the band had had recorded there.

[00:31:44] So that was pretty cool again, connecting, you know,

[00:31:47] the joy of connecting dear friends with this space that means so much to me

[00:31:51] and has so many great memories associated with it and music.

[00:31:55] And so introducing them to that was really special.

[00:31:59] Reconnecting with Dave, the studio owner was super special.

[00:32:02] And then we, you know, we cut this, we cut the tune and we released it

[00:32:06] on Wednesday, November 22nd of 2023.

[00:32:09] And it's been it's been great, man.

[00:32:12] People have been really responding to it.

[00:32:14] My hope is that what's beautiful about Christmas music is that

[00:32:18] it's evergreen, no pun intended, but you can shop it around year to year to year.

[00:32:22] And so this song, I think has really good legs for potential

[00:32:28] for kind of like that bigger, broader reach than just playing it here in Indiana.

[00:32:33] And so that's on my to do list for 24 is to really shop it to some publisher.

[00:32:40] Absolutely.

[00:32:42] You know, just some people who help can get it be heard beyond my own sphere

[00:32:46] of influence and my father-in-law, who is not a musician, he just loves music.

[00:32:51] But he's like, Ryan, all you need is one good hit.

[00:32:55] You know, all you need.

[00:32:56] I'm like, you're right, dad, you're right.

[00:32:59] So if that's a Christmas song or if that's yet to be a song that I've written,

[00:33:03] I would totally be down with that.

[00:33:04] So yeah, if if you guys love

[00:33:07] like it's very much like a Nora Jones, James Taylor kind of vibe,

[00:33:11] very warm and cozy, but but bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter.

[00:33:18] Check it out. It's called Alone for Christmas.

[00:33:20] It reminds me the one year it was the year after Emily and I got well,

[00:33:25] we got married two days before Christmas.

[00:33:26] And so we were on our honeymoon for Christmas.

[00:33:28] And that was really hard because we were in Zion National Park.

[00:33:32] Emily was dealing with altitude sickness.

[00:33:34] So she was away from her family for like the first time ever on Christmas

[00:33:38] and then not feeling well.

[00:33:39] So that was odd.

[00:33:40] And then the next year I got sick on Christmas Eve and could not visit

[00:33:46] with my family, my family, my sister came down from Zionsville.

[00:33:49] And then this is when we lived in Evansville.

[00:33:51] And I just was too sick.

[00:33:52] I mean, I didn't eat for three days.

[00:33:54] And so I was just like, I really I hate to miss Christmas again.

[00:33:58] And then I think 2019 we all met at the best Western in French lick

[00:34:03] to do our Christmas because my my niece and nephews,

[00:34:06] all nieces and nephews all wanted to do the Polar Express ride there.

[00:34:09] And then COVID was the next year.

[00:34:11] So none of us got together.

[00:34:12] So it was like a stretch where I was like,

[00:34:14] I haven't seen my family on Christmas for like a legitimate Christmas.

[00:34:17] And I think 2021 when we actually got together was like the first time

[00:34:22] since 2016 that I had actually been with them for an actual Christmas.

[00:34:27] So you're hitting on something to me and that I've realized

[00:34:30] just creatively and professionally, but really personally and just kind of

[00:34:36] it dawned on me, you know, we were so isolated with COVID

[00:34:40] and we had technology to connect us in the same time.

[00:34:45] But there's something about being connected to the same space.

[00:34:48] Yeah, same physical space, being in the same room with someone

[00:34:52] taking up an occupying space with them that

[00:34:56] I don't think there's any substitute for a man.

[00:34:58] Yeah, no real substitute for and.

[00:35:03] My my hope with this tune is that

[00:35:07] it.

[00:35:09] Oddly enough, even though the song is called Alone for Christmas,

[00:35:12] is that it brings people together or it brings them back to a memory

[00:35:16] that that is good.

[00:35:18] I wrote a note to myself in my phone recently that said

[00:35:23] write songs that feel like Nana and Papa's home,

[00:35:27] my late grandparents, my mom's parents

[00:35:30] and and remind people of the goodness and the warmth of life.

[00:35:37] And whether that's a Christmas song or whether it's tuned about

[00:35:40] putting the windows down and driving to the back roads in Indiana.

[00:35:43] You know, that's really what I try to create.

[00:35:48] And I just also recently, you know,

[00:35:51] kind of allowed myself to lean more into the fact that I love nostalgia.

[00:35:56] I love nostalgia. I'm a history nerd.

[00:35:59] I feel like that's a big part of your brand,

[00:36:01] at least your music brand.

[00:36:02] I mean, all of your songs have the nostalgic feel to them.

[00:36:05] Thank you. Yeah.

[00:36:06] And really, I just that was kind of one of those things too

[00:36:09] that maybe 10 years ago or even five years ago,

[00:36:11] me would maybe have kind of seen as like, well,

[00:36:14] yeah, it's kind of a quirky part of me,

[00:36:16] but I don't know if I want to write from that place.

[00:36:19] And now I just gave myself permission to be like, no, it's kind of a thing.

[00:36:24] And and Ben Rector has his I don't know, Ben,

[00:36:27] but you know, listening to some of his music.

[00:36:29] Oh, it's all like nostalgic.

[00:36:31] Yeah, like friends is like the most nostalgic song.

[00:36:34] Or even like early John Mayer, like the song 83,

[00:36:37] where he's talking about, you know, word might I don't know the song

[00:36:42] we're talking about his old lunchbox.

[00:36:44] Yeah, like when came the day when it got thrown away

[00:36:47] and don't you think I should add some say in that decision?

[00:36:50] You know, like that kind of line,

[00:36:52] even though we probably had different lunchboxes,

[00:36:54] everybody's had a lunchbox or everybody has had an old friend,

[00:36:58] you know, like Rector kind of thing.

[00:37:00] And so I'm trying to lean more into that.

[00:37:02] And I just, man, I went for the jugular on it of,

[00:37:05] hey, if we're alone for Christmas, let's let's really tug at that.

[00:37:08] Let's let's invite people into this setting and story.

[00:37:11] And then Sarah just executed so well on the duet

[00:37:15] and the band sounds so good in airtime studios

[00:37:18] and Bloomington is the perfect room for that kind of song.

[00:37:21] Or it's just warm and cozy.

[00:37:22] We had a light up, Santa.

[00:37:23] We put some lights up, you know, to just kind of get us in the spirit.

[00:37:27] And I have recorded probably 30 Christmas songs

[00:37:30] in the dead of July and August there back in like 2008 and nine,

[00:37:34] with straight no chaser, you know, so it was very reminiscent of like, OK,

[00:37:38] well, it was late fall, but I was like Christmas music and airtime in Bloomington.

[00:37:42] I'm like, yeah, I've done this before.

[00:37:44] I can do that.

[00:37:45] That's always interesting because like when the Christmas music comes out,

[00:37:48] like you think about like this, they probably recorded this

[00:37:51] when it was really hot outside.

[00:37:53] We're going to get that.

[00:37:55] Because I think when like I think when your Christmas album came out,

[00:37:58] Indian Christmas, I think Phil Wickham also had a Christmas album

[00:38:00] come out the same year and I remember seeing some videos of him

[00:38:03] and it was like he had music videos and I was like,

[00:38:07] they very clearly shot this like in June or July.

[00:38:11] Oh, yeah. They're like, you know, he's singing the joyful, joyful

[00:38:14] we adore thee and they're all just like going to town on it.

[00:38:16] And I'm like, you know, we're getting into Christmas spirit.

[00:38:18] Literally Christmas in July, probably.

[00:38:20] Well, even earlier, if they put together a music video, I don't know.

[00:38:23] If you look at the artwork of my album, specifically on the back

[00:38:27] of Indiana Christmas, I'm pulling a sled and I'm wearing an overcoat.

[00:38:30] But my friend, Megan Mellinger, who did the artwork

[00:38:32] and graphic design, like had to add some snow to the grass

[00:38:37] like through a filter or whatever, however she does her magic.

[00:38:41] Because yeah, we were just like, well, the album's got to come out

[00:38:43] in late October, early November, you know,

[00:38:46] and there's no snow on the ground.

[00:38:48] So how are we going to do this?

[00:38:51] Yeah, Christmas music creation is interesting.

[00:38:53] It's a whole like it's a it's a complete subgenre

[00:38:56] with its own little processes and everything.

[00:38:58] But yeah, I'm super glad that you enjoy the song though, man.

[00:39:01] And a lot of people have been adding it to their playlist.

[00:39:03] And, you know, I just got a text from a buddy today who's like,

[00:39:06] hey, man, we we just put up our tree and, you know, we just added

[00:39:10] we added this to the to the new we added the new song to the playlist.

[00:39:14] And so that's just a joy, man, that it's out there.

[00:39:18] Quite honestly, you know, promoting the new music is my least favorite part of it.

[00:39:23] I love the creation, the ideation, the creation process.

[00:39:26] But even though, ironically enough,

[00:39:29] I have a marketing degree from from IU, it's it's really just like

[00:39:33] one of those things where I'm like, I just want to delegate that, you know.

[00:39:36] And and half I've just learned I'm like, I need to be writing, performing and recording.

[00:39:41] Yeah, everything else if there's a way that I can outsource it, I'm going to.

[00:39:46] That's the that's the predicament I'm in is that I don't love the marketing part of it.

[00:39:50] Like I love doing these podcast episodes, but I'm not always great

[00:39:53] at marketing the episode themselves.

[00:39:55] So I'm like, I do it enough to get it in front of people.

[00:39:58] But I'm like, I don't know the algorithms and how to, you know,

[00:40:02] I'm not going to spend a lot of money paying for ads and all that stuff.

[00:40:05] But I just I'm like, look, people want to find it.

[00:40:07] They'll find it and more people started to find it.

[00:40:10] So I'm glad.

[00:40:11] Right. And part of what I've learned to is it's less the things that I'm

[00:40:15] creating and it's more the community that I get to create with.

[00:40:18] Yeah. It's the most important and the most memorable, you know,

[00:40:22] it is kind of cool in this digital world now where it's like that music

[00:40:24] will be around when my grandkids are out making access.

[00:40:28] Yeah. You know, or Olivia here, you know, when she's she might cover

[00:40:32] some of your songs whenever she's older.

[00:40:34] I wouldn't be the pastor, man.

[00:40:35] She's got a great voice.

[00:40:36] She's starting to pick it's really cool.

[00:40:38] Like both kids are doing things at an earlier age that I remember doing

[00:40:43] like Olivia is really good at finding the melody of something

[00:40:48] and figuring it out on the piano without really knowing a ton of

[00:40:53] like the rules of music theory, like just kind of learning by ear.

[00:40:56] And I'll point that out to her or her brother Gus, like when I see them

[00:41:01] doing something that I did as a kid, I'm like, you're doing this,

[00:41:04] but you're doing this like six years before I did.

[00:41:07] Yeah. I guess he's he's six years old.

[00:41:09] He's in first grade.

[00:41:11] He got his first voiceover gig for a commercial for the Indiana State

[00:41:14] Museums, like awesome holiday family experience.

[00:41:18] It was amazing.

[00:41:19] And I told him, I said, Buddy, when I was five,

[00:41:25] I remember having my first ever memory of kind of like catching

[00:41:30] the performer itch of like, oh, that was fun.

[00:41:35] Let me see if I can do that again.

[00:41:37] And it was making up a silly voice to my favorite story.

[00:41:40] It was called Benjamin Funny Bunny.

[00:41:44] And PJ Funny Bunny.

[00:41:46] It was my favorite story.

[00:41:48] And I would read it to my family in our Volkswagen camper

[00:41:51] when we were living in Germany.

[00:41:52] My dad was in the Navy.

[00:41:54] And it would just make my family laugh.

[00:41:57] And I remember really vividly being like, oh, I wonder if I

[00:42:00] can do that again.

[00:42:01] And now he's a year older than that age that I was and he's

[00:42:06] got and he's on the radio literally Lauren the other day

[00:42:09] heard him on the radio when she was driving doing some areas.

[00:42:12] And it's crazy.

[00:42:13] Like, you know, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree,

[00:42:16] but it's like it is really, really cool to see them

[00:42:21] without any pressure.

[00:42:22] Like, I don't think we're putting pressure on them.

[00:42:24] I think they're just seeing us do what we do.

[00:42:26] But and seeing us enjoying it.

[00:42:30] And it's so cool to see them start to, you know,

[00:42:33] kind of walk into those gifts that God has put into them.

[00:42:37] And so part of the joy is, you know, getting to see that unfold.

[00:42:41] Yeah, that's so cool.

[00:42:42] I felt the spirit of the All Ward family when I was in

[00:42:45] Stuttgart this summer.

[00:42:46] Oh, I texted you and I was like, hey, I wonder.

[00:42:51] I think there's two different bases there.

[00:42:53] So I guess you guys are at the other one that we were.

[00:42:56] We were at one and you as it stayed at the other ones

[00:42:59] because my you were staying with my wife's uncle who's in the Air Force.

[00:43:03] Well, and so they were at what?

[00:43:06] I forget what the name of that base was.

[00:43:07] We were at Patch Army Army Base.

[00:43:10] My dad was in the Navy, but yeah.

[00:43:13] And then at the what was it?

[00:43:14] Panzer is at the other one.

[00:43:15] Yes. Yes. I think you're right.

[00:43:16] I was I was there for preschool in kindergarten.

[00:43:19] We moved from Germany and actually I write about that.

[00:43:22] I sing about that in my song, Indiana, like the first verse is super.

[00:43:25] The whole song's autobiographical, but it was like I was I was born in.

[00:43:30] That's how I knew you lived there was from the.

[00:43:32] Yeah, there you go.

[00:43:34] And again, nostalgia, you know, what to go?

[00:43:37] I was born in Sunshine.

[00:43:38] That was San Diego.

[00:43:39] I was born in Sunshine.

[00:43:40] Then we moved on out to Stuttgart before making Pascagoula our home

[00:43:43] that we drove our bigly caravan up North New England town.

[00:43:46] But it was here that we finally settled down.

[00:43:48] Like, I remember writing that in twenty two twenty two thousand seven.

[00:43:55] I remember writing that and being like, where did this come from?

[00:43:58] And I still it's one of my favorite songs.

[00:44:01] It's kind of like I'll kick off a set with that song.

[00:44:04] If it's kind of a listening crowd, because I know like immediately

[00:44:07] that, you know, we're wired for story, right?

[00:44:10] So it's like, OK, cool.

[00:44:11] I'm going to tell you I'm going to tell you my story, part of my story

[00:44:13] through the song. Here you go. Boom.

[00:44:15] It's just a fun kind of entryway into the rest of the concert for me.

[00:44:19] Yeah, I appreciated that text, though, when you reached out, man, that was awesome.

[00:44:22] Yeah, it was like we didn't stay in Stuttgart too much.

[00:44:26] We went to Munich one day and then well, when we got off the flight,

[00:44:29] we flew into where do we find to Frankfurt?

[00:44:32] And then went that went to Heidelberg.

[00:44:34] And then I was tired from the air from the flight.

[00:44:37] I hardly remember Heidelberg because I was in so much pain

[00:44:39] from sitting in an airplane for that long.

[00:44:41] But but yeah, we went to Munich and Munich was awesome.

[00:44:44] And then from there, we from one of those days, we went over to Austria,

[00:44:49] which is where Emily spent a summer studying before we met.

[00:44:52] And so she took me to the town where she studied that summer.

[00:44:55] And so we took a day trip there. That was really cool.

[00:44:57] So I'd never been to Europe before.

[00:45:00] I got to go to Switzerland, which is where my grandmother is from.

[00:45:03] She was from Zurich and she was declining in health at the time.

[00:45:06] And she ended up passing away on July 4th, actually.

[00:45:09] So I was able to go. We went in May.

[00:45:11] I was able to go on the trip, take pictures of Zurich,

[00:45:14] see a couple places where she lived, come back and show her the pictures

[00:45:18] and share that memory with her.

[00:45:19] And that was really special to me.

[00:45:21] So there's a song in there.

[00:45:23] Well, there's if I was a songwriter, which I did, I did contact you.

[00:45:27] I was like, hey, I have this idea.

[00:45:30] I want to write a song about my experience of going to the tornado and other things.

[00:45:34] I just was like, I am not a songwriter, so I may need your help.

[00:45:37] So that's still on the back burner.

[00:45:39] My wife and I do love to create just fun little ditties about our cats.

[00:45:43] So we're always like, we don't know why anybody hasn't paid us yet to record these.

[00:45:47] I mean, I don't understand why we're not making all kinds of money.

[00:45:51] It's so fun, man.

[00:45:52] I had a girl on the show recently.

[00:45:56] And her whole bit is that she just makes silly songs and it's hilarious.

[00:46:00] Like that is her whole bit.

[00:46:01] And so she wrote a song about a worm, like literally just about a worm.

[00:46:06] She wrote a song about like wearing overalls.

[00:46:07] And it's just as like, yeah, it's meant to be goofy.

[00:46:11] I'm like, I seriously could see her like getting some contract

[00:46:15] for some children's television show because it's all just goofy songs.

[00:46:18] So it's play, man.

[00:46:19] I think at the end of the day, like all of us really enjoy play.

[00:46:23] And sometimes us adults, like we don't either.

[00:46:26] We think we don't have the time to or we choose to do something else.

[00:46:30] And I think certainly having kids has made me become more present of, man,

[00:46:36] these moments, I have this saying that was inspired actually by Andy Bernard

[00:46:40] from the office, who is one of those characters that I just completely resonate with.

[00:46:44] But my saying was based off of his that was,

[00:46:48] I wish there was a way to know that you were in the good old days before you leave them.

[00:46:52] And that really inspired me to go, wow, these are the good old days.

[00:46:56] And I've put it into several songs, just kind of that concept of like,

[00:47:00] man, this is all we have right now.

[00:47:01] Right now is all we got, you know?

[00:47:03] And I would like, please send me that episode.

[00:47:06] I would love to hear that one, man.

[00:47:08] I'd love to follow.

[00:47:09] Yeah, I think we just recorded that in October.

[00:47:11] So she was funny.

[00:47:13] She lives down in Nashville and she just was like, yeah,

[00:47:15] I just decided to start making silly songs and now that's my job.

[00:47:18] So that's what I do.

[00:47:19] So, yeah, it's so great.

[00:47:20] That's so great.

[00:47:22] Well, I don't want to keep you from from putting your little one to bed.

[00:47:25] Any other big updates to share?

[00:47:27] Yeah.

[00:47:28] Yeah.

[00:47:29] So, you know, continue if you're if you're in central Indiana,

[00:47:33] Indie Now is on Fox 59 Monday through Friday, 10 to 11.

[00:47:37] And our sister station CBS four from three to four.

[00:47:42] I'm going to be doing even more new music.

[00:47:44] I've got probably seven or eight songs that are in different various

[00:47:49] phases of being recorded and produced.

[00:47:52] That'll be kind of like a sort of an American Southwest

[00:47:57] early 1970s kind of vibe is like goals,

[00:48:00] Crosby, Sills, Nash and Young America, very acoustic driven.

[00:48:05] Not one song about me on the project.

[00:48:09] It's all just kind of creating a vibe and creating a mood.

[00:48:14] And so that is untitled doesn't have a release date.

[00:48:17] Don't know if it's going to be an album or a bunch of singles,

[00:48:20] but you can follow along Ryan songs on all different socials.

[00:48:24] And then if you are up for a road trip, if you're not in Indiana

[00:48:28] or if you're in the area,

[00:48:30] Fine Steins at Hotel Carmichael and Carmel Indiana has become our new home base

[00:48:36] for shows. It's a beautiful cabaret

[00:48:39] kind of like it's a real listening room.

[00:48:41] It's like a dinner and a show.

[00:48:43] It's a 90 minute variety show that my wife Lauren and I created.

[00:48:46] It's called Indie Nights where we have a bunch of talented musician friends

[00:48:50] that we introduced to our audiences and we say, Hey,

[00:48:53] these are some of our friends.

[00:48:54] You need to follow them.

[00:48:55] And it's a really entertaining and fun and upbeat show.

[00:48:58] There's comedy, there's magic, there's storytelling, there's original songs,

[00:49:03] there's fun arrangements of cover tunes.

[00:49:06] So that's something that I'm really looking forward to diving into more.

[00:49:09] If you love history,

[00:49:11] I am the co-founder and a host of it's called The Presoquential Podcast.

[00:49:16] Back in 2019, my good friend Blaine Zimmerman

[00:49:19] and I decided to read a biography of every American president.

[00:49:23] We got all the way through Obama and stopped purposefully.

[00:49:29] And that is on, you know, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to.

[00:49:34] And we drank a cocktail that that president liked during the recording session.

[00:49:40] And we talk about their lives, legacies and little known facts.

[00:49:43] And, you know, you think about the Mount Rushmore guys and you're like, OK,

[00:49:46] I know how our country is different because of Lincoln in Washington or whatever.

[00:49:49] But what about Chester Arthur?

[00:49:51] What about Millard Fillmore?

[00:49:52] What about Jayne Parkfield?

[00:49:54] You know, what about those guys who served in one of the coolest episodes

[00:50:01] that we got to do is at the home of Benjamin Harrison,

[00:50:03] who was Indiana's only president.

[00:50:05] He was he was a one-term or between Grover Cleveland's two terms that were

[00:50:11] I think, yeah, he was number 23.

[00:50:14] And so getting to know the the staff there at his home

[00:50:18] and in presidential site here in Indianapolis was really cool

[00:50:22] if you're a super nerd like us.

[00:50:24] So lots of fun things happening, man, really, really cool stuff.

[00:50:27] And I love this tradition, man.

[00:50:29] I'm sorry that we couldn't do it again.

[00:50:31] I think it's a good thing that neither of us really remember

[00:50:34] why we couldn't do it last year.

[00:50:35] But I am honored that you continue to invite me to be part of your show

[00:50:40] and and get to be with your listeners, man. Thank you.

[00:50:44] Well, it's it's an honor for me too.

[00:50:46] And I it was just cool.

[00:50:48] Like when I connected with you, I was like, hey, what would you think about

[00:50:50] doing this music for the show?

[00:50:52] And then you said you sent me the demo for it.

[00:50:55] And I was like, OK, that's perfect.

[00:50:57] And I mean, you mentioned one of your songs, Windows Down,

[00:51:00] was a song that I was going for.

[00:51:01] And you were like, well, what if I slowed it down a little bit?

[00:51:03] And I was like, yeah, see, this is why you're a musician and I'm not a musician.

[00:51:07] Well, the names in a hurry, right?

[00:51:08] So it's like, all right, you got to you got to kind of downshift a couple gears.

[00:51:12] Yeah. So it just worked out.

[00:51:14] And so it's been really cool.

[00:51:15] And it's just kind of the it's the vibe.

[00:51:17] And every time I hear the I almost wish that you would take that

[00:51:21] that you created and almost create a song with that tempo.

[00:51:24] So OK, well, I do for you.

[00:51:26] Yeah, I love it because I'm always like wanting to sing.

[00:51:29] And I'm like, just do the part of it.

[00:51:33] So anytime that I have Emily on the show, it's so funny

[00:51:36] because like whenever we wrap up, she starts singing it because that's

[00:51:40] like I was intro and close of the music.

[00:51:42] Sure. Yeah, we'll start singing that part

[00:51:44] because we always record an episode every year for our anniversary as well.

[00:51:47] I saw that. Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:51:48] I was like, I'm like, OK, the music is going to cut in now.

[00:51:51] So catchy. I like it.

[00:51:53] Oh, that's fun, man. Well, thank you.

[00:51:55] Thank you so much, man, and appreciate your flexibility, too,

[00:51:57] with the with a little pause there that we had to get Olivia settled.

[00:52:01] Thank you.

[00:52:03] Well, much love, brother.

[00:52:04] God bless you and continue to keep creating your own art, man.

[00:52:08] And I hope next time we get to do this,

[00:52:10] that there's even more of an update on that book.

[00:52:13] Well, and if if Lord willing, I'm still doing the TV show

[00:52:18] and you want to come on up in to India and promote it,

[00:52:20] you got to you got to see the table, bro.

[00:52:23] You know what?

[00:52:24] I'll add that to the proposal of media media partner right there.

[00:52:28] But on the dream board.

[00:52:30] Well, thank you so much for joining me again.

[00:52:32] Olivia, thanks for joining us as well.

[00:52:34] Olivia, the famous recording artist on Indian Christmas.

[00:52:38] Is it the go tell it on the mountain that she's on?

[00:52:40] Is that right? It is.

[00:52:41] Yeah, she would think maybe five years old when you did it.

[00:52:45] Right. Yeah. Or it was 19.

[00:52:47] It was 2019. Yeah.

[00:52:49] Yeah, I can't do the math.

[00:52:51] Yeah, it's 19.

[00:52:52] That's when the show I just heard that was on the show launched.

[00:52:54] And that was when you were there.

[00:52:56] When we recorded, I think the album was like about to come out

[00:52:59] when we first did the I think we recorded in October.

[00:53:03] And then yeah, I came out, I guess, November or late October.

[00:53:05] Yeah. Yeah. Well, cool.

[00:53:07] Thanks, man. This was so much fun.

[00:53:09] Yeah, absolutely. All right.

[00:53:10] Well, take it easy. We'll talk to you soon.

[00:53:12] See you, brother. Bye bye.

[00:53:17] Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Ryan.

[00:53:19] I always enjoy getting a chance to catch up with him.

[00:53:23] Like we said, not really sure why we missed last year,

[00:53:26] but nonetheless, excited to have him back on to recap this past year

[00:53:30] and to commemorate four years of this podcast being around.

[00:53:35] And if you've listened for the whole time,

[00:53:37] part of the time it's been out, popped in here or there,

[00:53:40] whatever the case is, maybe this is your first time listening to the show.

[00:53:44] Just really grateful that you checked it out.

[00:53:46] And if you listen to more than one, super grateful that you come back

[00:53:49] and decided that it's something that was worthwhile.

[00:53:51] And if you're new, I hope you will stick around.

[00:53:54] This is a show where I interview a lot of creative people like Ryan,

[00:53:58] a lot of authors, musicians, people that love Jesus

[00:54:01] and love to use their creativity for what they feel God has called them to do.

[00:54:08] And just on a personal note, this episode is being released on December 11th.

[00:54:13] And if you followed my story at all over the past couple of years,

[00:54:17] you know, this date is near and dear to my heart.

[00:54:21] Two years ago to the day our house was hit by a tornado

[00:54:24] that came through our town of Bolling Green, Kentucky.

[00:54:27] And I just want to use this opportunity to

[00:54:31] remember that time and especially the 20 or so people that we lost

[00:54:37] just in our community from that storm.

[00:54:39] And our community is still healing from that.

[00:54:42] Emily and I are still healing from that

[00:54:44] mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally.

[00:54:48] Our community is really still rebuilding.

[00:54:51] And this past weekend, we had another tornado come through

[00:54:54] almost exactly on the day.

[00:54:57] And so it's just kind of rattled the minds of both Emily and me.

[00:55:01] And I know our community as well.

[00:55:02] And so just keep this area in your prayers.

[00:55:05] Another town nearby as Clarksville, Tennessee was hit by a tornado.

[00:55:09] And it's just a weird thing where December, the last few years,

[00:55:13] has been a hot time for severe weather.

[00:55:16] So very weird things happening in the Mid-South.

[00:55:19] So just keep this area of the country in your prayers

[00:55:22] as we go through the New York.

[00:55:23] There's a lot of people that are going to be struggling.

[00:55:26] In the same vein, I'm also, in a way,

[00:55:30] feeling really grateful that

[00:55:33] on this day, two years later, I'm able to release this podcast

[00:55:37] and be in a different mental state than I was

[00:55:41] even just last year on this date.

[00:55:44] Because coming up on the one year anniversary, it was

[00:55:47] just a really weird thing where a lot of that

[00:55:49] the anxiety of that night had flooded back to me.

[00:55:52] And in some ways that came back again this weekend

[00:55:54] when the tornado came through.

[00:55:56] Another tornado came through.

[00:55:57] And thankfully we were out of town for this one,

[00:56:00] but still a lot of that anxiety as I was anxious about

[00:56:03] what was going on in our neighborhood and our house was flooding back.

[00:56:06] And so it still is very present.

[00:56:08] And I think for anybody that goes through something traumatic,

[00:56:12] it never leaves them.

[00:56:13] And so I just if you've gone through anything like that,

[00:56:16] if you've gone through anything traumatic, I just pray

[00:56:18] that you can find comfort in God and find comfort in the loved ones

[00:56:22] in your life like Emily and I have been able to find.

[00:56:26] And as I reflect on another year of this podcast,

[00:56:30] I just feel so grateful for a lot of things.

[00:56:32] We're in a new house, which has been a super big blessing.

[00:56:36] Obviously we feel bittersweet about having to leave our old house

[00:56:40] that we experienced the tornado in and we're able to move back into

[00:56:44] and see that restored.

[00:56:45] But there's just been so many good things that have happened

[00:56:48] in this in this year, 2023.

[00:56:51] And I'm just grateful for all of the different guests

[00:56:54] that I've been able to have on this show.

[00:56:56] It's one of my favorite parts is just meeting new people

[00:56:58] or reconnecting with people like Ryan that I've had on the show before.

[00:57:02] And I truly hope that you've enjoyed hearing from these guests.

[00:57:06] And as always, if you have any suggestions on who I should have,

[00:57:10] who I should talk to, maybe there's people that I don't even know about

[00:57:12] that you think would be a great guest, please feel free to reach out to me.

[00:57:15] You can find me on social media, Cole Claybourne on Twitter or X,

[00:57:20] whatever it's called now, and Instagram, Facebook, Cole Douglas Claybourne.

[00:57:24] You can also email me Cole Claybourne at gmail.com.

[00:57:27] Seriously, I would love to hear your suggestions and I'm pretty much open

[00:57:31] to fielding any suggestions.

[00:57:33] Can't guarantee that I'll have everybody on or even connect with them.

[00:57:36] But I'd love to hear your suggestions and if there's an author or a musician

[00:57:40] or some other creative Christian person that you think would be

[00:57:44] really interesting conversation, I would love to hear it.

[00:57:46] So feel free to reach out.

[00:57:49] But that's all for me this week.

[00:57:50] Emily and I will be back soon to do our annual anniversary podcast episode.

[00:57:56] And then I will see you in 2024.

[00:57:59] I plan on using a lot of the rest of December to work on some writing.

[00:58:03] And so I will be back in January with some new interviews, with some great people.

[00:58:09] Hope you will tune back in then until then.

[00:58:11] I hope you have a Merry Christmas, a happy new year.

[00:58:14] And as always, I hope you find some time as we end this year

[00:58:18] to relax and not be in a hurry.

[00:58:20] And we'll catch you next time.