Today we’d like to introduce you to Clayton Ryan
Hi Clayton, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in a small town in Iowa called Winterset, which at one point was named Summerset by those that settled it in June of 1848. It took only one winter for them to realize the true bitterness of a Madison County cold, and this coldness became a part of my soul as a songwriter as I try to capture the true lack of warmth that is the modern world. I was shaped tremendously by the usual goings-on of a small Midwest town; the comfort of a squirrel stew prepared in my grandpa’s cast iron, the daily ear-shattering ringing of the noon bell from the courthouse spire, the Friday night lights as our football team took the field in between marching band shows. I’ve carried this flour-fried upbringing with me as a creator and visionary, from the sweltering jelly air of Los Angeles to my winters in The South Dakota Black Hills as a crime-scene clean up specialist, to my new home amongst the lakey vibes of Minneapolis, MN. As one of the poster-children for the oil industry, I have hit the road thousands and thousands of miles a year as a musician and artist, trying my best to wring out the human experience from the mop that is my ever-observant eye and into my ever thirsty-for-experience mouth. It truly is a blessing to live this way, I assure you.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I always felt like an outcast in my small, corn-crib laden town. I just didn’t resonate with many of my other public-school peers. I found my mind wandering away from schoolwork and lectures that my other fellow Winterset kids found interesting: repairing an International Harvester with hand tools alone, the incredible social justice work of our own John Wayne, or even just the basic thrill of pre-calculus. What I thought was just a lack of care for my two-stoplight town was really undiagnosed anxiety and depression. It wasn’t until the end of high school that I realized that writing was my only escape; I simply loved it. My AP American Lit teacher really encouraged my creativity, even going as far as to let me write music in the middle of class, just as long as my acoustic guitar was turned off as to not interfere with the others. When I was denied into the prestigious Writer’s Workshop at The University of Iowa (by merit, of all things), she encouraged me to pursue writing music and short stories on my own rather than enter the world of commercial journalism. I really feel like this helped me wrangle my brain, as I can’t imagine how my health would have suffered had I allowed my skills to be so reduced to pre-written articles or click farm websites. I still struggle with this depression and anxiety, however I have found sanity in comedy.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a songwriter of all sorts, and a creative of many different egg-baskets. I primarily focus on TV and movie music, with a particular adeptness for commercial rock and stomp-clap folk. I’d like to compare it to musical visionaries like Imagine Dragons or AWOLNATION, but we will get there; I recognize that I have much to learn still. Some of my friskier arrangements have seen success though. One of my ambient tracks written for Terre Haute- based soul singer BLUCOLLR ended up in commercial for The Outdoor Channel, selling anti-scent spray for hunters. Another song was placed in a WWE commercial, remembering the deceased “Macedonian Mad Man” Chris Markoff. I was also the 3rd Place Finalist for the July 2022 American Songwriter Lyric Competiton, and was awarded by some kind words and recognition in the metaphysical hall of songwriters that is the publication. I continue to work remotely for friends in LA and Nashville as we continue to create music for the audiences of Ford and sports commercials, as well as a significant amount of usage in Aqui y Hora, a popular Latin American news source. Between this work, I spend my time playing shows across the Twin Cities, presenting my own “spaghetti-western” influenced jazz and folk music to unsuspecting crowds at venues like The White Squirrel and A Mill Performance Theater.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I believe strongly in the people in power in the music industry to maintain the organic and necessary part of our survival that is music. AI is just a passing phase, and the ever-increasing use of it by the most profit-motivated members of the industry as they slowly train it to eventually understand the cadence and patterns of human speech will eventually fade into memory, much like 8 tracks or vinyl. I believe strongly in the artists’ use of social media as a tool, much like how Reddit is a tool for reliable internet opinion. The absolute ease of posting for free at any moment with any quality of content means artists don’t even need to have a legitimate business plan anymore. Just put it out there, full send! It has never been better for artists because of this. I believe artists will come together as well to fix much of the issues we have, like why Spotify isn’t paying the infinitely-expanding list of artist that use their service more, especially ones that don’t promote. These are just the fears of talking heads, and boy how they talk! I am very ok with the direction things are going, and I look forward to so many further discussions from my friends and colleagues.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.claytonryan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claytonrcryan/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@claytonryanmusic
