On the road to somewhere...

[2012] The Year I....

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 08:33:00 -0500

2012 was a big year for me. I’ll look back and remember it being the year I did a lot of fun/scary/amazing things. Check it out and leave pictures and comments of what the year was for you.

The year I started “Just Another Music Monday”

The year I went Skiing

The year I pampered my woman

The year I watched Lady Antebellum

The year I bought an engagement ring

The year I got braces

The year I played lazer tag with these guys

The year I went Ice Skating with my little brother and fam

The year I met Jaycee

The year I got permission from a dad to marry a girl

The year I proposed using Twizzlers (her favorite) to spell out “Will You Marry Me” in a stop motion video

The year she said yes

The year I started a video company on the side

The year I took advantage of ridiculously cheap Shoney’s burgers with my roommate by buying more than we would ever need.

The year I watched my Fiance graduate

The year I flew an airplane

The year I killed a snake in my roommates bedroom

The year I said goodbye to family and friends

The year I packed up a truck and moved our things to Nashville

The year I sat with my wife during church

The year I visited new family in Northern California

The year we took an old-time picture

The year I wine tasted in Napa Valley with “Hot Rod Jack’

The year I snuck away to Tahoe and got married

The year I won 250 bucks in 3 hands of Texas hold em, and Kaeli won 6 cents at the penny slots

The year I went to the CMT Video Awards

The year I began weekly writing sessions with award winning writer Richie Brown as well as CeCe Dubois, Matt Enoch, and more.

The year I had regular date nights at a batting cage

The year we cleaned windows to pay the bills

…and woke up at ungodly hours to do the same

The year I lost 30 lbs

The year I visited the Grand ol Opry with family

The year my Mother-In-Law made me homemade Big Mac sauce

The year I found an amazing new Church in CrossPoint Nashville

The year I reconnected with old friends

The year I met new friends

The year I began to work with Producer Jeff Stevens (Luke Bryan) and Industry veteran Dale Bobo

The year I got paid to do something I love— doing demo work for Brett Beavers (Dierks Bently producer), Gordie Sampson (Jesus Take the Wheel), Tommy Lee James (She’s My Kinda Rain), Terry McBride (Brooks and Dunn), and more…

The year I had a surprise party for my wife for her 22nd birthday

…and the year my brother Justin, Dave, and Pollard drove all the way to Nashville and straight back to WV just to surprise her

The year I went to the #1 party for Brantly Gilbert and Jim McCormick’s song “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do”

The year I played a show at Hotel Indigo with my new buddies Matt and Jody

The year I watched the Reds have their greatest season in 20+ years

….and then watched them go down in flames

The year I became “Uncle Ryan-o”

The year we met our new niece Eastyn

The year I met Cooper

The year I enjoyed Thanksgiving with my new family

The year I watched our little apartment feel more like a home everyday

The year I had my first Christmas with my wife as a married couple

The year we got our first Christmas ornament

The year I got to see all my little cousins for the holidays

The year my mamaw got an iPad

The year I had an amazing week with my family for Christmas

I’ve always loved New Year’s, and the feeling of ending and beginning new chapters. 2012 has been without a doubt the best year of my life, and 2013 is looking to be even better. Looking forward to writing “[2013] The year I…” and seeing what kind of pictures will be in it.

Yesterday I posted that today there would be a big announcement,...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 22:22:59 -0400

Yesterday I posted that today there would be a big announcement, and there is not only one, but THREE!

So, here we go…

First, Just Another Music Monday is back next Monday, October 9th. Be excited and submit your stories and requests by clicking here.
That artwork you see up there…..that’s the album art for my first ever solo acoustic album. The album will feature 10+ songs of mine with special guests scattered all over the album.
I will need your help and support to make #2 happen. Starting in mid-November I will begin a fundraising campaign to help me pay for the album. I have already cut costs down THOUSANDS of dollars by producing and recording this album myself. So all we will need to do is raise $2500. As much support as I’ve seen during my time with JAMM, this should be easy!

$2500 dollars means I need 100 people to donate $25, or 250 people donating $10. WE CAN DO THIS!

And as it goes with these online campaigns you get rewards for your contributions. Just a few of the rewards you can receive by helping fund the album are:

Album Downloads
Pre-Release Album Stream
Writing Session with me and a Nashville Hit Songwriter
Original work tapes and soundbites from original writing sessions
An online concert for you, and everyone else who donates
A concert in your living room
A JAMM song written about you, and recorded live in downtown Nashville
Me reenacting the famous YouTube video “Dramatic Look Squirrel”
I will dramatically read and record your Facebook statuses on video
I will yell your name instead of Jesus’ when I stub my toe, thanks in advance for helping me cut down on the language
And much, much, much more!

You all have asked for this for a lonnnnnng time, so now it’s your turn to help me make it happen, and I know you will. Get excited and share the news!!

64,440+ Seconds

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 21:59:55 -0400

May 7th, 2012.

71 Days. 11 Mondays. 1,074 Hours. 64,440 Seconds.

That’s how long it’s been since the last Just Another Music Monday, but who’s counting?

I hatttttte that I had to put JAMM’s on hold due to my dental work, but it will be worth it in the end, so I’ve managed to survive.

With all that said, I bring you good news. (Unless you hate JAMM’s filling up your news feed. If that’s you, don’t keep reading. I don’t want to make you cry.)

Tomorrow morning I go to the Orthodontist to get this ridiculous expander out of the roof of my mouth in lieu of a smaller one. So with any luck JAMM will be back before you know it.

Soooo, with the anticipation of JAMM returning it only makes sense to start asking you for your song stories, cover requests, and anything you want to communicate to me. You can do that by clicking HERE.

As most of you know, I moved to Nashville a few months ago, and have so many amazing things to tell you about when the time is right, and it will take maybe a 3 or 4 part blog post to tell you about everything. So be looking for that. I’ve made a lot of great connections already in Nashville, and things are looking good.

Thanks everyone for following along. Be looking out for a return date for JAMM soon.

Send in your stories, e-mail me (ryan@ryanlafferty.com) , let’s keep in touch,

-Ryan

I had the honor of filming my good friends Will and Catrina this...

Sat, 05 May 2012 09:58:35 -0400

I had the honor of filming my good friends Will and Catrina this week for their photography company (WillandCatrina.com). We had a blast, and I’m really really glad they allowed me to make them this promo video. If you need wedding, engagement, or location pictures hit them up!!

Also, if you’re in need of a video yourself, e-mail me or FaceBook me.

ryan@ryanlafferty.com
Facebook.com/ryanlafferty

Enamored: A Follow-Up

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:06:25 -0500

About a year ago I wrote a blog post that I titled “Enamored.” If you need to refresh yourself you can do that by clicking here.

I thought I would have written more blogs in the past year since I wrote that post, but I’ve been a bit preoccupied.

Life is funny.

A year ago when I wrote that post, I started writing because I had caught myself being enamored with the smile of the cutest girl ever that I had just met. I met her in such a way that I thought the likelihood of me getting to see her again was a little less likely than me standing a chance with her if I did. Slim to none.

I remember gushing about her the next day to my friend…

“Dude. The way she talks, and the way she does this cute thing with her mouth is the most adorable thing I think I’ve ever seen, and she seems smart…That’s sexy.”

He told me I should pursue it like he thought I had a chance. I appreciated his lie, it gave me confidence to actually do it.

Fast forward a year and she’s my best friend, and a girl I never want to imagine life without.

Maybe I’ll write more in the future. I really enjoy getting my thoughts organized and typed out in front of me, but I have a feeling I’ll still be preoccupied.

Thanks for reading.

Set List 3/26/11: Pound: The Hill, Washington D.C.

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 11:11:28 -0400

Give a Little More- Maroon 5
Forget You- Cee Lo
Breakeven- The Script
I Don’t Wanna Wait- Original
California Gurls- Katy Perry
Hey Soul Sister- Train
Just The Way You Are- Bruno Mars
What’s My Name/Airplanes/We gon find you- Mashup
Won’t Back Down- Petty
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room- Mayer
Come on Get Higher- Nathanson
Best For You- Original
Don’t Stop Believing- Journey
To Make You Feel My Love- Adele
Dynamite- Taio Cruz
Never Hurt Like You Did- Original

Enamored

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 03:49:00 -0500

en·am·ored1: to inflame with love —usually used in the passive with of 2: to cause to feel a strong or excessive interest or fascination —usually used in the passive with of or with <baseball fans enamored of statistics>

I get enamored.

Sometimes it’s a smile or some small peculiar way a girl does something that she or no one else in the room probably even notices…

Sometimes it’s watching people do something they love and are extremely talented at doing.

Sometimes it’s with a song that I’ll swear I could have written if ______ _______ hadn’t beat me to it. (I’m looking at you Script) haha

Sometimes it’s with the fact that God gives me grace when I deserve much much worse.

I say all of that to say this. Being enamored is good and healthy. I pray it always leads me to pursuing a girl like a real fella should…

…leads me to working on my craft not to try to out do anyone, but to be better at what I love and want to do, and be able to serve people better in doing that…

…and leads me to being more humbled by God’s grace than prideful and entitled to act as I please.

I’ve noticed myself getting carried away lately being enamored by things, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

That’s it. Thanks for readin. Leave your thoughts on whatever social network you found this ; )

Great timing on this video to follow up with my last post....

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:55:00 -0500

Great timing on this video to follow up with my last post. “Don’t Quit”

If you don’t have the time to check out the entire hour, you can find some clips from it at youtube.com/mhcseattle

Confession: I normally quit...

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:49:09 -0500

When it comes to the ~~trivial~~ mundane things in life:

diets,
reading goals,
exercising,
cleaning,
relationships with people that can’t seem to move beyond surface-y chit chat,
songs without a hook,
television shows without an at least ~~low lying love story~~, high impact action scene,

…I normally quit. (Another confession: I don’t know where this is going, but stay with me)

I have been struggling lately with the thought of quitting and/or taking a break from twitter/facebook. I would never actually delete these, I am a musician in an age where social networking is beyond crucial for an unknown indie fella, but somethings gotta give.

I’m a people pleaser by nature who wants for instant gratification like Michael Scott wants for Holly Flax.

This is bad and I hate it. Why?

I hate the fact that I’m constantly thinking about what would make a really clever, witty, charming status that will get a ton of likes.
I hate that I can’t get past the first chorus of writing a song without turning on my computer/facebook/twitter/email to see if a friend is online that I can send it to for a ~~pat on the back~~ errr, a critique,

…and don’t take this the wrong way, promise me you wont…..

I hate that I care so much what you think.

Who knows what great songs/hooks/melodies I have missed out on writing because I couldn’t make the push to finish strong because I needed instant gratification.

Who knows what good conversations I have missed out on because I was busy checking my phone to see if anyone had mentioned me on twitter, or see if my latest witty status update had a few more likes.

“…I was too worried that what I thought was brilliant, you would take for crap”

Moral of the story. I’m a quitter. The worse kind. The kind who quits on diets because it wasn’t worth the headache. The kind who quits reading books because I couldn’t stop chatting on FB. The kind who quits on writing a song because I was too worried that what I thought was brilliant, you would take for crap.

I don’t want to be a quitter anymore. I need some time to unplug from instant gratification, power down the phone, and just enjoy life without needing to please you.

I love you all, and I’m not going anywhere, but I needed to articulate all that. Hopefully I’ll do better unplugging from now on.

Host a Ryan Lafferty show in your Living Room!

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:19:07 -0500

Ryan Lafferty is now looking for friends and fans to host concerts, in their living room.

The best way to spread great music is by word of mouth, and I would love for you to take ownership in my career and help me spread the word by hosting a show in your living room for you and your friends.

How it works?

1. You provide a living room and friends to fill it up.

2. We will bring an acoustic concert and a great night of hanging out.

As most of you reading this will know, I am just starting my career in music. Working a day job to pay for my first record and all the costs that come along with it. I feel there’s no better way to start off my career than by touring at the homes of my friends meeting every one and making new friends along the way.

My hope is that you all get excited about this. It is a bit on the unorthodox side, but hey, its 2011. There’s really no rules to music anymore, so let’s do this.

Answer these questions and email me @ ryan@ryanlafferty.com if you are interested in hosting a show.

Name:
City, State:
# of friends you think will attend:
Anything else I need to know?

Purchase "Best For You" on Amazon & Napster

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:47:00 -0500

First single from “Friends ain’t Lovers” now available on Amazon and Napster.

Buy. Leave a Review. Share on your favorite social network.

Debut single "Best For You" set to release on iTunes on Christmas Day!

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:19:00 -0500

Save $1.29 on your iTunes gift card this year for Ryan Lafferty’s first single from his upcoming project “Friends Ain’t Lovers”. Listen to the full track right now on RyanLafferty.com