Okotoks country musician Tanya Ryan made the most of her second chance.
Ryan was eliminated in the semi-final round of the Country 105 Lammle’s Rising Star competition, but fortunately for her she was later selected to appear in the finals as a wild card April 28 at Ranchman’s in Calgary.
There she performed three songs and took home the top prize of $5,000 cash, eight hours of studio recording time and a Brooklyn guitar.
After the judges announced the award for best original song and the second prize honours, Ryan was convinced she hadn’t won anything.
“I leaned over to my guitar player and said, ‘I’m out. I lost. There is no way I got first,’” she recalled. “So then I mentally started pep talking myself, I thought, ‘You’ve done well. You have had fun. You made it this far. You’ve never made it to finals before so good for you.’ I was giving myself this internal pat on the back. Then they announced I’d won it and I almost fell off my chair.”
Ryan, 23, plans to use the prize money and studio time for recording her first album. She’s been preparing for this big step in her career for a while now. The singer and bass player has already written a great deal of material but said a huge task will be selecting just the right songs to record.
“I’ve got a lot already,” she explained. “I’m really picky and careful about what I choose to put out because you write a song and then six months later you write a better one. You’ve got to be kind of selective because studio costs are relatively high.”
Right now, Ryan said she is leaning towards recording in Nashville but hasn’t fully decided yet. She’s also exploring Calgary area producers but said the session musicians available in Tennessee’s music city are hard to match.
The young musician confessed to having one potential missing ingredient in a proposed track list for her debut record.
“My problem is I really don’t write ballads,” she said. “I don’t really write slow songs. I probably should have one on the album but we’ll see. The best songs will win regardless of their tempo.”
The singer-songwriter often brings a bluesy approach to the country music songs she creates. That’s highly evident in her song “Somebody Like Me” a tune she said has become her signature track.
“If anybody knows me or my songs it’s the one they are going to know,” said Ryan. “Lots of people call it ‘the don’t date me song’. The concept is basically there’s a couple of reasons why you shouldn’t date somebody like me and in the song it’s like everything is wrong with me. It’s just a fun goofy song to sing.”
Growing up, Ryan said there was a bit of role reversal in her home. Often when a child proclaims a desire to be part of the entertainment business a parent cautions them it might not be a reasonable goal. Ryan said she was the one who was more reluctant to take a shot at making music her career.
“It’s been a kind of an interesting battle,” she explained. “I’ve sang and played something for pretty much my whole life, but in the past I hadn’t let myself think about a music career. I was a very logical kid. So when my dad would say something like, ‘You know Tanya if you wanted to pursue a career in music you could do that.’ I’d say, ‘Oh dad that’s not very realistic.’”
In her adulthood Ryan had a change of heart and realized she may well have the goods to land music stardom. The talent definitely seems to be there as well as an understanding of the music industry, which seems to defy her relatively young age.
The entertainer credits much of her knowledge to the people she’s surrounded herself with which include Dean and Michelle Burles of Okotoks. Dean plays rhythm guitar in Ryan’s band and Michelle has some valuable music business experience as well. Ryan has also leaned heavily on the savvy and knowledge of her drummer Perry Diebert and lead guitarist Wade Tutt.
A selection on Ryan’s live song performances can be seen on YouTube including a rendition of the aforementioned “Somebody Like Me.”
Ryan will be performing at the Mossleigh Hotel on May 13 at 9 p.m. and also at the Fundraising Rodeo dance May 28 at the Millarville Race Track. The rodeo is a fundraiser for Cole Irvine who was paralyzed in an accident last August.
