Bryan J. Ragsdale

Bryan Ragsdale performs at schools, fairs and festivals. He is a Country singer who harks back to the old days before the genre became infused with rock and pop influences.

A couple ofyears ago Bryan had a critical success with his debut album, Wyoming Melodies. The title track from that album ended up being the theme song for the cable network show All Girl Getaways.

Bryan has a brand new album out that is sure to please classic country fans. The title of the album is Where Cowpokes Grow. Full of classic country styled songs, it was a pure pleasure to listen to.

Reading up a little on Bryan , I found that he is the real deal. He sings from the heart and has tried to invoke a sort of Rocky Mountain perspective into his music. This comes from his belief that his music should be something that he wouldn’t be embarrassed to have his children or his grandmother listen to. So you won’t find themes of drinking, being a redneck, having a lot of sex or acting stupid in Bryan’s music. He felt that far too much of the music coming out of Nashville didn’t reflect that wholesome life that he was trying to emulate. So Bryan set out to write and sing songs that went back to the basics of long gone Country Music.

Of the thirteen songs on the album, Bryan wrote ten of them. He co-wrote two other songs on the album.

Getting back to his perspective, Bryan lists a couple of his inspirations are Joan Baez and John Denver, as those were two artists his mother listened to a lot.

On the album Bryan plays the acoustic guitar besides singing. Steve Lemmon plays electric an acoustic guitar, along with drums, percussion, keys and backing vocals. Ryan Tilby plays electric and acoustic bass as wells as guitars, banjo, dobro and mandolin. Ryan Shupe is on violin and Eric Maness does vocals.

The title track, Where Cowpokes Grow, is first up. It is a back to the basics song about fishing, simple living and being together with someone who’s special. The song has some really good banjo, fiddle and guitar.

Little Jo is a soft and gentle song that Bryan wrote about his daughter Joanne.

Modern Day Mountain Man is a terrific song with great vocals by Bryan, wonderful background music and really, really good backing vocals.

Mountain Tall is kind of a Country flavored Jackson Browne sounding song.

High Road reminded me of those old country songs like the one’s Marty Robbins sang.

He’s A Cowboy is a splendid ballad with wonderful guitar, fiddle and piano backing heartfelt vocals.

Montana Made is a just fun piece with great guitar, banjo and smiling vocals. The song is about Bryan’s fiancé Coral.

Her Hand In Mine is a love ballad. It is another song that Bryan wrote about Coral.

A Cowboy Lives is yet another classic country styled song.

Mom, Dad and Me is a favorable remembrance of some of Bryan’s experiences with his parents.

Heart of a Cowboy is a fun toe tapper.

Walking Through The Winds is a soft and gentle love ballad.

The album ends with a country flavored rendition of the classic song, Somewhere Over The Rainbow. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard it done as a country song but Bryan seems to bring something special to it.

You might remember that I mentioned John Denver as one of Bryan’s influences. At times in the album, Bryan sounds a bit like Denver.

With this album, and his wholesome “ Rocky Mountain perspective”. Bryan Ragsdale just might obtain the fame and fortune that John Denver received.

Look for Where Cowpokes Grow at selected music retailers and online at places like amazon.com

To find out more on Bryan and the album, visit www.bryanragsdale.com.


- Bruce Von Stiers BVS Reviews

Are you a fan of Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelson? If so Bryan is for you! Originally from Wyoming, Bryan comes to convey emotion pure and natural. He is a real singing Cowboy. Listening to "High Road", you expect Chris Ledoux, who had also been interpreted as such. It's true, and pure. It's excellent. All instruments are acoustic. I was surprised listening to the cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that Bryan comes to transcend. This guy is he the new Chris Ledoux? In any case, his talent is enormous, and for fans of "real country", it's time to rush about buying this album. This guy should come to France, it is a matter of general culture. SUPERB! - Florent Dufour

This Album and this singer are tremendous! Bryans beautiful vocals are stiring as are the songs he writes. Bryan wears his heart on his sleeve and sings straight from that heart. This man is going to be a giant in the music business some day! - Christopher Turner, Senior Editor CNN

Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:54 PM MDT

Songwriter Bryan Ragsdale sits hunched over his guitar on a tall stool, deep in the throes of the creative process.

He’s halfway done with a new song, “Cool Mountain Blue,” but appears stuck on the tune’s tricky middle section. Ragsdale wants to describe the joys of camping out in the wilderness, but words are failing him.

“Hunting deer, the air is clear, early in the evening,” Ragsdale sings, strumming along. “Lots of trees, my dad and me, on a mountainside. My feet are cold, down in the snow, I wish I was ridin’...”

He pauses, and then glances up to his audience. Immediately, 11 voices of fifth- and sixth-graders pipe up to suggest the missing lyric.

“On my four-wheeler!”

“On a black, steady quarter horse!”

Ragsdale grins, and then makes some marks in an oversized notebook. Together, he and these youngsters at 4-J Elementary are making progress on a collaborative verse.

In advance of their Friday performance at Cam-plex, Ragsdale and fellow musician Colin Ross are touring throughout the schools of Campbell County, getting kids involved in the joys of creating music. All told, they’ll have worked with almost 1,700 students by the time the curtain goes up Friday.

Ragsdale has particularly focused his efforts on teaching kids in the area’s rural schools: 4-J, Little Powder, Recluse, Rawhide, Cottonwood and Rozet. He sees a lot of himself in the kids who live outside of town.

Growing up in Green River, Ragsdale says he had a pretty limited set of options in front of him: graduate from high school, get a job in the energy industry, make a good salary, and work a steady shift until you can’t anymore.

But his father had a rule: Ragsdale would have to leave Wyoming for four years to learn about the rest of the world. And after time spent in college, in the Navy and in Nashville, Ragsdale figured out what he wanted to do with himself. He wanted to be a musician, and he wanted to come back to live in his home state.

By playing for these kids, Ragsdale says he hopes he can inspire them to follow their imaginations, even if that leads them to a less than conventional career choice.

During his session with the 4-J students, Ragsdale encourages the kids to listen to all different types of songs. At one point, he asks the students if any of them listen to classical music. A few hands go up.

“Everyone raise your hands,” Ragsdale says. “Because you do, you just don’t know it.”

To illustrate his point, he plays a section of Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” on the acoustic guitar. Then, he begins singing lyrics to a song by the late Wyoming country star Chris LeDoux. The kids practically jump out of their seats: the two songs are exactly the same.

“That’s the great thing about music,” Ragsdale tells the group. “Music carries down tradition, culture, experiences, personal experiences. It’ll teach you things that you can’t learn in a book.”

Once they begin working on the middle section to “Cool Mountain Blue” together, the students get deeply involved in the process. After explaining the song’s camping theme, Ragsdale has each student describe his or her favorite part about roughing it in the wilderness. All sorts of great ideas start bubbling to the surface: fishing barefoot in a stream, listening to the wind blowing through the trees, telling stories around the campfire.

Eventually the class settles on a hunting theme, and arguments soon start up about whether to set the song in the Big Horns or the Black Hills, or whether the hunt should take place in the morning or evening.

Ragsdale humors all of the suggestions and tries to keep the excitable youngsters on-task. He’s not merely humoring them with this exercise, though. Every class that Ragsdale visits will write words to the middle section of “Cool Mountain Blue.” Ragsdale will perform the best verse live at Cam-plex on Friday, and then record the song with the student-written verse for his next album.

After almost an hour’s worth of brainstorming, 4-J’s fifth- and sixth-graders hit upon their final masterpiece:

“Hunting deer, the air is clear, early in the evening. Lots of trees, my dad and me, on a mountainside. Even though my feet are cold, sittin’ down in the snow, I’m feelin’ warm down in my soul, and on the hunt we go!”

- Gillette News-Record Writer JEREMY GOLDMEIER

Bryan's voice may be the best pure voice I have ever heard and certainly the best that has come through Nashville TN in a long time.

Hall of Fame Songwriter
Jerry Foster - Foster Music Group

Bryan is as good as they come, and affordable.... well for now anyway!!!! He is good enough to charge whatever he wants and better than those that charge twice as much!!!

George and Kathy Stephens
Owners Currant Creek Ranch - Currant Creek Ranch

This was an exceptional show... much of that is due to the great performer... Bryan Ragsdale. Bryan is a true Wyoming Songwriter/Singer. His songs go straight into your heart and set up house there.

Christopher Turner
President Alamo Ranch Productions LLC - Alamo Ranch Productions LLC