Ryan Briggs
Ashland, OR | Established. Jan 01, 1997 | INDIE
Music
Press
Press included the name "Ryan T Briggs" on the cover and a full page article with pictures on Page 1.
Link to article: http://www.thestarsoftexas.com/artist2.pdf
Link to magazine: http://www.thestarsoftexas.com/
- Stars of Texas Magazine (May 2007)
Relative newcomer to the Austin music scene, Ryan T. Briggs recently released Let it Roll, a country music album that surely has something to please every discerning palate in the genre – from those who love the absurd to Americana country listeners to classic country followers.
Released in May, Let it Roll is a solid set of eleven tracks. The first track, “Clay Henry” – a song about the beer-drinking goat and “mayor” of Lajitas, Texas (really) – starts the album out on a little funny. “Clay Henry looked us up and down / and said ‘justice must be done’ / and pulled out all our longnecks / and drained them one by one.”
He’s got a couple of other songs with some humor like “Redneck Hippie” and “The Bitch Next Door.” Others are good-time country tunes like “Las Vegas, West Texas” and “Swimmin’ to the Gulf of Mexico.”
The coming of age track, “Fly” is my favorite track on the album. It showcases Briggs’ vocals and songwriting as well. “Up here the view is fine and you like to roam / but you’ve got people to love at home / you’re bigger than all the folks below / but you haven’t met them, so how would you know?”
Briggs wrote or co-wrote all of the tracks on Let it Roll except for a great cover of Fred Eaglesmith’s “Freight Train.”
Briggs is playing in and around Austin a lot these days. I caught him live and he performs a great mix of classic country and originals. Check www.ryantbriggs.com for live dates. (A) Sean Claes
- INsite Magazine, Aug 2006
<The following article was inside the "Vista" section of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. Ryan's picture was included on the cover of that section.>
Ryan T. Briggs, 29, of San Marcos, was named 2007 Rising Star of the Year at the fifth annual Texas Music Awards.
Briggs, the leader of a five-piece band called The Redneck Hippies, attended Texas Tech from 1996 to 2001, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting.
His first Lubbock band, The Texas Armadillos, played country music primarily at the Blue Light in the Depot District. His next band, called Ryan T. Briggs & Co., played at numerous Lubbock locations.
He also studied at South Plains College in Levelland before making the move in 2005 from Lubbock to Austin, where he released his first compact disc, "Let It Roll," in 2006.
- Lubbock Avalanche Journal (April 24, 2007)
Lubbock-based songwriter (and 2005 South Plains College Music Program graduate) Ryan T. Briggs released his debut album, LeT iT RoLL, in April. Briggs, a Katy native who began performing back in 1999 (fronting the Texas Armadillos, house band at Lubbock's the Blue Light), only recently returning to the musician's life after a four-year stint chasing a more stable living working for...wait for it!...Houston's Arthur Andersen accounting firm. - Texas Music Magazine, Summer 2006
<picture of single artwork>
Katy-born Briggs started playing Texas country music in college, then ran off for four years to work for an accounting firm. He's finally come back to his senses.
<note pertains to Ryan's single, "Las Vegas, West Texas", included in TX Music's Summer 2005 Compilation CD, included with purchase of the magazine> - Texas Music Magazine, Summer 2005
Lubbock-based songwriter (and 2005 South Plains College Music Program graduate) Ryan T. Briggs released his debut album, LeT iT RoLL, in April. Briggs, a Katy native who began performing back in 1999 (fronting the Texas Armadillos, house band at Lubbock's the Blue Light), only recently returning to the musician's life after a four-year stint chasing a more stable living working for...wait for it!...Houston's Arthur Andersen accounting firm. - Texas Music Magazine, Summer 2006
Katy, Texas caught his first glimpse of life, but soon Ryan T Briggs was on the move. Eventually, Briggs learned the charms of West Texas. Levelland (aptly named) found Briggs chasing the music program at South Plains College, a good move. This after a stint as an accountant with the now ‘destroyed’ Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Briggs is not the only MTM member to fall prey to the Enron collapse. (see NRun)
Now Briggs has taken his love for country music and his vast influences and he’s on the move again. This time, with Austin as his hub, Brigs is moving on the Texas music scene. The debut release is jam packed with masterful pickers and is produced by Mark Addison (who has also produced fellow MTM members Honeybrowne).
You can catch Briggs at shows with greats like fellow MTMer Big John Mills, but if you can’t make a show in Central Texas, get the disc. It’s one of those wonderful occasions where the disc isn’t just a holdover between shows, but rather a gold performance of its own.
With one of the best debut offerings of 2006, Briggs has set the bar, and for those aspiring to reach it, remember that it, too, is on the move. Get “LET IT ROLL” today.
Review by Lucky Boyd
- MyTexasMusic.com
Katy, Texas caught his first glimpse of life, but soon Ryan T Briggs was on the move. Eventually, Briggs learned the charms of West Texas. Levelland (aptly named) found Briggs chasing the music program at South Plains College, a good move. This after a stint as an accountant with the now ‘destroyed’ Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Briggs is not the only MTM member to fall prey to the Enron collapse. (see NRun)
Now Briggs has taken his love for country music and his vast influences and he’s on the move again. This time, with Austin as his hub, Brigs is moving on the Texas music scene. The debut release is jam packed with masterful pickers and is produced by Mark Addison (who has also produced fellow MTM members Honeybrowne).
You can catch Briggs at shows with greats like fellow MTMer Big John Mills, but if you can’t make a show in Central Texas, get the disc. It’s one of those wonderful occasions where the disc isn’t just a holdover between shows, but rather a gold performance of its own.
With one of the best debut offerings of 2006, Briggs has set the bar, and for those aspiring to reach it, remember that it, too, is on the move. Get “LET IT ROLL” today.
Review by Lucky Boyd
- MyTexasMusic.com
Discography
1. Full Length Studio CD: LeT iT RoLL - Austin - May 2006
2. "Las Vegas, West Texas" NUMBER 1 Requested Song in December 2006 on www.RadioFreeTexas.org
3. TexMix 2005 Summer CD (by TX Music Magazine) - "Las Vegas, West Texas"
4. Adeo Tours - Audio tourguide of Austin published through the Chamber of Commerce - "Redneck
Hippie"
5. "Redneck Hippie" 92.5 the Outlaw in San Antonio TX and various Texas radio Stations.
Photos
Bio
Quote: Lauren Leonardi, writer for About.com & The New York Times:
"Ryan T Briggs and the Redneck Hippies provided the best live entertainment we’ve ever had...They should be lauded not only for their remarkable talent and unique sound, but for their ability to make a bunch of New Yorkers jump up from their seats!”
Bio: 2007 Texas Music Awards’ “Rising Star of the Year”, Ryan Briggs has been charming audiences across Texas and beyond for several years. His clean pickin' style, alluring vocals, and fun and masterful lyrical design have kept his loyal fan base locked in, even during a 4-year absence in which he finished school and worked a corporate job in Houston. After quitting the corporate gig, spending 2 years on a music degree, and building an established band in Lubbock, Briggs moved to Austin and released his debut CD, LeT iT RoLL in the Summer of 2006. He quickly gained momentum with increased publicity, greater tour coverage, and rising CD sales. "Ryan T Briggs & the Redneck Hippies" continued a successful tour to promote the album through 2008.
The album, produced by Mark Addison (Honeybrowne, Guy Forsyth, Ian Moore), combines the best of what Briggs has to offer. Briggs’ country and bluegrass influences, combined with Addison's eclectic, rock, and blues backgrounds, resulted in a CD that truly has a unique and genuine sound. With nine original songs, it has been described as a country album, with a twist of grass and a shot of blues.
The song subjects are varied: moving Las Vegas, Nevada to Lubbock via double wide trailer, the contradictions of being a “Redneck Hippie”, difficult neighbors, a drinking billy-goat politician, trains, soldiers, and growing up. With instrumentation from some of Austin’s finest, including Eddie Rivers (Asleep at the Wheel), Redd Volkaert (Merle Haggard), and Warren Hood, and flattop pickin’ by Briggs, LeT iT RoLL has been received very favorably both domestically and on the international front.
Something about West Texas inspires folks to pick up a guitar. Although always a singer and songwriter, when Briggs left his hometown of Katy for Lubbock in 1996, he had yet to discover he was a guitar enthusiast. It was in the dorms his freshman year at Texas Tech that he would go to the laundry room in the middle of the night to hack out his first cover song, written by Robert Earl Keen. By 1999, he was fronting his first band, The Texas Armadillos, at The Blue Light, a local honky-tonk.
The temporary halt to Briggs’ musicianship and growing popularity came upon college graduation in 2001. He took a job with Arthur Andersen Houston, where he was greeted by the biggest international accounting scandal in history with the fall of Enron Corporation. Watching from the front row as “corporate excess” took its toll on thousands, he became disenchanted with the allure of the corporate world. Music once again became the center of his attention, and he soon decided to leave accounting for a career in the music business.
Briggs quit his day job in 2003 and trucked back to the birthplace of his infatuation with music – West Texas. With his sights on studying music theory and surrounding himself with musicians again, he enrolled in the music program at South Plains College, the alma matter of his former Lubbock band and many other notable artists, including Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Lee Ann Womack, and Doug Moreland. “For a long time I wrote songs and ‘strummed’ my guitar, but I wanted to become a real picker," says Briggs. "…and I had no idea what I was going to discover that would help me the most: Bluegrass! Blessings to my friend, roommate, and classmate, Mark Hill (of Lubbock’s Hotfoot Toby) and SPC Instructors Alan Munde and Joe Carr for introducing me to the world of bluegrass! Now I have a better idea of what a flattop guitar is for.”
Briggs spent 2 years living in Levelland, pickin' at school and on the porch, and dragging his band around to almost every country music venue in Lubbock. West Texas proved to be a fantastic training ground, just like it has for countless musicians for decades. After studying country and bluegrass, music theory, lead guitar, and flatpicking, he headed to Austin, armed with a newfound respect for musical composition.
Within a year, Briggs completed his first album and once again began gigging Texas with his new band. In March 2007 he was awarded “Rising Star of the Year” at the Texas Music Awards. With album sales on the rise, a growing fan base, exposure at some of Texas’ best venues, and increasing publicity, Ryan T Briggs & the Redneck Hippies have made a mark on indie music. Look for them to hit your town soon!
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