Byran Ragsdale Where Cowpokes Grow RCI Music (2009) I hope Byran Ragsdale is a better muso than a communicator. He sure fails in the second department. According to his website, he's a Conservationist Cowboy And U.S. Veteran, Ragsdale loves fishing, camping and backpacking, He performs 200 Shows a year and recently released his first single “Modern Day Mountain Man” To Americana, Country And College Radio stations. Celebrating the lifestyle, values and love of wide open spaces Where Cowpokes Grow—the name of his latest independent CD–the Wyoming born and raised singer/songwriter redefines “cowboy cool” for the modern world with an upbeat mix of country, bluegrass, folk and a little old fashioned cowboy swagger for good measure. Ragsdale is back-armed with pen in hand and writing with a vengeance. Writing and recording Where Cowpokes Grow while launching what has become an incredibly busy live performance schedule, Ragsdale set out to give people a Rocky Mountain/Wyoming perspective on life and the opportunity to see what cowboys truly are. “What does it mean to be a cowboy?” he asks rhetorically. “Not claiming to be John Wayne, a man I grew up adoring, I am still a cowboy. Where Cowpokes Grow examines a range of emotions and issues, while exploring an intemal dialogue of hope, regret, fear, and ultimately triumph. Pursuing his country music dreams, he moved Coral and his kids to Nashville in 2005 and found quick success and accolades in the world class songwriting community he found there. While he was there, he recorded Wyoming Melodies, a folky set he jokingly calls “the result of my mom feeding me Joan Baez and John Denver for breakfast.” The songs on the well-received project tried to reconcile his truest heart with what he learned that it took to make it in the mainstream country music business. “The powers that be all told me same thing,” Ragsdale says. “They thought my songs were fantastic, but said I needed to write more the way they write. Several big time songwriters were even eager to help me get to the next level. One of the reasons Where Cowpokes Grow is so focused thematically on the West is that I noticed that none of the music coming out of Tennessee these days is from a Rocky Mountain perspective. So much of the songs are about rednecks, being drunk, having sex, acting stupid. They wanted me to sing songs that promote bad behavior and I just couldn’t do that. I have young kids and a grandmother, and my feeling is, if I would be ashamed to have them listen to it, then I don’t want to do it. So my choice was to either fake it and play the game to get more opportunities or take the hard road, hightail it back to Wyoming and start making music on my own terms. I know I made the right choice.” Information: Website: http://www.bryanragsdale.com/

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