Ryan Waters Band | “Shadow of the Doubt”, Country Music Career & Rising in the Industry | Nick Egan Times

Ryan Waters Band joins Nick Egan Times for a conversation about country music, songwriting, life on the road, and the journey behind one of independent country music’s fastest-growing acts.

With more than 35 million streams across digital platforms and a rapidly expanding global fanbase, Ryan Waters Band has built a reputation for delivering authentic country music that connects with audiences around the world. Their blend of modern country influences, heartfelt storytelling, and energetic performances has helped establish them as a rising force in the genre.

In this episode, Ryan discusses the band’s musical journey, the evolution of their sound, and the inspiration behind their latest single, “Shadow of the Doubt.” The conversation explores songwriting, recording, the realities of today’s music industry, building a loyal audience, and what it takes to sustain long-term success as an independent artist.

This is an insightful discussion for fans of country music, emerging artists, and anyone interested in the creative process behind writing and performing music in today’s rapidly changing entertainment landscape.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:18

Hi everyone, thanks to this episode of Mickey Eagan Times. On this episode, we have an amazing guest. We have the incredibly talented Ryan Waters band. Ryan Waters Band is making massive waves in country music, and Ryan Waters band's music has been streamed over 35 million times to date and is consistently growing a massive loyal listening base. Ryan Waters Band has just released an incredible new single single, sorry, Shadow of the Doubt. And welcome to the Ryan Waters band and thanks for coming on the podcast. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Thank you, Nicholas, for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

You're really, really welcome. Alright, let's jump straight into it. Take us back and tell me about life and how it was growing up in Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Well, uh I grew up in a small town in rural Alabama called Luverne. Um town of, you know, maybe 2,000 folks, not many people there in the town. At a you know, very small high school. Um just your typical southern town in small Alabama. Um but yeah, I I grew up in a place where doing what I do now is just something that's kind of unheard of. Um just even even now, the the people that still live there in Laverne don't understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. It just doesn't make any sense. You know, when you grow up in a small town in South Alabama, you you when you graduate high school, you go straight to work. And if you don't go straight to work, you go to college, and then after that, you go straight to work. So it's uh it's been one of those things where it it's it's kind of like, and you hear a lot of stories like this, but um it's just one of those stories where you know the kid gets out of the town and um has a dream and just you know won't stop until he achieves it. So that's where we're at.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

That's amazing. Um, and with your I guess the dream, how do you how did you was music always going to be though something that you pursued? Like what was it that actually drew you to this, I guess, this avenue of life compared to obviously um people where you're from?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

I'll say something that kind of uh drove me to it was I went to college probably 45 minutes from where I grew up, and um I picked up the guitar actually the last couple years there of high school, and you know, I I really loved it then, but uh I was also a big-time baseball player back in high school, and I had you know a few offers from some colleges in the area, and you know, that was my primary focus at the time. Um, but when I got to college, I started picking it up a little bit more. And I wrote my first song in college, and I was like, God, I really, I really love to do this. Like this is this is something that you know I could see myself doing. And, you know, at the time I was going to be a school teacher. And uh and I just remember thinking, do I do I want to teach kids or do I want to write, you know, do I want to write music? And I started playing around at little small town, you know, college bars playing there um in Troy, Alabama, which is where I went to, you know, Troy University. And I just uh I I just grew to love it. I I loved, you know, the live music scene, you know, hearing people sing the songs back, even the ones that weren't mine at the time. And you know, to see where we've we've come, you know, I can remember playing shows where there was three, you know, three people out in the crowd, and none of them were looking at me. They were all looking around the room, whether it was like a a restaurant or you know, a venue that just wasn't a great venue, you know. But I think everybody probably has them stories that are that are now, you know, selling out arenas and doing the you know the huge shows, they all had to start somewhere. And I think for me, um I fell in love with it, you know, right the writing aspect of it, but more importantly, just seeing, you know, starting to see those crowds come together and and just you know, when when when I'm in a room with a lot of energy, it it pumps me full of energy. So I really fell in love with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Amazing. All right. Um, tell me about your incredible and it's empowering new single, um, Shadow of the Doubt. Uh I was actually watching the video too. It's pretty, it's pretty, pretty, how do I scroll it? Pretty, pretty well done, but it's also um well crafted. Just it's got a really, really good vibe to it. Um, talk to me about that song and yeah, even the inspiration behind the video clip.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, it was one of those songs for us that uh I actually had a a different kind of song idea going in. But the whole um meaning of the song was kind of like I wanted to take it a direction because I feel like in my life in particular, probably a lot of people's lives, um, a lot of people often give up on what they truly want to do and and settle for something. Um and you know, I've even done that in the past. I actually, before I started my music career, I I did end up teaching school. And, you know, I come to a point where I was like, I want to do what I love and uh and not listen, listen to all the negative influences telling me why I shouldn't, you know, telling me uh you're never gonna make any money doing that. You'll be washed up in two or three years. And actually, what's funny is the the very first offer I got when I moved to Nashville, I'll never forget it either, because it was something that, you know, and it really weighs heavy in this song. But the the guy was on the phone with me and he said, if you don't sign with us right now, in six months' time, you're not gonna be around. You'll be back in Alabama. And I said, Okay, and I and I didn't sign with him. And I remember going, I remember talking to family and friends about, you know, it was just gut-wrenching because I was like, what if he, you know, I started thinking, what if he's right? And but then, you know, I put out another song and it went huge, and it was like, I can do this. You know, I started, you know, getting a little bit more confidence about it. And I just think a lot of people like, it doesn't even have to be music, it could be any job. A lot of people probably stop pursuing things just because somebody, you know, said something negative about it or or just turn them off to it. And that's what Shadow of the Doubt is all about, you know. You know, it comes from the old statement, you know, with without a shadow of a doubt. And uh I just said, how cool would it be if uh we wrote a song called Shadow of the Doubt, because you've got all these people doubting you, and you'll just be the shadow of that doubt. You'll you'll you'll hear it, but it'll just kind of go right through you. And that was that was how we come up with a song. And the visualizer for it, the actual video, I think, you know, it's almost it's almost kind of like, you know, it's in this space of really nothing. You know, you're out. It to me, the the visualizer for it almost reminds you of a shadow without actually seeing. I mean, you see a shadow in the video, but like the whole the whole feeling of it gives you the feeling of like you're breaking through. And you're not, you know, you're not giving in to the negative influences, and you're just really being you. And that's that's what the song's all about. And I'm I'm glad that we were able to portray that, you know, in the music video.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

That's great. And you know, it's very inspiring. You're inspiring, even hearing that story, you know. You you hold your line, your wits, and yeah, it's it's it's really remarkable um what you've done and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yes, sir. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

You're welcome. All right. Um, you've been streamed 35 over 35 million times. Um, how does that make you feel? And I guess that goes, I guess, to the point of obviously what you just stated. How yeah, how how how does that actually make you feel?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

For me, it makes me feel like, you know, I can remember a time where you know we were streaming where I was celebrating a thousand streams. And it just I think at each stage of of this career that that I'm I'm building, um I like celebrating every moment, even from the smallest to the biggest, you know. And I I think the fact that, you know, people have cared enough about something that I've you know either been a part on as a writer or you know, just the songs that I sing is is telling to the fact that they actually mean something to somebody. You know, when I first started, it was it was friends and family that was listening to me. It was like, hey, will you please go play my song? And now it's like I'm putting stuff out and I'm getting these messages that are like, you know, that they'll they'll say stuff to me like it. I'm not like this, but they'll they'll they'll say, like, I know you probably won't read this or respond, but I just wanted to let you know that your song, like So and So, got me through a tough time. Like one of them that I wrote uh a couple years back, um, you know, I got a message from a guy that said he was like, I just want you to know that you know, I was pretty close to committing suicide, and your song helped me through it. And I was in a situation where I didn't know how to respond. I just kind of I sat there and I'm a religious guy. I prayed about it for a minute and I just I I shot over to him what I thought, you know, was best. And it it just goes to show you like you never know what somebody's going through, and that you know, music really is such a pivotal part of everyone's day-to-day life. And the fact that we can write something and you know have 35 million streams, you know, there's there's plenty of songs in there that that talk about lost love or heck, even being mad in an X, or there's always something that somebody's going through, and it the fact that people are relating to the music is is what it's all about for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Awesome. Um, and I even love your cover of Sonata Twenty Still the One. Like I I think it's uh your voice, your tone, it's really, really incredible. Um, you know, you've got a gift that God's given you, and yeah, it's amazing. Um all right. Tell me, um how would you personally describe your music? If someone was to ask you what your music was like, how would you personally describe it to someone?

SPEAKER_00 11:03

And you know, that's a that is a for for for me at least, I feel like that's a a really I can give you a broad answer on that, because when you listen to Ryan Waters band's music, when you listen to our music, it's like you go on so you know such a roller coaster ride. You know, one minute you're like, wow, this could be heavy metal, this could be rock. The next you're you're down by the creek, you know, drinking a beer and you're you're super country fied. I mean, it the thing that I love about our music is yes, I'm a I see myself as a country music singer, but I don't tie myself into that genre, you know, and tie myself down into it. I like the fact that I have fans that are fans of rock and roll. I like the fact that I have fans of pop music. I like the fact that I have fans of country music. I think, and they they all after a while, you start to see them kind of coming together, and you see it now more than anything in today's music. The coming together of music is is incredible. And you know, the genres coming over into one another and being apart. Uh, it's it's almost like it's creating one one one genre in itself. And it's really cool to see. I know a lot of people probably think otherwise, but I think it's cool to see that you know, you can take somebody that grew up in South Alabama and you can make them a rock star too, you know. And I don't have to be tied to that just because I have a southern dialect doesn't, you know, necessarily tie me to that. Because look at, you know, look at life now. We have we have Hardy that's a rock star, a country star, all the above. And I really admire what he's been able to do. And I think that, you know, that's something that I want to do. You know, I want to be, I don't want to just be known as the guy that sang songs like that or the guy that sang songs like this. You know, I want somebody to look listen to my catalog and say, wow, that was different. Every aspect of that was different. And that's, you know, so I wouldn't, you know, really tie myself down to any specific um, you know, musical genre, really, other than the fact that I'm a country boy and I'm from South Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

That's great. And um, when you were growing up, what actual artists inspired you? Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Growing up, I listened to actually I listened to a lot of uh a lot of rock, a lot of alternative stuff. Um, I love stained, I loved um your shine down, uh, shine downs of the world. I love Creed, all the what they call butt rock now. But I, you know, I loved a lot of more a lot more rock and roll than it than anything else and and all alt-rock. I did listen to a lot of country too. My dad, you know, always had Toby Keith on or Alan Jackson, you know, George Strait, all of the you know, 80s, 90s country guys were big influences, you know, on me coming up. But I will say it was a good mixture of the both, and I it's really telling in in my musical styles of how I write that they played such a pivotal part. Because, you know, I went through a big, like when I was 15, 16 years old, I went through a huge like pop punk phase where I was listening to Good Charlotte, and I was listening to all kinds of, you know, and it's kind of funny that I ended up siding with MDDN. That's good Charlotte, you know. Uh it, you know, they're over MDDN. I thought I thought that was pretty, you know, it's just life, a full circle moment for me that uh it's kind of telling, you know, in the music I write that it all led to one central location. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well what motivates you daily?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

I think that I still haven't written my best song yet. And I think that each time, I just feel like each time I get into a writing room and I get in there with you know some of the best writers in Nashville and around Nashville, I feel like each song just gets better and better. I th I feel like, you know, what really motivates me and it it's more of a dream, and I guess it is a motivation too, you know, I want to play the stadiums one day. You know, I want to play, I want to play sold-out shows. I want to I want to be as big as an artist as I can be. And um honestly what motivates me is just waking up every day and and being able to do what I love, being able to go out and play music, write music, and you know, hang out with some of the best people in the business. Um because there are some bad ones too. Those that give that negative advice are bad ones. But um, yeah, that's that's really what motivates me.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

That's a great answer. Um if you were 18 again and you could change anything in your life, what would you change?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Ooh, if I was 18 again, let's see. I probably would have not quit college baseball so early. Really enjoyed it, and I feel like I was a snot-nosed kid that just you know, when it got tough, I was just kind of like, eh, I don't want to do this anymore. I would probably go back and change that, but with the way things have turned out, I don't I don't know that I would change anything. I mean, I I like where I'm at now. I've obviously, like most everyone in this world, has been through, you know, the ups and the definite downs of of life, but I really like where I've ended up and I really like where I'm headed. So I don't think I would change too much. I would go through the same crappy times again if it meant I was gonna get here.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

So yeah, great. Um, what's the best piece of advice you have received?

SPEAKER_00 17:18

The best piece of advice, um, there's been several times in my careers, especially early on before anything really hit hit big, um, that, you know, I wasn't making a lot of money. I had actually quit my my job after I got of school. I I was teaching school there for a while, and I decided to, you know, that I was gonna do music full time. And um, I had to make a big jump to move to Nashville. I actually ended up coming to Nashville with the clothes that I owned and a truck and a trailer, and that was it. That's all I had. Didn't know how in the world I was gonna pay uh that first month's rent. I didn't know I didn't know how I was gonna make it. And um I remember there was two or three times that I thought I was done, like I was quitting. There, there's just you're not making any money, nothing's like none of these songs are you know that you're writing are meaning anything to anybody. I just felt like nothing was ever gonna happen, you know, at least three times in my early career. And if it hadn't been for, you know, certain family and friends saying, you've you've come too far now to give up, it's going to happen. Just keep fighting through it, keep writing songs. Someone's gonna hear it, and and it it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. And I I remember the first that first day, and it's funny, my sister actually stayed on me for like almost a year to get the platform TikTok. She was like, please get this. I really think that if you if you put music out there that that you know it'll take off out there. And I was like, I'm not getting that app, you know, I'm not, I'm not doing that. Because I already had Instagram, I had the Facebook. I was trying to do the the whole night on it. And um I ended up getting the app. And you know, about six months later, I posted, you know, every now and then I finally put my first original song on the app, and it was called Chevrolet You Down. And um I remember I put I put it on the app, it was like four o'clock in the afternoon. At midnight, it had close to two million views. And, you know, honestly, I credit a lot of my success to my sister because she she was the one that really pushed for me to get that app. And you know, had I not had people like her and and and certain people in my life push me to to keep going, because every one of them said, I I think you I think you've got a real talent for this. I think you can really write some good music, I think you've got a good voice. You know, you need to see what you can do with it. Had it not been for those people, I never would have been here. So I I owe all the credit to them and the good lord above for me being where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

That's amazing and very inspiring. Uh Ryan Watersman, thank you for coming on the podcast. I do appreciate it. It's incredible what you've done and what you're doing. And I personally look forward to seeing your you know, your career, I guess, go strength from strength. It's it's remarkable.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Thank you so much, Nicholas. Thank you so much for having us on. And uh, you have a good time now. You hear? Same with you. Thanks, sir.