Currently on tour is Tyler Ramsey, a singer-songwriter hailing from Nashville, North Carolina. The tour functions as a follow-up to the release of his new album titled “New Lost Ages” released February 9.
While stopping to perform at the Tractor Tavern, we had the chance to chat with him a little bit about the tour, his new music and other things.
SA: Who is on the tour with you?
TR: It’s me and my old friend Brian Landrum, who’s playing pedal steel and guitar and singing some harmonies, and then Leslie Stevens is opening like seven shows. She’s from Los Angeles and she hopped in the van with us for the run. So we’re gonna travel with her for the next while.
SA: I know you’re a little bit over halfway through your tour, has anything stood out on tour so far?
TR: I mean, it’s nice to be over here on the West Coast finally. Getting here (laughter) is not easy as anyone would know. But the tour, it feels really, really good. Great turnouts and really good responses. It’s nice. We’re doing a duo version of the songs and it just seems to be working out well and, and people are enjoying what we’re doing. So it’s been great man.
SA: How do you feel like the audience connects with your performances?
TR: For me, the connection that I can form in a room throughout the period of a show is really important to me. If I don’t feel like I manage to connect with people on a personal level, I don’t know if I did what I came to do, you know? So I take that seriously and I feel a lot of my songs can be emotional for people and I feel like I get a lot of people coming up and saying that some of the music has helped them through hard times. I try to be as present as possible and as connected to my songs as possible when I’m performing ‘em.
SA: How did you create your new album in a way that shares honest stories and experiences?
TR: I don’t know how I decide, or if I make a decision on what I’m gonna be talking about. It’s just because the songs kind of start and then I just follow them if they feel like they need to be pursued. Generally, they are about where I’m at in my life, you know, what I’ve been going through or what’s been happening. The songs are always personal. I don’t venture off into telling other people’s stories. Mostly it’s just an expression of me and what I’ve experienced in my life. I try to sit with those songs and work them until they’re completely honest. I’m not using any lines that are to fill space or whatever. I want to make sure that the things that I’m singing are important to me.
SA: You’re from North Carolina. With this recent album, why the decision to record the album out here in Seattle?
TR: I was talking to Phil Ek, we had bumped into each other. I was on a tour with Carl Broemel and Phil saw me walking down the road and texted me, “Hey, are you in Seattle right now?” (laughter) so we ended up reconnecting. I gave him a copy of my last record. He liked it and we decided to work together. Then when it came time to start the project, I had ideas of doing it out my way, but he wanted to do it in places he was familiar with and use people that he knew would do the best job. So I trusted him a hundred percent to set things up. Phil got Morgan Henderson from Fleet Foxes and Sean Lane who is playing with Heart now. He had them come and be the rhythm section. It was the right move (laughter) as I knew it would be. It’s nice to get away from your own world if you’re working on a project like that.
SA: Yeah, definitely. What about it, about getting out of your own world, do you think helped with that?
TR: Well, you’re eliminating the day-to-day distractions of your normal life. I have a family, I’ve got a wife and I’ve got two kids, and I’m not calling them distractions, (laughter) I’m just saying if I was in Asheville working on a record I’d be splitting my time. So it’s nice to dive in, do the work, and then get to go home and hang out with my family.
SA: Is there anything else you’d like to talk about? Anything to do with the tour, your album, or upcoming projects you’re working on?
TR: I just hope that people get a chance to hear the new record. I put a lot into it. It took a lot to get it out in the world. It’s a good record and I’m really proud of it, and I just really hope that people get a chance to hear it and connect with it.
