Who are Ryan and Rory? The Story Behind Their Journey to Country Music
Who are Ryan and Rory? The new duo joined us to chat about their journey to country music. Get to know the rising stars here…
Ryan and Rory // Photo credit: Daniel Brown
Quick Facts:
Full Name – Ryan Follesé & Rory John Zak
Hometown – Ryan – Nashville, Tennessee + Rory – Raleigh, North Carolina
Current City – Nashville, Tennessee
Musical Influences – Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Reba
Label – BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville
Current Single – “This Town” (as of date of article 7/29/24)
The Beginning:
This week we shine our spotlight on two rising stars that are not new to the music industry, but are reinventing themselves as a killer duo. Ryan and Rory comprised of Ryan Follesé & Rory John Zak are two talented singer-songwriters that have joined forces to create an incredible new act. We chatted with the rising stars about their journey to country music, their debut EP, and everything in between.
Both Ryan and Rory found music at early ages. Ryan grew up in a musical household in Nashville. “I’ve had kind of quite the journey to be here,” he shared. “Both my parents, Adrian and Keith are both country songwriters and have been for quite a long time, so I grew up in a super musical house, writing stupid little songs from the time that I could talk or sing, and then my first love was country music because I didn’t really know there was another kind of music until I was 8 or 9 years old.”
On the flip side, Rory grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina with a knack for music. “I’ve been back and forth to Nashville for the last ten years now, but my parents figured out from when I was 3 or 4 years old that I was going to be some sort of musician or singer or something. […] Around 13, 14 years old, I started going out and playing clubs and bars and pizza joints around the Carolinas and stuff like that,” he shared. Adding, “I got a call when I was 17 years old from a spot called the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach and I became their youngest ever, full-time lead singer of the cast and I was there for a good 3 or 4 years, and performed six nights a week, and that was a huge blessing at the time.”
While Rory was performing at the Opry in North Carolina, Ryan was fronting a rock band called Hot Chelle Rae. “Of course, as I got older, I was like I’m going to join a rock band because I’m not going to do what my parents are doing, so I started a rock band,” he shared. “We toured a bunch on that for a long time, we did really well, and of course you always go home, and the music I originally fell in love with is the only thing I can write anymore, and that’s what led us together.”
The Turning Point:
Ryan and Rory’s mutual love of music drew them together. While they both grew up on country music, naming artists like Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, and Tim McGraw as some inspirations, they credit LOCASH for bringing them together initially 8 years ago. “We have to give it to LOCASH man, I met Rory at a LOCASH concert and a family friend of ours mentioned that we should get together, and we’re here, and we could not fit better together,” shared Rory. “We got a picture right in front of the merch booth, and we still have that picture somewhere, we ended up getting reconnected about a year and a half ago.”
The duo also credits small-town Nashville for bringing them together. “We do have a mutual friend and a family-friend of mine who’s someone who used to work with my dad, and she just knows everybody,” began Ryan. “She knew I was trying to do something like this, and I had been working on a small-batch of songs and now the batch is gigantic since we started this thing and go to writing together, but this friend was like if this is what you’re trying to do, you guys should reconnect. It was kind of like that ‘Stepbrothers’ moment. “Did we just become best friends.” And it really did feel like that.”
Ryan and Rory just clicked, and almost immediately started cranking out music together, including their debut single, “Pour Decisions.”
Today:
Flash forward to today Ryan and Rory are ready to take the country world by storm. The duo just released their self-titled debut EP on Friday (7/26), which features six songs in total, including their debut single, “Pour Decisions.” While many artists struggle to narrow down the songs, Ryan and Rory found the process to be easy.
“For us, these six songs raised their hands for us. We have so many songs, but I swear it just wasn’t that hard, and I’m proud to say it wasn’t that hard, which means we did a good job writing them, but they did a good job picking themselves for us,” shared the duo. “Everyone of these connects to some arc or piece of our lives, something we’ve lived, are living, are dreaming of doing or something that’s around the corner, it was just fate.”
Rory added, “It’s only six songs, but these six songs really feel like the rollercoaster you go on when you listen to 12 songs or a full-length album, and you know, we’re in the process of picking the back half right now, and writing for it, and I can’t wait to keep building the story.”
While all six songs truly speak to their unique blend of artistry, standouts include songs like “This Town” and “Cowboy Cry.” On the latter, the men were inspired by strong and opinionated women in their lives. “I’m married to a very strong, opinionated woman, and it’s one of my favorite qualities about her,” begins Ryan, “and there’s just so many cowboy songs about the guy riding off into the sunset and leaving this girl behind, and that would not be the way it goes in my life with my mom and my wife and all the women that I know, and I just wanted to write it from a different perspective, the cowboy is the cowgirl.” The song came at the eleventh hour, and we are really glad it did!
Ryan and Rory are just getting started, and fans can expect more music coming down the pipeline soon. Make sure to jump on the bandwagon ASAP!
Connect:
Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements about future Ryan and Rory releases.
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Ryan and Rory’s music is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.
