GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd has announced his highly anticipated sophomore album ‘Midwest Rock & Roll' set for release on March 21 via Big Machine Records. Featuring 12 tracks co-written by Hurd, the album offers a heartfelt tribute to his Midwestern roots while exploring the emotional journey of leaving home in pursuit of a dream.
“Midwest Rock & Roll is my second full-length album, and I am really proud of how it sounds, what it says, and how it ended up being released,” Hurd shared. “It’s a coming-of-age album that feels like playing in your first band.”
Alongside the album announcement, Hurd has released a new single ‘Die For It' a powerful and introspective track that delves into the complexities of love. Written with Mark Holman and Randy Montana, the song captures the highs and lows of a relationship, emphasising the deep commitment required to truly love someone through both the good and the bad. We caught up with Ryan in London as he played an acoustic show to a select crowd in preparation for the ‘Midwest Rock & Roll' to come!
It's a pleasure to talk to you today, Ryan, thanks for your time on a busy show day. Welcome to sunny England! (irony alert – it was cold and miserable)
Everybody is complaining about the weather here today! I know it's cold but I feel like it's no different to every time I come over here! (laughing) For us, it's not that big of a deal compared to the Midwest! It's weird talking about the Midwest here in the UK because I'm never quite sure people know a lot about the region I'm referencing.
How's the jet lag and did you stay up and watch the Super Bowl or are you more interested in the hockey?
(laughing) I tried to watch the Super Bowl. The jet lag is fine – at this point in my life I have a strategy which is to just power through and live on the time where you are as close as you possibly can. Any time after 6pm, though, could be bed time in those first few days! There was a moment where we were all awake at 10pm but we all fell back asleep so that was OK!
I saw the first touchdown of the Super Bowl, which was, apparently, all I needed to see. I think Kendrick Lamar is one of the best writers on the planet so it was fun to watch his performance back this morning. I loved last year's too, with Rihanna – they are both two of the biggest superstars that will ever exist in American music.
You're back in the UK to perform for the first time in seven years! Does it feel like it's been a long time or does it feel like the time has just flown?
I didn't realise that's how long it's been since I played here! I've been here a lot since, on vacations and I think I was here with Maren when she was here about 18 months ago. COVID really threw a wrench into the whole ‘travelling over the ocean' thing so it really has taken a second to get back to normal.
I don't tour a whole lot and I'm getting to play an acoustic show here in London tonight with just my producer, Aaron Eshuis, who I grew up with and he's like, ‘I can't believe that people in another country buy tickets to see us play music!' (laughing) That's such a great perspective to have. I'm more worried about remembering the words to songs I haven't played in a while.
This is becoming a really important place for Country music and I have a feeling we'll be over a sooner the next time.
I think Europe might be fertile ground for your new songs, which aren't strictly pure Country music are they? There's a harder edged, rock-leaning Midwest sound at play on this upcoming album that you can hear on new song ‘Die For It' and on the already released title track ‘Midwest Rock & Roll.'
I hope so! The new music sounds a little different to ‘Pelago', my first album. They are still both very true to who I am and who I was but sonically the new music does take a little bit of step into heavier waters. There's a bunch of artists in Country music right now who are making rock records and I'm one of them! I hope people love it. The most important part is that I like it and I'm proud of it and when it does come out next month I hope everybody can find something on the album that really speaks to them.
Let's pick up on ‘Die For It,' your new song that came out last Friday. What were the inspirations behind that song and what was it like working with Randy Montana – who's doing very well for himself back in Nashville right now.
Randy is a big, big, big writer right now. He would say the same as I'm just about to tell you, though, the other writer on the track, Mark Holman put more of himself than either of us into this song. Mark is a producer and a writer who is one of the most brilliant guitar players I've ever met, especially on that Rock & Roll side. He's not a household name but he deserves to be.
With those two I wrote ‘Midwest Rock & Roll,' ‘Die For It,' ‘Lighthouse' and ‘Funerals' on the new album. The fun part about working with Randy is that if I say that I want to try something and it's a really big swing, he just dives in with me. He's a fantastic songwriter. We didn't just want to write a bunch of songs to pitch to other artists, we wanted to put a record together, very specifically, and once ‘Die For It' was written we knew we had the direction and after that we wrote ‘Midwest Rock & Roll,' then ‘Funerals' and then ‘Lighthouse' and then I knew had something that had some cohesion.
Ryan Hurd's new album ‘Midwest Rock & Roll' is out next month on March 21st. Pre-save the album right here. Part two of this interview will come out on release day when we do a deep-dive into the songs on the album and the inspirations behind them.
