Ryan Posner: The Dad Behind Y'all Star Revue on Country Music's Evolution

This week, Donnie speaks with Ryan Posner, a Los Angeles-based bass player, side man and musical director, about balancing his home and professional life, how to define country music, why it is important to push art forward and how bass players make great dads.

They dive deep into the value of his current project, the nearly weekly Y’all Star Revue, a showcase at the original Desert 5 Spot in Hollywood. This event highlights the best local and touring country music talent who are on the verge of breaking out.

Show Notes

1:50 -- Ryan’s origin story: From a 16-year-old rocker to figuring out playing country music right before the pandemic. He tells Donnie that his first concert was Willie Nelson at age five and his second concert was Weird Al opening for the Monkees in the early 1980s -- which really summarized his musical existence. Until he watched Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary.

6:38 -- Bass players make great dads: Ryan has always been attracted, and it seems that the Country Music Dads are attracted to bass players. Perhaps the kind of person who likes to play bass is also the kind of person who wants to be a dad.

8:58 -- How do you truly balance the parenting? Being honest is a good start.

10:40 -- What is The Y’all Star Revue, and what is the impact of this program on country music?

17:25 -- What is real country music? Ryan ends the debate of what country music is and what it is not. His platform is to share new music with new audiences.

20:19 -- Freedom from Choice: Ryan hopes that his new curated platform can help bring so many different kinds of music together to help develop a new experience outside of the over-saturation of the Los Angeles music scene. He prefers “freedom from choice” rather than “freedom of choice.”

22:19 -- More Debate on What Makes Real Country Music: But does this kind of platform push country music too far? Ryan says no. There is no line too far. Country music evolves just like every other kind of music, and the only person who can define “real” country music for that person is that person.

30:55 -- The Dad Life Sound Check: Ryan brings “Funny How Time Slips Away” by Willie Nelson, and Donnie talked about Waylon’s “Songbird.”

38:15 -- THE LIGHTNING ROUND, which gets completely derailed by the last question about the one concert you could attend at any time.

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Mentioned in this Episode:

• Few Miles South
• Slick City Pickers
• Jerry Zinn, West of Texas
• Ken Burns Country Music documentary
• Ted Russell Kamp episode
• Sean Burns episode
• The Y'all Star Revue
• Kimmi Bitter
• Allie and AJ
• Show Bud Pedal Steel West Coast Re-launch
• Desert Five Spot
• Beard Bates
• Brett Tomberlin
• Casual Drifter
• Ajii
• Cocaine and Rhinestones
• Creating Country Music: Manufacturing Authenticity
• Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs
• "Songbird" album by Waylon Jennings
• Shooter Jennings
• Alicia Blue

References:

• Theme Music: “Dark Country Rock” by Moodmode
• "I Can Almost Taste the Whiskey" by West of Texas
• "My Grass is Blue" by Kimmi Bitter
• "Good News" by Shaboozey
• "Austin (Boots Stop Workin')" by Dasha
• "Just Got Paid" by Brett Tomberlin
• "The Car Hank Died In" by Casual Drifter
• "Cherry" by Ajii
• "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones
• "Funny How Time Slips Away" by Willie Nelson
• "Songbird" by Waylon Jennings
• Live from Billy Bob's by Pat Green