Gateway To The Ether 15 | Ryan Jennings | Heads Lifestyle – Heads Lifestyle Inc.
Ryan Jennings of Nashville country rock outfit Teddy and the Rough Riders rolls up a pinner and selects choice cuts from his personal vinyl collection.
Nashville native Ryan Jennings of country rock outfit Teddy and the Rough Riders and veteran of Music City’s independent music scene plays authentic 70s-inspired music unique to modern country and rock. Join Ryan as he rolls up a pinner and selects choice cuts from his personal vinyl collection, creating an ideal listen and chill session.
Hey Ryan, where are you now?
Ryan Jennings: Nashville, TN, Hillsboro Village.
What do you do with your time?
RJ: Been on tour with Teddy and The Rough Riders and Emily Nenni. Now that I’m home, I watch movies and listen to music, cook, and write songs.
Do you get high when listening to music?
RJ: Yes! Not all the time, though. Both music and weed can be a background, keeping me working at a good pace. I like ambient movement and thought.
Describe a typical music-weed session.
RJ: I like to roll small joints, like pinners, and I also collect records, so that’d be on the turntable or tape player. I also like to put on a movie as a kind of background and sit with my guitar and write, sing, and practice after smoking.
What is your earliest memory of connecting the dots between music and cannabis?
RJ: Probably listening to Sabbath or Zeppelin and rocking out in my friend’s backyard. At the end of high school, I really got a chance to play and write while using cannabis and found that it’s a perfect tool in my creative or relaxed creative process.
ZZ Top
Pam Am Highway Blues
Love this one, it’s almost Sabbath-style prog then jumping into full Southern rock. But we used to call it “rocking out” when we were kids, listening to this kinda stuff and dancing, head-banging, acting out the song in my buddy’s backyard.
Kenny Rogers
Love or something like it
Our buddy Kent showed us this song, and it’s stuck hard since. Very cool, slick Don Williams vibe with cool melodies and chord changes. Love this kinda writing and how studio’d out it is.
Neil Young
Bound for Glory
Gonna have a few Neil tunes on here, and this one is beyond perfect, 80s Music Row Nashville with Neil’s special touch. His voice and chord changes are always top-level. And Waylon Jennings sings with him on this one, so… yeah, his fullest take on country I’d say.
Alison Krauss & Union Station
I don’t Know Why
Last 5 years or so, I’ve fully returned to Alison, as she was a favorite of my parents growing up. But her voice is so precise and clear, and the whole instrumentation is so technically progressive stuff, but at the same time so very calm and pretty.
Emmylou Harris
Rhythm guitar
We covered this with Emily Nenni, and I just love the melody style here. It’s obviously based on some drone and drum machine demo, and it’s also really sick to hear Emmylou just layering her own vocals. And it’s written by her and autobiographical, I think.
Haroumi Hosono
薔薇と野獣 = Bara To Yajū
Love Hosono. Wonderful variety of genres he hits , but here he’s recently reimagining his first album from the 70s. So it’s great folk with cool experimental aspects this legend brings to life. Would suggest this full album. But it’s in Japanese fyi and I love what that gives to the whole piece.
Lefty Frizzell
You can go your way now
Man Lefty’s voice is just perfect and his delivery you can see the whole path of country music ornamentation. The way his voice swings the melody sounds more like the 90s neo traditionalism.
Grateful Dead
Don’t Ease Me In
This is actually a cover song of a sick old blues pan flute song by Henry Thomas. That version is great but the dead really electrified it. Love the dead and especially early dead! RIP Pig Pen, Jerry and Phil!!!!
Moebius and Plank
Conditionierer
Had to throw in some German experimental , some of my most favoriete stuff. Krautrock of all kinds. And these guys jam hard, and make this excellent uptempo neu-style rockin ambient music. Very cool and efficient.
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
Heavy Traffic Up Ahead
Classic self referential song about playin music in Nashville! Well we live in town here and love this OG bluegrass sound. One mic , classic melody, and great players makin magic.
Neil Young
Homegrown
Neil is great cuz he’s putting out these “unreleased” records he had hidden from the 70s on. This one has Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. But I follow the NYA Neil’s archive and he has endless new (old) music.
Jimmy Buffett
The Great Filling Station Holdup
Also RIP to this great one. Had to take a while to get into him, but once the hippie country rock dots begin to connect, Jimmy is your beach rock hero. Makes me feel like I’m a part of his crew flying on a boat plane to a gig.
Don Williams
I’m getting good at missing you
Don is the smoothest, perfect melody havin singer ever. This music can be purely ambient at times but if you crank up the volume it becomes amazingly crisp recordings, and unbelievably cool delivery.
Cal Smith
Someone of my own
I think Cal sang with Ernest Tubb. But this song and his voice again make me feel calm amidst this man’s breakup!
Carpenters
Let me be the one to run to
I guess I did pick a lot of smooth crisp songs. But to me that’s the premier studio sound. And boy Karen carpenter sings and plays like no other.
BIO
Teddy and the Rough Riders are native Nashville, country rockers and recipients of Austin Tx’s Ameripolitan Awards “Best Honky Tonk Group” for 2024. The group plays catchy 70s inspired country rock that is unique to the modern Americana, Country, and Rock scenes. Genre defying is a part of the Cosmic American tradition, and Teddy does it better than most, with Waylon and Willie style heartbreak numbers, soaring guitars and pedal steel rockers, along with electric Louvin Brothers style close harmony. This hybrid of classic country song craft and psyche-rock sounds inform the spirit of this band with thousands of miles behind them and an eye on the future of the genre.
Teddy and the Rough Riders new album Down Home is available now on Appalachia Record Co.
More about Teddy and the Rough Riders here
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Photo: Mandi Fountain