Ryan Kinder - "Tonight"

[Kurt]

It looks like Ryan Kinder's first single as part of Warner Music Nashville will be "Tonight," a song he first released a couple years ago while on Bigger Picture. He's been performing (and hashtagging) it while on his current radio tour, and his website metadata says it's coming out on Friday.



Old lyric video:

[Markus Meyer]

I really like this. Not as much as "Kiss Me When I'm Down", but this is still excellent IMO.

[rsmatto]

Good. This is a GREAT Song. I think they can get traction w/this and then move onto the other stuff and maybe "Kiss Me When I'm Down" later on, if at all. "Mine" and "Don't Make Me Waste Another Night" are both great.

[sabre14]

See jhomes87, I told you a new single from Ryan was coming shortly. :)

Unfortunately I was right in predicting that "Kiss Me When I'm Down" was not going to be re-released...at least not anytime soon.

[bigfan101]

Love this....

Anyone else getting David Nail vibes??

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2015 18:04:47 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

See jhomes87, I told you a new single from Ryan was coming shortly. :)

Unfortunately I was right in predicting that "Kiss Me When I'm Down" was not going to be re-released...at least not anytime soon.

I've known one was coming for a while :) And I didn't expect it to be "Kiss Me When I'm Down" (I was just hoping that would be the case...but if Warner Bros. was gonna go with KMWID, then they would have released it not long after they signed Ryan).

Anyway, "Tonight" is incredible so I'm more than pleased. I don't know if it's quite as good as "Kiss Me When I'm Down", but it's really close. I hope the production is the same or similar to the lyric video that Kurt posted above.

I just hope some of the tracks he recorded for Bigger Picture (including KMWID) make it onto his album.

[rsmatto]

Sept 23, 2015 15:50:09 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Sept 19, 2015 18:04:47 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

See jhomes87, I told you a new single from Ryan was coming shortly. :)

Unfortunately I was right in predicting that "Kiss Me When I'm Down" was not going to be re-released...at least not anytime soon.

I've known one was coming for a while :) And I didn't expect it to be "Kiss Me When I'm Down" (I was just hoping that would be the case...but if Warner Bros. was gonna go with KMWID, then they would have released it not long after they signed Ryan).

Anyway, "Tonight" is incredible so I'm more than pleased. I don't know if it's quite as good as "Kiss Me When I'm Down", but it's really close. I hope the production is the same or similar to the lyric video that Kurt posted above.

I just hope some of the tracks he recorded for Bigger Picture (including KMWID) make it onto his album.

I don't know why they wouldn't make that project. They weren't heard by that many people only this one and "Kiss Me When I'm Down" were even heard by anyone outside of industry or surveys.

[Deleted]

I just know that sometimes a new label might want an artist to go in a different direction. Other times the artists aren't allowed to take their music with them (if they recorded it with a previous label). And sometimes in cases like this, the label might feel that the material is now dated since it was probably recorded in 2012/2013.

I feel pretty confident though that most of the stuff Ryan was working on while with Bigger Picture will end up on his debut album. I'll just be a little bit nervous until we get confirmation.

[Kurt]

This is out now, by the way:


Also, a sizzle reel-type video:

[Deleted]

Goes for adds on November 2 (label should say Warner Nashville and not Bigger Picture).

[rsmatto]

Oct 1, 2015 1:44:26 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Goes for adds on November 2 (label should say Warner Nashville and not Bigger Picture).

Finally having a date for this is awesome and gives Warner's promo team enough time to get radio interested in making another star, which I think Ryan really can be.

[dub]

I'm so excited for this. I saw him live about a year ago. This was the standout song IMO. KMWID is also excellent, but I have been waiting for a "real" release of Tonight since that concert.

[Kentucky25]

Hadn't heard of him, but I really like his voice and both this song and KMWID. I hear a lot of Shinedown's lead singer Brent Smith in certain parts with his voice.

[sabre14]

I like everything about this song expect those obnoxious "oh, oh, oh, oh's" during the verses. I don't think the song needs them at all. I really enjoy the production and progression of the chorus...as well as Ryan's voice. His vocals are certainly not something I would expect out of a country artist, but I do like it. I wouldn't necessarily say it's for everyone (my father, who was in the car on the way to the funeral I was attending today, hated his voice), but I think the uniqueness adds to the songs he sings.

[rsmatto]

Oct 15, 2015 15:48:43 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

I like everything about this song expect those obnoxious "oh, oh, oh, oh's" during the verses. I don't think the song needs them at all. I really enjoy the production and progression of the chorus...as well as Ryan's voice. His vocals are certainly not something I would expect out of a country artist, but I do like it. I wouldn't necessarily say it's for everyone (my father, who was in the car on the way to the funeral I was attending today, hated his voice), but I think the uniqueness adds to the songs he sings.

I liked the older production more (it's less processed and featured more piano as a lead instrument) but I definitely love this song still (and maybe it's just evolved in the 2 years since I first heard it to what we have here). But then again I love Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty and Ryan Kinder's voice recalls Rob quite a bit. I used to think Rob had a country career if he wanted it (he's a GREAT songwriter and has written some country songs) but with Ryan around that window has likely closed.

I'd be surprised if "Tonight" didn't break the Top 30 at the very least.

[sabre14]

Oct 19, 2015 17:04:27 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

Oct 15, 2015 15:48:43 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

I like everything about this song expect those obnoxious "oh, oh, oh, oh's" during the verses. I don't think the song needs them at all. I really enjoy the production and progression of the chorus...as well as Ryan's voice. His vocals are certainly not something I would expect out of a country artist, but I do like it. I wouldn't necessarily say it's for everyone (my father, who was in the car on the way to the funeral I was attending today, hated his voice), but I think the uniqueness adds to the songs he sings.

I liked the older production more (it's less processed and featured more piano as a lead instrument) but I definitely love this song still (and maybe it's just evolved in the 2 years since I first heard it to what we have here). But then again I love Rob Thomas/Matchbox Twenty and Ryan Kinder's voice recalls Rob quite a bit. I used to think Rob had a country career if he wanted it (he's a GREAT songwriter and has written some country songs) but with Ryan around that window has likely closed.

I'd be surprised if "Tonight" didn't break the Top 30 at the very least.

I think Warner waited until now for a reason and that was to set Ryan up to succeed at radio. I think "Kiss Me When I'm Down" was going to be a top 40 single at the very least if it wasn't for Bigger Picture folding when the single was released. That being said, a November release can go one of two ways...it can allow for a song to get a head start on its long climb (with a solid label supporting it) and last until the spring/summer, or it can get buried under the new releases that usually come in Q1.

[Deleted]

I've been meaning to post in this thread for like 2 weeks now, but I've been so busy. I heard this song on the radio already like 2 weeks ago, on a small station out of southern Minnesota. I was very, very surprised. It sounded great. I still don't like this as much as "Kiss Me When I'm Down", but this sounds like a hit to me, and I actually do like the "oh oh ohs" in the verses (even though I think that the "ohs" + the production make the main vocal track sound just a bit buried).

[sabre14]

"Tonight" is the third most added song on MB this week, with 32 adds on impact day.

[sabre14]

Article from Billboard on Ryan Kinder's journey from defunct Bigger Picture Music Group to Warner Music Nashville and his single, "Tonight":

When the Bigger Picture label lost its financing and folded in May 2014, the obvious focus was on Craig Campbell, whose “Keep Them Kisses Comin’” was at No. 11 on Country Airplay. The single managed to reach No. 9 before it f lickered out.Lost in the shuffle was Ryan Kinder, a singer-songwriter with an intense, urgent vocal style, who had just released the brooding “Kiss Me When I’m Down” the prior month and was atop the New and Active chart as the label imploded. The single squeezed onto Country Airplay for one week in June 2014, just before the CMA Music Festival, where Warner Music Nashville president John Es-positoand executive vp/GM Peter Stricklandwatched Kinder win over a bundle of female fans who were largely unfamiliar with him.

Seventeen months later, Kinder’s first WMN single, “Tonight,” gives him a second shot at the commercial mainstream. It’s not only his second label deal, but also his second recording of “Tonight,” which was originally created during his tenure with, as he says sarcastically, “the label that shall not be mentioned.”

Kinder, in fact, started working on the song with co-writer Luke Sheet sat at the Bigger Picture office in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood in anticipation of a recording session with producer Keith Stegall (Zac Brown Band, Alan Jackson), the label’s chief creative officer. Stegall was scheduled as the third writer at the appointment, and Sheets was admittedly nervous, so he showed up early to go over a few ideas with Kinder first. Kinder brought along a few snippets he thought might be worth exploring.

“I came in with three separate melodies, thinking it was three separate songs,” says Kinder. “They’re now the chorus for ‘Tonight.’ Luke said, ‘Let’s mash them together.’ Genius.”

The results sounded “angsty,” notes Kinder, and he had a personal scenario that fit. He had seen on Facebook that a high-school girlfriend was engaged, and though he no longer carried a torch for her, he was reminded of a period of time when neither was able to completely let go. “There was a time in college where I was trying to keep that relationship together, and we would keep calling each other late at night and kind of poking at the wound,” recalls Kinder. “We both were at fault for each other’s pain.”

Stegall was held up at a dental appointment and had to cancel, so Kinder and Sheets decided to save their work for another time and adjourned for beers at El Mariachi on Thompson Lane. Days later, Sheets was inspired with lyrics for the chorus and emailed them to Kinder, who dashed over. They finished the entire song in about an hour, beginning with a 3 a.m. phone call — much like the guy in Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” — with the man conveying a bit of desperation. “One of the things that we felt really good about was the music,” says Sheets. “The lyrics say he’s hurting, but the music is saying he’s gonna get through it, and I think the combination of those elements is what’s making it work. Whereas if you were to just read the lyrics, you’re like, ‘This guy’s gotta pull it together.’"

The melody in those verses intentionally begins in a lower part of Kinder’s register, allowing him to heighten the energy at the chorus. “He always wants every chorus to go as high as his voice can humanly go,” says Sheets, “and I’m always like, ‘Dude, you’re gonna have to sing this at 6a.m. in Raleigh, North Carolina.” The verses left a big chunk of empty space between phrases, and they filled it with a revolving guitar riff on the work tape. But when they headed into the studio with Stegall a few days later, the producer suggested they make that part a little more prominent, and it turned into a “whoa-oh” section sung in harmony that ultimately became a key part of the song. Stegall also speeded it up a touch to make it more radio-friendly.

The cut was strong enough that when Kinder signed with WMN, the prevailing wisdom was that it was a worthy single. Kinder continued to develop at Fusion Management, the same company that works with Lady A, and when Charles Kelleycut his solo material, Fusion founder Daniel Miller suggested Kinder consider using the same producer, Paul Worley (Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride). Kinder was up for it; Worley had conditions. “There were two voices that presented themselves to me in his earlier stuff,” says Worley. “[One] was kind of soft, and I wasn’t interested in it, but all of a sudden, there would be this growling kind of raspy voice that I would compare more to Dave Matthews. My idea was if he was interested in really playing to that voice, that was real interesting to me.”

The original version of “Tonight” employed both aspects of Kinder’s voice, reaching its tension when he held out the title in the chorus. Worley encouraged Kinder to apply that intensity throughout the song, and they both pushed the label to let them rerecord it at Worley’s studio, Shabby Road, using many of the same musicians that played on “Need You Now.” They dropped the key a full step, from C to B, which allowed Kinder to hit the growl even harder on the chorus. “But until we finished, I don’t think anybody was totally committed to changing versions,” Worley says. Much of the new version, including the bulk of Kinder’s vocal, was cut on one of the first takes. Pianist Michael Rojas plays a key, three-note figure that Sheets had applied to “Tonight” from the beginning — “My piano parts are [simple] because that’s the only way I can play,” says Sheets — and drummer Chad Cromwell muscled up the sound with angular, precise fills. Bass player Jimmie Lee Sloas gave it a more spacious foundation that took the track, according to Kinder, in more of a Tom Petty direction.

“It’s like old-school stuff,” recalls Kinder. “It feels live, and we’re all in the same room looking at each other while we’re playing.”Worley eventually overdubbed a slide guitar solo, and Kinder did his own background vocals with Sheets supplementing on some of the lower notes.

WMN secured initial play on SiriusXM’s Highway channel, then released “Tonight” to terrestrial radio via Play MPE on Oct. 13. It’s the first song to become a single from about 200 titles that Sheets and Kinder co-wrote. And one that gives Kinder a second chance.

So, "Tonight" was originally in the plans to be on Ryan's initial stint with Bigger Picture. The "oh, oh's" in the verses were Keith Stegall's ideas and Paul Worley produced the new version once Ryan signed with Warner Music Nashville.

Warner Music Nashville smartly pursued the song to be a Highway Find on Sirius/XM before officially sending it to terrestrial radio.

[rsmatto]

Yes, it was even released to iTunes. I like both versions.

[sabre14]

I really hope Warner can get this one moving soon and are prepared for a long chart run because to be honest, I'm a little concerned. "Tonight" went for adds over three weeks ago and is still not in the Billboard top 60 (not even in the New and Active) and is stuck at #65 on MB. Its currently in light to very light rotation on every station spinning it and with the amount of new releases that have flooded the chart lately, this song could end up getting torpedoed going into 2016, with even more releases to compete with.

[sabre14]

"Tonight" went for adds six weeks ago and is still not in the Billboard Airplay top 60. In fact, it's only been able to muster about 650k in total audience so far and continues to be passed by numerous releases from other artists. This one might end up becoming a "Can't Get Away From A Good Time" esque bomb, by 2016.

[Deleted]

Yeah, this one definitely got lost in the shuffle. There seemed to be a decent amount of hype around Ryan, especially when it was announced that Warner Bros. had signed him, but now it's all fizzled out. I really think they should've just gone with "Kiss Me When I'm Down". I like "Tonight" well enough, but it doesn't pack quite as much of a punch when compared to KMWID, and I've always felt that it doesn't help when a song has a generic one-word title. In fact I think that can hurt a song sometimes.

[bigfan101]

Dec 14, 2015 22:07:16 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

Yeah, this one definitely got lost in the shuffle. There seemed to be a decent amount of hype around Ryan, especially when it was announced that Warner Bros. had signed him, but now it's all fizzled out. I really think they should've just gone with "Kiss Me When I'm Down". I like "Tonight" well enough, but it doesn't pack quite as much of a punch when compared to KMWID, and I've always felt that it doesn't help when a song has a generic one-word title. In fact I think that can hurt a song sometimes.

Especially a one-word title that has been SO overused.

Please, please, please re-release KMWID, Warner. Don't make me beg.

[sgtoddball]

I don't think this or KMWID should have been released. They need to come back in 2016 with a completely different tune that hasn't been out there for Ryan and build some buzz.

[rsmatto]

Dec 15, 2015 9:54:04 GMT -5 sgtoddball said:

I don't think this or KMWID should have been released. They need to come back in 2016 with a completely different tune that hasn't been out there for Ryan and build some buzz.

This is what they're likely to do.

[sabre14]

I thought that they would come back with something entirely new when they had Ryan signed and waiting for a good calendar year with no single. I know Warner's release schedule was packed so they couldn't get him his add date til November but he had a long radio tour while with Bigger Picture in 2014, so they already knew about Ryan.

[codyj100]

At the December 13th, Playing with Fire show, he said that this was his "new" single. If he would have just said current, I would have been pleased. Because, they are surely stretching the validity of what "new" means. (It's kind of like Chuck Wicks releasing "Sunday Afternoon" as a single and calling it new, almost two years after it's initial release). 

Nonetheless, this song was amazing live. His vocals were on par. 

[hosssulpizio]

Not sure I like his voice. It's a little too different for me and it doesn't really sound all that country. I think he sounds more like a rock singer.

[Deleted]

This one's still not doing much. It managed to climb up to #51 on Billboard during the week of Christmas, but since then it's gotten bumped back to #56 as several newer releases have moved ahead. I'd love for this to take off but he just doesn't seem to have any momentum right now, so I'm guessing they'll have to come back with another single in a few months.

On a related note, Ryan was interviewed by Country Aircheck in their "My Tunes: Music That Shaped My Life" segment this week (see page 9 of Monday's Aircheck Weekly -- it's highlighted in yellow) and he named John Mayer and Keith Urban as two of his biggest influences. Really no surprise there! :)