The Sit Down with Ryan and Rory
Every year during C2C: Country to Country Festival at The O2 Arena in London, there are opportunities for fans to discover their new favourite artist across the daytime time stages where there are typically one or two names that you hear EVERYONE talking about, where this year that was Ryan and Rory.
The duo of Ryan Follesé, an American Music Award-winning Nashville native and 2X PLATINUM-selling songwriter, brings a legacy of success as the former frontman of Hot Chelle Rae, paired with Rory John Zak, a powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from North Carolina, deliver harmonies and a magnetic live presence across the festival stages which resulted in them being one of the most talked about acts at this year’s festival. Given the success of their trip to perform in the UK, Jamie took the opportunity to catch up with the guys to reflect back on what looks set to be the first of many trips across the pond.
The duo of Ryan Follesé, an American Music Award-winning Nashville native and 2X PLATINUM-selling songwriter, brings a legacy of success as the former frontman of Hot Chelle Rae, paired with Rory John Zak, a powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from North Carolina, deliver harmonies and a magnetic live presence across the festival stages which resulted in them being one of the most talked about acts at this year’s festival. Given the success of their trip to perform in the UK, Jamie took the opportunity to catch up with the guys to reflect back on what looks set to be the first of many trips across the pond.
Great to see you both this morning, let’s start off with being in London earlier this month and you guys had probably heard a lot about it before you came over but how did C2C live up to those expectations?
“It was beyond our expectations, man. I didn't really know what we were going to get into, but yeah, we'd heard from different artists and friends in the space that they are not only super amazing and polite people, but they're the most rowdy country music crowd over there. We definitely got a taste of that, to say the least.” (Rory)
A lot of people talk about audiences being very attentive and yes, there is that element where people will listen to everything you've got, but we get three more “legal” years of drinking than you guys do in the states, so when you bring it, they know exactly how to behave, even at like what, eleven or twelve o'clock on a Sunday morning where people were still there for it.
“No, it's very true. I definitely second everything Rory said, it was one of those trips where it's like, man, I can't believe it's over and I can't wait to get back.” (Ryan)
Had either of you actually ever been over here before, either as tourists or Ryan when you were playing shows with HCR before?
“Yeah, I've been there before. I've definitely been to London a good amount of times and especially with the band doing that whole sort of pop circuit, but this is a totally different animal. It was like a different side of London that I did not know was over there.” (Ryan)
“I've never been before, so to be boots on the ground for five days, not only with being go, go, go with the festival or having a lot of media and press, but to get to go sightseeing and meet so many different people, I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to like London in general. Just that, you know, because it's a big city and I'm more of a dude that stays on the outskirts of that but I loved it over there, I can't wait to come back. We can't wait to come back.” (Rory)
Yeah, it must be a nice change to be able to see people driving on the correct side of the road, playing football with their feet and not being scared of the letter U.
“You know, maybe you guys do drive on the right side of the road, but I didn't see enough trucks, man. That's all I got to say.” (Ryan)
Well, the roads are a lot smaller so we don't need big cars and especially in London where nobody drives anyway because it's too expensive.
Well, you know, with the way things are going, man, these trucks are so big, you’re talking to Rory and I in our two trucks, but really, we live out of these things, you know? (Ryan)
In the grand scheme of things, you guys are a fairly new act and there isn't a huge amount If people go onto Spotify, but I think one of the things sums up what it's like playing in the UK, is that the audience will give you a shot regardless of what you have out. They will give you their time and if they like you, they'll get behind you quickly but did you get that feeling of being able to kind of start fresh on a level playing field where people don't have the same kind of preconceptions like things are back home where you are really able to make a go for it here?
“Rory and I talked about this at length. I found it to be very black and white, which I particularly enjoy because I know that we're a great band, Rory is a phenomenal musician, I know that if we got a shot that they were going to tell us exactly how they felt about us and we would get that out of it. You're right, I do feel like there is like this sort of, not preconceived notion, but over there, I felt like we were proving ourselves and we had a moment. It was like, I don't know, it was somewhere between a real hardcore country show and like an audition for an entirely new audience and it was like, okay, we got to prove it.” (Ryan)
“Man, like we got results instantly too. We played the first show and we had a packed out tent on one of the side stages, then the next day, we played right outside The O2 on The Big Entrance and we had a lot of repeat customers, which was really cool and then the new ones that came in were like, holy crap, like you guys are rocking. Then they came to our next show, you know, a couple hours later so we saw that in real time happening and we were over the moon about it.” (Rory)
How important was it for you coming over for the first time and playing the festival to have a band behind you and not just be playing as an acoustic duo, which is predominantly what a lot of people do on an initial trip.
“That's the only way we would have done it, man. We wanted to come in with a bang for our first time, so that's what we did!” (Rory)
“We believe that the songs stand acoustically, but if you're gonna make a trip of that magnitude, you know, you’ve gotta like show them how it sounds. To us, that was really, really important and it honestly makes it more fun for everybody. It makes it more fun for us, it makes it more fun for the crowd and also, it shows what we can come back and give you a full, full show of, which to us is really important.” (Ryan)
“It was beyond our expectations, man. I didn't really know what we were going to get into, but yeah, we'd heard from different artists and friends in the space that they are not only super amazing and polite people, but they're the most rowdy country music crowd over there. We definitely got a taste of that, to say the least.” (Rory)
A lot of people talk about audiences being very attentive and yes, there is that element where people will listen to everything you've got, but we get three more “legal” years of drinking than you guys do in the states, so when you bring it, they know exactly how to behave, even at like what, eleven or twelve o'clock on a Sunday morning where people were still there for it.
“No, it's very true. I definitely second everything Rory said, it was one of those trips where it's like, man, I can't believe it's over and I can't wait to get back.” (Ryan)
Had either of you actually ever been over here before, either as tourists or Ryan when you were playing shows with HCR before?
“Yeah, I've been there before. I've definitely been to London a good amount of times and especially with the band doing that whole sort of pop circuit, but this is a totally different animal. It was like a different side of London that I did not know was over there.” (Ryan)
“I've never been before, so to be boots on the ground for five days, not only with being go, go, go with the festival or having a lot of media and press, but to get to go sightseeing and meet so many different people, I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to like London in general. Just that, you know, because it's a big city and I'm more of a dude that stays on the outskirts of that but I loved it over there, I can't wait to come back. We can't wait to come back.” (Rory)
Yeah, it must be a nice change to be able to see people driving on the correct side of the road, playing football with their feet and not being scared of the letter U.
“You know, maybe you guys do drive on the right side of the road, but I didn't see enough trucks, man. That's all I got to say.” (Ryan)
Well, the roads are a lot smaller so we don't need big cars and especially in London where nobody drives anyway because it's too expensive.
Well, you know, with the way things are going, man, these trucks are so big, you’re talking to Rory and I in our two trucks, but really, we live out of these things, you know? (Ryan)
In the grand scheme of things, you guys are a fairly new act and there isn't a huge amount If people go onto Spotify, but I think one of the things sums up what it's like playing in the UK, is that the audience will give you a shot regardless of what you have out. They will give you their time and if they like you, they'll get behind you quickly but did you get that feeling of being able to kind of start fresh on a level playing field where people don't have the same kind of preconceptions like things are back home where you are really able to make a go for it here?
“Rory and I talked about this at length. I found it to be very black and white, which I particularly enjoy because I know that we're a great band, Rory is a phenomenal musician, I know that if we got a shot that they were going to tell us exactly how they felt about us and we would get that out of it. You're right, I do feel like there is like this sort of, not preconceived notion, but over there, I felt like we were proving ourselves and we had a moment. It was like, I don't know, it was somewhere between a real hardcore country show and like an audition for an entirely new audience and it was like, okay, we got to prove it.” (Ryan)
“Man, like we got results instantly too. We played the first show and we had a packed out tent on one of the side stages, then the next day, we played right outside The O2 on The Big Entrance and we had a lot of repeat customers, which was really cool and then the new ones that came in were like, holy crap, like you guys are rocking. Then they came to our next show, you know, a couple hours later so we saw that in real time happening and we were over the moon about it.” (Rory)
How important was it for you coming over for the first time and playing the festival to have a band behind you and not just be playing as an acoustic duo, which is predominantly what a lot of people do on an initial trip.
“That's the only way we would have done it, man. We wanted to come in with a bang for our first time, so that's what we did!” (Rory)
“We believe that the songs stand acoustically, but if you're gonna make a trip of that magnitude, you know, you’ve gotta like show them how it sounds. To us, that was really, really important and it honestly makes it more fun for everybody. It makes it more fun for us, it makes it more fun for the crowd and also, it shows what we can come back and give you a full, full show of, which to us is really important.” (Ryan)
When I first saw you play and I’d heard from a few of the other guys that had seen you the day before who were like, these guys are great and what they do is really cool but for me, whilst there's obviously, you know a lot of talk right now about another male duo who may or may not be getting back together, but I think your sound isn’t in that bro-country type world. I think it is very different where there is a real cool gap in the market for what you do and I think you do it really, really well. I think you have this really big sound that's both contemporary and classic at the same time. In terms of the style and the sound of what you guys are trying to do, how did you sort of settle on it? Like, Ryan, you come from a family of songwriters and obviously you toured internationally for a good whack of time playing some huge places in the pop world but how did the two of you come together and decide this is the sort of sound and style that you want to do as a duo?
“Man, first of all, thank you. That's exactly what we're going for, so for you to just like nail it like that is like, print it, send it out, that's exactly what we're going for but for us, I think we've landed on this just because of the things that we love. I think that they're naturally coming out in the music with what each of us bring to the table. When I met Rory, I had a handful of songs and they sounded a little bit different than the stuff that we've been making together and I believe that as we're growing and getting into this, it's like, yeah, we want it to sound big, but we want it to sound like there's still a story. We don't want it to be like explosive necessarily in that bro country way, even though we love that, but we do want to carve out our own space. I think that there's room for multiple duos to exist but this is our lane and Rory, you can speak to it more, but I really feel like this is a very natural marrying of styles that we love.” (Ryan)
“Yeah and this goes for any artist, as long as you believe in what you're making, what you're writing about, your thoughts and emotions, what you put in the music, that's going to come out as naturally as it can. Ryan and I kind of figured out real quick, you know, what we're about, what we want to do and I think that really translates, especially in this new record that we're going to put out later next year.” (Rory)
I'll move on towards the record that you’re working on, but I want to touch on what Ryan was saying about when songs started out, they sounded quite different. With that first EP, looking at the credits on there, you see that they predominantly were written by you, your mum, dad, your brother and your sister Anna on one of those as well. Were they just songs you'd written together and once you started doing this as a duo project, you go, I like these, they really work so I'm going to take them before Jamie does or were you generally targeting towards songs being for this project?
“I don't know if Rory always thought he would end up in a duo because I cold called him and he never saw me coming, but I think we both idolised so many duos in our own journeys that it was something I wanted to do. I just didn't know if it was possible because you've heard so many stories about, you know, duos don't work, they end up this way or they end up that way, you know, that's all you hear. It's always duos, not bands too, right? So, I was like, oh, I don't know if this will ever work and, you know, I sort of started trying to start a band like a freaking sixteen year old kid in a garage again. When I met Rory, I think there were songs that he gravitated towards and ones we were like, okay, these feel like something we could do. Then when we started writing together, we were like, okay, this is what it sounds like, this is really what it sounds like. I thought it was one of the most natural progressions as far as like talent meeting goes I've ever experienced.” (Ryan)
“Yeah, we developed the programme pretty quickly, I would say. Like Ryan said he cold called me and I had no thought in the last hour, twenty-four hours or the last ten years of being in a duo so when he called me, I was like, wow, all right, let me let me think about this. Then a couple of weeks later I flew to Nashville, played a round of golf, nineteenth hole, we said, let's do Ryan and Rory, then we quickly got some songs together and here we are now.” (Rory)
“Imagine what a scam it must have seemed like. I'm like, hey, man, you don't know me from Adam, but I sang this song. How do you feel about picking up your life and starting a duo? It was just insane.” (Ryan)
“I thought he was trying to sell me car insurance or something at first, but no, it was legit.” (Rory)
I thought you were about to say you just responded with La, la, la, whatever. Ha-ha
“Ha-ha exactly. I mean, honestly, it would have been fitting.” (Ryan)
“Man, first of all, thank you. That's exactly what we're going for, so for you to just like nail it like that is like, print it, send it out, that's exactly what we're going for but for us, I think we've landed on this just because of the things that we love. I think that they're naturally coming out in the music with what each of us bring to the table. When I met Rory, I had a handful of songs and they sounded a little bit different than the stuff that we've been making together and I believe that as we're growing and getting into this, it's like, yeah, we want it to sound big, but we want it to sound like there's still a story. We don't want it to be like explosive necessarily in that bro country way, even though we love that, but we do want to carve out our own space. I think that there's room for multiple duos to exist but this is our lane and Rory, you can speak to it more, but I really feel like this is a very natural marrying of styles that we love.” (Ryan)
“Yeah and this goes for any artist, as long as you believe in what you're making, what you're writing about, your thoughts and emotions, what you put in the music, that's going to come out as naturally as it can. Ryan and I kind of figured out real quick, you know, what we're about, what we want to do and I think that really translates, especially in this new record that we're going to put out later next year.” (Rory)
I'll move on towards the record that you’re working on, but I want to touch on what Ryan was saying about when songs started out, they sounded quite different. With that first EP, looking at the credits on there, you see that they predominantly were written by you, your mum, dad, your brother and your sister Anna on one of those as well. Were they just songs you'd written together and once you started doing this as a duo project, you go, I like these, they really work so I'm going to take them before Jamie does or were you generally targeting towards songs being for this project?
“I don't know if Rory always thought he would end up in a duo because I cold called him and he never saw me coming, but I think we both idolised so many duos in our own journeys that it was something I wanted to do. I just didn't know if it was possible because you've heard so many stories about, you know, duos don't work, they end up this way or they end up that way, you know, that's all you hear. It's always duos, not bands too, right? So, I was like, oh, I don't know if this will ever work and, you know, I sort of started trying to start a band like a freaking sixteen year old kid in a garage again. When I met Rory, I think there were songs that he gravitated towards and ones we were like, okay, these feel like something we could do. Then when we started writing together, we were like, okay, this is what it sounds like, this is really what it sounds like. I thought it was one of the most natural progressions as far as like talent meeting goes I've ever experienced.” (Ryan)
“Yeah, we developed the programme pretty quickly, I would say. Like Ryan said he cold called me and I had no thought in the last hour, twenty-four hours or the last ten years of being in a duo so when he called me, I was like, wow, all right, let me let me think about this. Then a couple of weeks later I flew to Nashville, played a round of golf, nineteenth hole, we said, let's do Ryan and Rory, then we quickly got some songs together and here we are now.” (Rory)
“Imagine what a scam it must have seemed like. I'm like, hey, man, you don't know me from Adam, but I sang this song. How do you feel about picking up your life and starting a duo? It was just insane.” (Ryan)
“I thought he was trying to sell me car insurance or something at first, but no, it was legit.” (Rory)
I thought you were about to say you just responded with La, la, la, whatever. Ha-ha
“Ha-ha exactly. I mean, honestly, it would have been fitting.” (Ryan)
Since the EP, we've started to have some more songs come out and you've both sort of said we're building towards an album, just in terms of where you are with it, what phase are we in? Are we still writing towards it? Are we recording? Are things being mixed? Is it a case of it's pretty much done and you're just waiting till someone can tell you when to go or we still working towards it?
“We're basically picking the order right now and I think we're about there. We actually have a meeting about that later today, but yeah, we're like in the final stages of the pre-prep, I guess you could say before we go and see the studio.” (Rory)
“It's always beat the song, man. We wrote a song last week that's probably going to make the cut. You know, it always goes, there's always that eleventh hour sort of thing that sneaks in there, but I mean, like what he said, we're actually picking the order today.” (Ryan)
That's always the thing, I guess, isn't it? As a songwriter, your favourite song is the song you wrote yesterday because it's really new and shiny.
“Our manager calls them fresh cookies for a reason.” (Ryan)
With the tracks that will be on the record, are they predominantly going to be the songs that you have put out where they are kind of being tied together or mainly new songs that are going to be really fresh for everybody?
“It's like ninety-five percent stuff the world has not heard yet.” (Rory)
“Yeah, it'll have ‘Wasn't Thinking’ and ‘Lawn Chair In the living Room’, those will be on there, but it's all new after that.” (Ryan)
The song that I want to ask about is ‘Together Again’ where you had Jamey Johnson in there with you on that. From what I've read about it, that was a song that your dad wrote with Jamey some time ago and it just sort of sat in the void as such, so how did you end up pulling that back up and how easy was it for him to want to jump on with you with it?
“So, this is crazy, it’s like some inside baseball, like really insane Nashville stuff but my publisher is the one who suggested it and my publisher has been in the business so long that he is the one that put Jamey and my dad together back in the day. To them, was like, you guys should write songs, I know you're very different, but y'all should write songs together. I went into his office to play him some new song and he was like, whatever happened to this song and it was like a light went off in my head. I was like, oh my gosh, I remember that one, I remember him playing me that song in our kitchen, why wasn't that out? What happened to it? Low and behold, you know, it just sat there and so that's my publisher remembering a song from twenty years ago.” (Ryan)
“We're basically picking the order right now and I think we're about there. We actually have a meeting about that later today, but yeah, we're like in the final stages of the pre-prep, I guess you could say before we go and see the studio.” (Rory)
“It's always beat the song, man. We wrote a song last week that's probably going to make the cut. You know, it always goes, there's always that eleventh hour sort of thing that sneaks in there, but I mean, like what he said, we're actually picking the order today.” (Ryan)
That's always the thing, I guess, isn't it? As a songwriter, your favourite song is the song you wrote yesterday because it's really new and shiny.
“Our manager calls them fresh cookies for a reason.” (Ryan)
With the tracks that will be on the record, are they predominantly going to be the songs that you have put out where they are kind of being tied together or mainly new songs that are going to be really fresh for everybody?
“It's like ninety-five percent stuff the world has not heard yet.” (Rory)
“Yeah, it'll have ‘Wasn't Thinking’ and ‘Lawn Chair In the living Room’, those will be on there, but it's all new after that.” (Ryan)
The song that I want to ask about is ‘Together Again’ where you had Jamey Johnson in there with you on that. From what I've read about it, that was a song that your dad wrote with Jamey some time ago and it just sort of sat in the void as such, so how did you end up pulling that back up and how easy was it for him to want to jump on with you with it?
“So, this is crazy, it’s like some inside baseball, like really insane Nashville stuff but my publisher is the one who suggested it and my publisher has been in the business so long that he is the one that put Jamey and my dad together back in the day. To them, was like, you guys should write songs, I know you're very different, but y'all should write songs together. I went into his office to play him some new song and he was like, whatever happened to this song and it was like a light went off in my head. I was like, oh my gosh, I remember that one, I remember him playing me that song in our kitchen, why wasn't that out? What happened to it? Low and behold, you know, it just sat there and so that's my publisher remembering a song from twenty years ago.” (Ryan)
In terms of the rest of this year, obviously it's going to be a lot of work towards this record that's going to come at some point, but how's touring looking for the summer? Have you got some dates planned or is it just going to be a big festival year in the lead up to the record?
“We've been focussing on this new record, man. We've been just writing, spending time in the studio, prepping for that and I think towards the fall, we're gonna start announcing some dates and whatnot. We're really hoping that we can get back over there, we're actually planning that as we speak.” (Rory)
“Yeah, we're trying to get back over there before the end of the year for sure.” (Ryan)
Amazing, well, fingers crossed that falls into place. It is like what people say about the growth in the UK where if you start early and you keep coming back, that progression does work. You know, there are people like Old Dominion, Maren Morris and Lainey that played over here for the first time on stages like you did at C2C where the fans got to be part of those journeys as they kept coming back over. Like I said before, it was really cool when I got to see you play and I think what you've got sound wise works and I definitely think there's a gap for it so looking forward to hearing more new stuff on the way.
“Yeah, we appreciate that, our label actually told us a few weeks ago after we got back from London that the first indicator that Lainey Wilson was going to work or blow up was C2C when she went over there and play at the side stages. So, when they found out that we did a pretty damn good job, they were over the moon about it and they were like, all right, it's off to the races now.” (Rory)
Well, to be fair, they've got experience with it because she's on your label too, so they know what they're doing with things and fingers crossed they can do it again with you.
“Well, your lips to God's ears, man. I say this in the most not braggadocious way humanly possible, but my band afforded me to play some pretty unbelievable shows in my life and when I was on stage with Rory on that last show, that was my first standing ovation ever in any sort of medium. I said it on stage and it still rings true weeks later, that's easily one of the most memorable moments of my life and I always have that. I always have that with London and so does Rory, it was an unbelievable experience.” (Ryan)
I look forward to you guys coming back.
“Oh, man, we can't wait, we really can't!” (Rory)
The latest single “Wasn’t Thinkin’” from Ryan and Rory is out now via BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville and is available HERE. To keep up to date with all that the guys are up to, you can check out their WEBSITE and socials to follow along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2027 across the weekend of March 5th to 7th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then the event will head back to The O2 Arena in London across the weekend of March 12th to 14th 2027, where along with an event taking place in Glasgow, Manchester will become the third host city to join the rotation of artists over the festival. Early bird tickets will go on sale on Friday March 20th and you are able to find more details on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
“We've been focussing on this new record, man. We've been just writing, spending time in the studio, prepping for that and I think towards the fall, we're gonna start announcing some dates and whatnot. We're really hoping that we can get back over there, we're actually planning that as we speak.” (Rory)
“Yeah, we're trying to get back over there before the end of the year for sure.” (Ryan)
Amazing, well, fingers crossed that falls into place. It is like what people say about the growth in the UK where if you start early and you keep coming back, that progression does work. You know, there are people like Old Dominion, Maren Morris and Lainey that played over here for the first time on stages like you did at C2C where the fans got to be part of those journeys as they kept coming back over. Like I said before, it was really cool when I got to see you play and I think what you've got sound wise works and I definitely think there's a gap for it so looking forward to hearing more new stuff on the way.
“Yeah, we appreciate that, our label actually told us a few weeks ago after we got back from London that the first indicator that Lainey Wilson was going to work or blow up was C2C when she went over there and play at the side stages. So, when they found out that we did a pretty damn good job, they were over the moon about it and they were like, all right, it's off to the races now.” (Rory)
Well, to be fair, they've got experience with it because she's on your label too, so they know what they're doing with things and fingers crossed they can do it again with you.
“Well, your lips to God's ears, man. I say this in the most not braggadocious way humanly possible, but my band afforded me to play some pretty unbelievable shows in my life and when I was on stage with Rory on that last show, that was my first standing ovation ever in any sort of medium. I said it on stage and it still rings true weeks later, that's easily one of the most memorable moments of my life and I always have that. I always have that with London and so does Rory, it was an unbelievable experience.” (Ryan)
I look forward to you guys coming back.
“Oh, man, we can't wait, we really can't!” (Rory)
The latest single “Wasn’t Thinkin’” from Ryan and Rory is out now via BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville and is available HERE. To keep up to date with all that the guys are up to, you can check out their WEBSITE and socials to follow along on INSTAGRAM TIKTOK & FACEBOOK.
C2C: Country to Country will return to Berlin in 2027 across the weekend of March 5th to 7th where you will be able to find more details on their WEBSITE and keep in the loop regarding lineups and ticket information on INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK. Then the event will head back to The O2 Arena in London across the weekend of March 12th to 14th 2027, where along with an event taking place in Glasgow, Manchester will become the third host city to join the rotation of artists over the festival. Early bird tickets will go on sale on Friday March 20th and you are able to find more details on their WEBSITE and socials (FACEBOOK X and INSTAGRAM)
