What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today? I grew up with music in my life, mostly from a church setting and with the stuff my parents connected me to (The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, CSNY, Michael Jackson, etc). But when I was young, the first and last thing on my mind was sports, football in particular. I was a full-on jock playing football through college, but while I loved the actual sport, I was never that fond of football culture. I think I was just too sensitive of a guy - I never liked the hazing/ballbusting/ultra-macho thing. When my career ended, I just felt this need to connect to something deeper, and music was the pathway for me. I started having intense, even spiritual experiences listening to music, and I started exploring what it meant to be an artist and to develop my guitar playing and singing. A few years into playing and writing, I had this clear moment after I had written something I was fond of, and it hit like a bolt of lightning, this voice saying, “You can do this, and this is what you NEED to do!” From that point on, I was all in.
Interview: World-touring musician Ryan Tennis
Interview: World-touring musician Ryan Tennis
Interview: World-touring musician Ryan Tennis
What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today? I grew up with music in my life, mostly from a church setting and with the stuff my parents connected me to (The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, CSNY, Michael Jackson, etc). But when I was young, the first and last thing on my mind was sports, football in particular. I was a full-on jock playing football through college, but while I loved the actual sport, I was never that fond of football culture. I think I was just too sensitive of a guy - I never liked the hazing/ballbusting/ultra-macho thing. When my career ended, I just felt this need to connect to something deeper, and music was the pathway for me. I started having intense, even spiritual experiences listening to music, and I started exploring what it meant to be an artist and to develop my guitar playing and singing. A few years into playing and writing, I had this clear moment after I had written something I was fond of, and it hit like a bolt of lightning, this voice saying, “You can do this, and this is what you NEED to do!” From that point on, I was all in.