Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ryan Murphy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ryan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My recently released EP, Up In The Air, is hands down my most meaningful work yet. Writing music is my way of processing my feelings and emotions the same way others journal or write in a diary. It is where I feel most comfortable expressing myself.

This collection of songs essentially fell out of me over the course of 6 weeks from start to finish. I had a lot of big feelings I realized I needed to address and process head on after rewatching one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It reminded me that I wanted to feel everything and not close out the more difficult parts of my life at the time.

I laid every emotion I had bottled up in me on the table in a way that was very raw, vulnerable, and personal like I’ve never done before. I found myself growing in so many positive ways as the process began to unfold, which is where I also noticed a connection with my journey and this idea of a flight.

A flight takes you from one point to the other. Sometimes it gets bumpy along the way, but that’s life. So the songs follow this journey from being in this place emotionally that feels like you are stuck in your dreams and slowly transitioning from those dreams up in the air to being grounded back in reality again.

There are a ton of details that ended up getting layered into this concept, from the sound design rising and falling like a plane taking off and landing to the intentional decay of certain elements representing dreams falling vs the reality becoming more clear/rising.

I’ve never had music fall into place like that for me before, let alone this quickly. I came out of the creative process feeling a ton of growth and fulfillment. I actually almost didn’t even release this music because it had served its purpose for me on a personal level already and I wasn’t sure I was comfortable putting that out into the world.

After a series of events and conversations with others, I remembered that I started writing and releasing music again years ago so that others might find their own connection to it like I do with the music I listen to. I say this a lot, but I feel like what makes music so magical is that you can experience something that was so deeply personal to one person and have it resonate in a deep and meaningful way of your own. Connection is such an important part of the human experience and music has a very special way of doing it.

So I decided to release the music after all, but I wanted to make a focused effort to make this release about something bigger than me. I decided to use this release as a way to raise money for two local nonprofit organizations that work with stray animals. I chose this path because one of the underlying themes of the EP is this idea of starting over and hoping for second chances, and the animals these organizations help are all hoping for that same thing. By donating all of the money from preorders of the EP, I was able to raise over $600 for Pawsitive Beginnings and Tipped Ears. The way people came out to support all of this was such a meaningful and rewarding experience that I’ll never forget!

Sorry but I am never good at making a long story short, haha.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got my first guitar when I was 11 years old and was in my first band within a year of that. I have been working on music in some capacity ever since then. The amount of involvement in music has ebbed and flowed over the years as I made the decision to go to college for Biology and became a zookeeper in my early twenties.

I had two big dreams growing up: be a musician and have a job that put me close to the ocean. It was kind of hard to find a job that put me close to the ocean in my hometown of Indianapolis, IN, but working as a zookeeper in the local aquarium was the closest thing to it and I managed to pull that off. I lost touch with songwriting and performing for a few years as I focused on that other dream, and it eventually led to an opportunity to actually put me close to the ocean working at the aquarium in Long Beach, CA.

While I eventually realized that zookeeping wasn’t the forever dream, music never fully left the picture for me. There is one experience in particular that sealed the deal that I was going to keep writing music forever with the intention of having it connect with others. I came across a live version of the song “What Happens When The Hear Just Stops” by Glen Hansard. He has such an incredible gift when it comes to storytelling and before he played that song he shared the story behind why he wrote it. He described how he had been in this dark place where he wanted to feel nothing, and once he got that wish he realized he would much rather feel the pain, anxiety, and everything else that comes with life over not feeling anything at all. That was a very abbreviated version but the way that story and the song itself resonated with a lot of what I was feeling at that time broke me in all of the right ways. I actually had to pull my car over to process it all. I realized that I have the potential of being able to do that for someone else someday through my own music, and if just one other person connected with what I had to say then I would consider my goal a success.

So having left zookeeping, I had found myself living in one of the best places in the world to be immersed in music and really started leaning into it again. I was going to shows constantly, meeting amazing artists that have become good friends that continue to inspire me today, and writing/releasing music as a solo artist again for the first time in a long time. It’s been about 7 years of writing, releasing, performing, learning, and growing ever since.

I am at the point in my life now where I feel like I am really connecting with the deepest parts of myself and figuring out what that means for the music I create. I used to be more focused on what sounds and genres might be in style and what lyrics might speak to a greater audience and that was just not the way to go at all. What I was doing had technicality but no soul. I’ve found that what is most important right now is that what I write is for myself and the music I make is something I want to hear over and over again. That has brought me more joy than I can even begin to describe. I imagine it’s the same feeling a painter gets when they can translate the vision in their mind to a canvas with laser sharp accuracy.

The moment I started catering my writing to an audience of one, it seems like things started to resonate more and more with others too. People connect most with vulnerability and honesty. It’s what drew me back in when I heard Glen Hansard that fateful day years ago. Rather than wanting fame, tons of money, or any of the stuff that people think is the ultimate goal of being a musical artist, I just want to take the experiences I’ve had and share them with the world in hopes that it may connect and resonate with somebody else and take on a life of its own that way. This has even gone beyond the music I write as I have been sharing more videos with my audience about my creative processes, how I find inspiration, and even just sharing the things I do that make me happy like going tide pooling. Between engaging with my audience in that way and the last two releases I’ve put out following my improved approach to writing, I feel like I’m doing exactly what I should be doing now. The personal stories people have shared in messages to me, the outpouring of support I’ve received, and the wholeness I’ve felt just being myself for me and nobody else has been so rewarding and what I am most proud of.

I hope that what others may take away from what I do now is that when you are the most authentic version of yourself and everything you do is done with good intentions, you give yourself the power to do so much good for the world and others are going to resonate with that. And you should take every opportunity that you can to do good!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think anyone that feels like they are a non-creative needs to know that they have the ability to be a creative too and to not limit themselves into thinking they can’t be. It doesn’t mean they need to be able to pick up a guitar, keyboard, paint brush, or camera and be able to produce the next big thing in their field of interest right away (or ever).

If you aren’t sure where to start, don’t focus on those tools of the trade that you think you need to master to be successful. The most important skill to foster your creativity is to understand yourself, what you care about, and what makes you feel happy. Then understand WHY you care about those things and WHY they make you happy. If you are able to lean into the answers to WHY, everything else like what, where, and when will start to fall into place.

Focus on how you can use your creativity to express yourself in an honest and meaningful way for you and nobody else. If you are creating for yourself and you feel like you’ve made an honest representation of that, then start putting that out into the world and the right people are going to come along and connect with it.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’ve been on a long mindfulness journey that has resulted in many resources impacting the way I approach how I manage the work I do and my philosophy behind it. One thing I would recommend to anybody whether it is in regards to approaching business or life in general is the book “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. You’ll have to read the book to get the full reward of what you’ll find inside it, but I use those four agreements the author outlines as a guiding compass to how I approach everything I do and I am able to do it all with confidence and conviction.

More specifically related to the music business, I would recommend Ari Herstand’s book “How to Make It in the New Music Business” as he has done a lot of great work compiling advice and experiences for so many different aspects of the modern music business. There is something in there for everyone!

Lastly, I have to give some love to “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. I know a lot of folks were required to read this book in school, and if you were one of them that just went through the motions for class please go back and read it again now! I can’t think of a better example of a book that shows the importance of why you should follow your dreams and pursue your true destiny. I’ve come a long way in chasing dreams of mine and this book has a big part in the inspiration behind that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.honesthorsemusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honesthorsemusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HonestHorse/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Honest_Horse
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnLWSncxn3gPJPSfyGXUnQ
• Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/honesthorse

Image Credits

Joel Martin Del Campo
Ashley Garin