Ryan Hurd tells Apple Music about his debut album ‘Pelago,’ going from songwriter to recording artist, and more on Today’s Country Radio

Ryan Hurd joins Kelleigh Bannen on Today’s Country Radio to discuss his journey of going from a Nashville songwriter to recording artist, and, ultimately, releasing his debut album ‘Pelago.’ They also chat about the origin of his massive hit “Chasing After You” featuring his wife, Maren Morris.

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Ryan Hurd on Recording “Chasing After You”
This song was like Music Row famous for a long time… And, [the songwriters] Brinley [Addington] and Jerry [Flowers] would sing it at rounds and then artists would hold it and promise to record it. And, that’s just how it goes sometimes. That’s the game we play as a writer and somehow it fell to me and I still look back on it. And I’m like, “I have no idea how of all the people in town,” this song, it was upon my shoulders to put it out. Because, the demo is exactly like what you hear in in the master. It’s that cool. You hear it and you’re just hooked and we’re just really lucky to have been gifted this amazing, amazing life-changing piece of art.

Ryan Hurd on “What Are You Drinking” Feeling Like the Most Important Song on His Album
The other song on this record, that’s outside is “What Are You Drinking.” And, I just got sent that I was on a beach in Mexico and Aaron [Eshuis] wrote it with Troy Cartwright and Andy Albert. And he sent it to me. He’s like, “Check this out.” He never sends me anything and I listened to it and Troy’s singing it. And I texted Troy immediately and just said, “If you’re not going to cut this, somebody is, and it might be me. So I need to know if you’re okay with that. I need to know before I even talked to Aaron about this and you should ask yourself if you’re okay with somebody else having this.” And, I can’t imagine not having that song on this record. It wouldn’t be… Every single song is important, but that one to me feels like the most important one for whatever reason.

Ryan Hurd on ‘Pelago’ and Its Place In Country Music
I think that I’ve grown a lot since I started writing. I’ve grown a lot since I’ve been trying to have my own project. And this is sort of that first combination where you’re like, “If this is the only thing people ever hear from me, I’m okay with it.” And this is the stamp I want to put on this moment. This is a stamp I want to put on me, my name. And you know, when people look back on country music in this time, maybe they’ll remember this record a little bit. And this is my little piece of that history, whether it’s big or small. I’m okay with it. And I’m really just psyched for people to hear it. And I hope they like it.