Even though he has built a successful song writing career since moving to Nashville, Tennessee a number of years ago, Ryan Sorestad has never forgotten his roots.
Each fall he returns to South Haven Farms near Buchanan to help with the harvest on the farm where he was raised by his parents Patricia and Ralph, and where his extended family still farms.
Sorestad said he has plenty of work to keep him busy in Nashville at this time of year, but family is more important.
“I’ve tried to learn how to be a better family member as the years have gone on,” he said. “Life is just too short to not want good relationships. The Sorestad farm is where I learned my love of music, where I saw success and failure, and where I learned that “if it ain’t broke and you ain’t bleeding, then get back out there.”
“A few years back, it was a struggle to get the harvest off before the snow came. That’s a story that resonates with a lot of us this time of year. Look at this year. We’ve been dodging rain clouds for weeks. Through a conversation with my nephew, Boden, my sister-in-law, Joanne, and my brother, Eric, I offered to take some time off the Nashville grind if they could use me come harvest time. They took me up on the offer.
“It’s been a bit of an internal struggle with regards to leaving Nashville for four to six weeks because my schedule is filled. But I choose to be here on the farm, and I love it here. This is my home. It’s shaped me into who I am. When I tell people in the music industry what I’m up to during harvest, or they see it on my social media accounts, I get nothing but positive feedback. I’ve even had artists and writers ask if they can come up here to write and get a sense of what goes on.
“I haven’t seen wheat this short in a long time, but the heads are still looking pretty full, so that’s a good thing. Here’s hoping Mother Nature gives our communities a good window to get it all in the bins. One of my mentors in Nashville says, “You don’t buy the Cadillac until you have the cash,” and I’ve always equated that to “Harvest isn’t over until it’s all in the bin.”
Sorestad said his interests as a youngster were pretty typical for growing up in rural Saskatchewan.
“If it had wheels and I could potentially make it jump, I was into that,” he said. “I, of course, loved playing sports. We’d spend hours after hockey practices and games just skating at the rink and shooting around. I can’t begin to imagine the number of pucks we lost behind those big wooden boards at the Buchanan Skating Rink.”
Sorestad said he grew up in a musical family with a vinyl record collection that was about as diverse as a person could find anywhere. But he said music was never forced on him at home.
“My parents had everything from the Tchaikovsky/Brahms/Beethoven collection that you could get mailed to your house, to Elvis Presley, to a Readers Digest collection called “The Sounds of Nashville,” he said.
“I really stumbled into knowing I could do music after watching the movie La Bamba. I went to my grandparents place right after watching it, sat at the piano, and figured out the melody and bass lines within minutes. I remember my Grandmother calling my mom saying what had happened. It wasn’t long after that I started taking piano lessons. I learned to write love songs from Elvis Presley. So simple. So good.
“Reading music from an early age was helpful, and growing up singing songs at church was a huge influence on my writing. People often remark that the melodies in my songs are so memorable and easy to sing along with and add harmonies to, and that comes directly from my upbringing at Faith Lutheran Church in Buchanan.”
After Buchanan School closed, Sorestad attended school in Canora for two or three years. As was the tradition in the Sorestad family, he attended the Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute (L.C.B.I.) in Outlook and graduated after Grade 12.
After high school, Sorestad attended the University of Saskatchewan and took pre-med courses, but after two years he decided that this was not what he wanted to do with his future.
He said he decided to join an American organization which put musical groups together for touring purposes.
“I had taught myself most “rock” instruments by that point in my life, and I was accepted as a drummer for a band that would tour the U.S. east coast,” said Sorestad. “After convincing my friend to join the organization, however, I quickly got moved over to guitarist for a band that toured the southwest.
“After a year of touring, it was pretty evident that I loved music, and loved being around people.”
During that time of touring Sorestad met his future wife Kate, also a musician, who hails from Baltimore, Maryland.
Around that time Sorestad received a phone call from his old high school and accepted a position as the L.C.B.I. Dean of Men.
“It was during my year at L.C.B.I. that I realized I could study music at the U of S, get a teaching degree at the same time, and combine all of the elements I loved. Five long years later, I graduated with Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees.”
After the sudden passing of a young friend of Ryan and Kate’s, the couple made the decision to move to Baltimore.
“While I was researching and looking for work, I joined a country band as a bass player,” said Sorestad. “It was fronted by Jenny Leigh, who has been working on the CMT show Nashville for a few years. We performed some original music, but most of it was cover material. It was at that point that I knew that I had what it took to write songs that could compete with radio. So I just did it. One song. Then another. Most of them stunk. Some were OK. Some got good. It was a long process of me creating, recreating, and working at my craft.
“The move to Nashville happened a few years later. I had already been flying and driving to Nashville to learn more as a songwriter, and I’d had some really successful meetings with a few publishing companies. As a songwriter, you look to a publishing company to get your songs in front of the big artists. It was pretty evident that I needed to be in Nashville if I wanted to “make it” as a songwriter. So on October 1, 2013, Jenny Leigh, myself, and our bandmate Adam Wakefield (who later became the runner-up on Season 10 of The Voice on NBC) packed up and headed south.”
Sorestad said at the time he had confidence in the work he had done to make himself into a better songwriter, and that he knew good music.
“But, I was walking into a town where the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Elvis, Dolly and many others still echo from the past, and where the country music scene was seeing massive new superstars like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Carrie Underwood, Miranda and the list just keeps growing,” he said. “And for all of the songs you hear on the radio today, there are teams of songwriters working to get artists and work with artists to create. It’s extremely intimidating, but it’s also pretty inspiring.”
While making some money as a musician with various groups, Sorestad got his Nashville songwriting career started by “diving in head first.”
“I wrote one song, then another, and another, and I’d compare it to what was on the radio,” he said. “What was I missing? What could I do better? I submitted some of my music to the Nashville Songwriters’ Association International for review, and even met with some of their mentors in person. I listened to a lot of music, listened to a lot of songwriters live, and I shook the hand of anyone who was willing to give me the time of day.
“The important steps, or realizations for me along the way were simple lessons. Nashville owes you nothing, so get over yourself. You didn’t get a phone call or email back from a publisher? That doesn’t matter. They probably heard from 100 writers before 9 a.m. I was taught to surround myself with people who were more talented than me, who worked harder than me, and who I looked up to. So I did that. Now? I’m so proud of the crew I run with. They can out-sing, out-write, and out-work most people in the business.
“I also try to surround myself with positive people who are great to hang out with, and who have your back on those tough days.”
Sorestad said he is quite pleased with the way his career has progressed in the five years or so that he’s been working in Nashville.
“Everyone says that Nashville is a “10-year town” meaning that it really isn’t an overnight success for anyone,” he said. “Five years ago, I showed up to Nashville with 10 demos, a few songs on Jenny Leigh’s EP record, and determination. This year I’ll be up over 60 songs that have been recorded or are currently being recorded. I have songs out in the USA, Canada, and Australia. I landed my first major label cut with Adam Wakefield and Colt Ford with a hunting song called Ducks, probably the dumbest/funniest song I’ve ever written. Most recently, I have started producing records for artists.
“I would describe my music as whatever’s needed to get the job done. That’s my favorite part of what I do. I’m not an “artist,” so I’m brought into writing rooms to help artists and other writers create songs for whatever project they are working on. I’ve written traditional country, bluegrass, pop-country, pop, reggae, R&B and so on.
Sorestad said the best things about his music career are the memories and the people.
“Being on tour will always be some of my most memorable times,” he said. “I’ve played a country song in an Los Angeles recording studio with platinum Eminem records hanging on the wall. I’ve flown into cities and been picked up on tour buses.
“It’s a pretty magical experience to be on stage or backstage at a venue and see the whole crowd singing along to one of the songs I’ve written. When it all boils down to it, though, it’s the people I’ve met and relationships that I’ve made along the way that are the most important.”
Sorestad said his songwriting ideas come from basically everyone and everywhere.
“Luckily, when there are a few writers in the room ready to write, we usually chat and laugh and visit before we get writing, and often something is said during that time where we say, “that’s it, let’s write that.”
He said he has done some writing about Saskatchewan, but finds it to be very challenging.
“How on earth can you capture all that is Saskatchewan in a song? I’ve tried to explain what our sunsets are like here on the prairies, and it’s virtually impossible. One day I’ll get it right, but for now I’ll let Saskatchewan shape who I am and how I relate to the world,” Sorestad said.
After seeing increasing success as time goes on, he finds himself motivated to keep improving and meeting his goals.
“I think my original goal when I started was to become a professional songwriter and have songs recorded by artists,” said Sorestad. “I had no clue that when I got to town, being in the Jenny Leigh band, I’d soon find out that I wouldn’t have time to play all of her shows. Eventually I stopped touring as a musician (bassist/guitarist) because my writing schedule was slammed.
“I’m continually adjusting my goals, and I think it’s important to do so. If I’d stopped after having 60 songs making records, I’d be done. Now I’m working toward a publishing deal, and I want my first top 10 song. I have no clue if either will happen, but I’m going to work at it.”
Sorestad has some advice for students in the Canora area who have big dreams that might make it necessary to move far away.
“No matter what your situation is right now, or what your goals are now, or what you think others think of you right now, everything can change if you want it to,” he said. “I grew up here. I bleed Rider green. If you asked me when I was wandering the halls of Canora Composite School if I’d be flying back and forth between Nashville and Los Angeles working in recording studios as a songwriter, I probably would have laughed at you.
“It’s funny, but I often use that Wayne Gretzky quote in the writer rooms in Nashville, “You miss 100 per cent of the shots you never take.” It’s true though. If I can do it, you can.”
Sorestad said these days a lot of people want to know where his music can be found.
“It’s pretty hard because I’m a songwriter and not an artist. I do have a SoundCloud page that can be easily found by a quick google search of Ryan Sorestad SoundCloud. The other way to keep up with me is on Instagram. I’m @CanadaRy.”
