Backstage Country

LISTEN LIVE

Ryan Hurd: What He’s Wanted To Do Since He Was Eleven

Ryan Hurd has been spending the last year at home with his wife Maren Morris and their toddler Hayes, but he’s ready to get back to playing for fans all…

Ryan Hurd: What He's Wanted To Do Since He Was Eleven
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Ryan Hurd has been spending the last year at home with his wife Maren Morris and their toddler Hayes, but he's ready to get back to playing for fans all over the country.

Ryan told us, "It’s been so weird to be home. I’ve loved the time I’ve gotten to spend with Maren and our baby. If you’re going to pick a year to have to take off, I think this would be the one for us. But obviously, we miss our fans terribly. I missed the bus; I miss my band. I miss certain songs that I always look forward to in my set. And so when we do get the green light to kind of let it go, I’m really excited to have that bus pull up and to jump on it and to sleep in my bunk and then play a rock show."

He adds, "That’s what everybody who does this job dreams of doing when they grow up. And this is the only job I’ve ever wanted since I was 11 years old. So to have that part of it taken away was hard. But I know that once we get the green light, it’s going to be full go, full send, and it’s going to be amazing. So I can not wait to see all of you out there. Cannot wait to play some shows and turn up really, really loud."

Ryan and Maren

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.