Riddy Arman - Artistic Authenticity
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mountain & Prairie Media
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2022
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Riddy Arman is a singer-songwriter who lives in Montana's Mission Valley, a rural agricultural community in the state's northwestern corner. Riddy's self-titled debut album was released in 2021 and has received praise from renowned institutions such as Rolling Stone, as well as from many highly respected fellow musicians, including Colter Wall. Riddy and her music are highly influenced by the wide-open spaces of Montana, and she brings a deep level of authenticity and emotion to all aspects of her craft– from the lyrics, to the melodies, to her live performances.
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Born and raised in Ohio, Riddy left home after high school and began a long, winding, and interesting journey that took her to North Carolina for a year of college, to New York City where she worked as a model, and on an extended hitchhiking and train-hopping journey around the United States, just to name a few. She began writing and playing music in earnest while living on a farm in rural Virginia and eventually moved to Montana, a place she had long felt drawn toward. After a lot of hard work, creative experimentation, and determination, Riddy has figured out how to cultivate a successful music career far from the hustle and bustle of Nashville and deeply connected to the Montana landscapes that she loves.
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Riddy and I connected earlier this week and had a fascinating conversion about everything from her winding career path to her current success in the music business. We started out talking about her childhood in Ohio and how she unexpectedly ended up in New York City working as a model. We discussed some of her craziest experiences from traveling around the United States and when and why she decided to get serious about music. She talks about her commitment to be authentic, how she manages to stay calm, even when she's extremely nervous, and how she has managed to build a music career so far away from Nashville. We discuss the value of quiet time, mindfulness, the importance of mentors, favorite books, and much more.
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Be sure to check out the episode notes for links to everything we discuss. Hope you enjoy!
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- Riddy Arman: https://www.riddyarman.com/
- Full episode notes & links: https://mountainandprairie.com/riddy-arman/
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This episode is brought to you thanks to the generous support of Ranchlands. Visit www.ranchlands.com to learn more about their top-notch vacations, leather goods and apparel, or to explore their excellent blog, the "Ranchlands Review." THANK YOU, Ranchlands!
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 5:30 - Where Riddy grew up
- 7:50 - Riddy's connection to agriculture
- 10:15 - Dropping out of college
- 12:30 - Moving to New York City and modeling
- 16:00 - Music and writing while in NYC
- 17:15 - Decision to leave NYC
- 19:00 - Traveling, riding trains, hitchhiking
- 20:30 - Raised to be independent
- 23:00 - Lessons learned from the adventures of traveling
- 27:00 - Moving to Virginia, focusing on agriculture
- 29:00 - Settling down, connecting with the land
- 32:45 - Finding value in quiet time
- 34:15 - Sticking with music for good
- 35:30 - Riddy's writing process
- 37:45 - Transition to performing
- 40:45 - Dealing with nervousness
- 44:00 - Breathing and other ways to calm down
- 47:15 - Riddy's deep connection with Montana
- 51:30 - Building a music career from rural Montana
- 56:30 - Process of being authentic and putting herself out there
- 58:30 - Artists that Riddy admires
- 1:01:45 - Advice for creatives
- 1:03:50 - Favorite books
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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody is Ed. Before we get started I have two quick announcements. The first one as usual I want to thank some new podcast supporters |
| 0:08.9 | Bridget LaRach and Stephen Donk |
| 0:12.4 | both Bridget and Stephen went to Mountain Pray.com and they joined a very, very long list that you can actually see on the web page of folks who have supported the podcast financially over the years. I really, really |
| 0:24.4 | appreciate it. No pressure there at all. The podcast is free and always will be, but if |
| 0:28.9 | you are so inclined you go to Mount and Prairie.com slash support to learn more about that. |
| 0:34.2 | And second, I want to thank my good friends at Ranch Lands for supporting this episode. |
| 0:39.9 | Most of the folks who listen to this podcast know about ranch lands. They're a ranch management |
| 0:43.7 | company that operates some of the west's most iconic large-scale ranches, including the |
| 0:48.6 | nearly 90,000-acre Chico Basin Ranch here on the front range of Colorado |
| 0:52.3 | and the 50,000 acres of |
| 0:54.4 | Potter Ranch on the western slope of Colorado Songre de Cristo Range. |
| 0:58.1 | But calling Ranch lands a simple Ranch management company is a pretty ridiculous understatement. |
| 1:04.7 | They offer one-of-a-kind ranch vacations at the Chico and Zapata. |
| 1:08.4 | They offer high quality leather goods and apparel at Ranchland's Mercantile, and they have one of the best blogs in the American West and they call it the |
| 1:16.5 | Ranch Lands Review. On top of all that there's some of the West's foremost experts |
| 1:21.6 | in conservation and holistic land stewardship. |
| 1:25.2 | There's obviously tons of overlap between what I'm doing here at Mountain Prairie |
| 1:28.8 | and the important work that everyone at Ranchlands is doing. |
| 1:32.0 | I consider them friends and collaborators and I'm |
| 1:34.8 | actually doing my strenuous life retreat at the Zapata Ranch this fall. I have the |
| 1:38.9 | highest respect for everything Ranchlands does, so I'm honored to have them as a supporter of this episode. |
| 1:45.2 | I'd encourage you to go to Ranchlands.com to take a look at all of their offerings if you're |
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