Culture & Entertainment Notebook: Scott City native Ryan Corn ready to 'set sail' for Shipyard Music Festival

Scott City native and Nashville recording artist Ryan Corn already has his set list ready for the opening of Shipyard Music Festival on Sept. 22 at Ivers Square Courtyard in Cape Girardeau.

"I've got some new songs that I'm really excited to play," Corn said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I'll play a few that have been released. I'll play some old ones, and I'll play some new ones, too."

Corn said he is "definitely prepping" for the show and already has his set list "hammered out."

"I'm just excited to come back home and play a show," he said. "Hopefully people say, 'Yeah, that makes sense. He went to Nashville. He's all right.'"

Corn has been singing since he was a child and comes from a "fairly musical" family, one "always singing," he said.

His uncle used to play the piano and his dad played the guitar, Corn said, with a childhood basically surrounded by music.

"We didn't listen to a lot of music, but we always sang a lot," he said.

Corn said he started playing guitar around the age of 15, shortly after buying a guitar for his father, who hadn't owned one in years,

"He didn't have one, and we finally got him his own for Father's Day," Corn said.

Corn can sing, "play drums, fake it on piano" and can play bass guitar, he said, which helped him leap into his current career doing what he loves in Nashville, Tennessee.

For Corn, the Nashville experience began about six years ago, he said, around the same time he began making trips back and forth from Missouri.

He spends his time now writing with other songwriters and recording, he said, but earlier in his career, he realized he had much to learn.

"I was with Curb Records for a while and they were great," Corn said. "I was just very ignorant when it comes to the music industry, and still am. I feel like there is so much to learn."

Since the move to Nashville two and a half years ago, Corn has focused on making music every day in the industry setting, he said.

And he feels as though he has "made great strides, hopefully."

His first self-titled EP was released in 2014, followed by another EP entitled, "The Pressure," in 2017. Corn's most recent single, "Pleasure & Poison" -- released this year -- is an example of how his music has evolved, Corn explained.

"I am always, hopefully proud of something when release day comes," he said. "And hopefully not tired of it or feel like I've grown past it by then."

Corn said he feels he's "found his sound" a little bit more than before.

"I think one of the most difficult things is figuring out what do you gravitate toward, which can be a number of styles and sounds, and what can you pull off," he said.

Corn "explored a few different things, and dabbled in some things," he said, when making the musical transition from 2014 to now.

Since moving to Nashville, Corn has "been writing a ton," and said he feels he has figured out what he can do well, musically.

"I did everything on 'Pleasure & Poison,'" Corn said. "I played everything, mixed it and mastered it. And that was post-record label."

When an artist has a record label, they pay for things and there are many resources available, Corn explained.

"But after that you figure out 'what's my budget', if it's not much, there are these creative restrictions and boundaries where you're like, 'Hey, this is all I've got," Corn said. "This is all I can do, so how do I make it work?"

Corn has spent a lot of time trying to make it work, he said, and the release of "Pleasure & Poison" is the result of those efforts

"There's something about just not knowing what's beyond, what's down the road, what's after you make the leap," he said. "You'll never know if you don't jump all the way in. I was for a long time keeping one foot on the shore, one foot in the water."

Corn is often reminded of something someone once told him: "If you don't fully set sail, how will you ever see past the horizon and how will you ever know what's out there?"

"Just taking a leap has been incredibly rewarding," he said. "I love that I get to do this every day."

Corn said he plans to continue releasing EP's instead of full-length albums because "it's just with the way music is consumed nowadays."

"I sometimes think a single is the best way to say, 'Hey, will you have a listen?'" Corn said.

Corn is still at the stage of "asking people to listen," he said, and plans to stick with releasing singles as his game plan for the near future.

"I have a lot of songs that I am really proud of," Corn said. "I think I'm just trying to decide which one to release next."

Corn is one of seven acts scheduled to take the stage at the inaugural Shipyard Music Festival on Sept. 22. The festival begins at 11 a.m. and ends 10 p.m., and will include food and drink vendors, and will take place at Iver's Square and the parking lots behind the Southeast Missourian.

Details and tickets for the upcoming Shipyard Music Festival can be found online at shipyardfest.com.