Hey guys it's Rylei Franks and if you've ever seen me perform live you know that sometimes I try to tell the story behind lyrics. So, I'm going to try my first podcast to do the same for this new song that I have called the father who raised. This time last year I found out I was going to be a dad. So, over the course of nine months, I started working on the song called the father who raised me. I began thinking about how my dad raised my brother and I and as I started writing I realized that each line had…

Jekyll and Hyde is a song that brings up the idea of mentality vs emotion. When writing the lyrics, I thought of the two classic internal dialogues we listen to (the head and the hart) pulling at the seams. I had a concept where I wanted the song to sound like two different songs being messed together which ultimately led me to recording an acoustic version and a pop/punk version. 

I first sent a track to my brother who said he liked the acoustic version more. So I spent a lot of time on making only an…

Recently the song "Excuse Me" from my catalog has been gaining a lot of attention on Spotify. Looking at the metrics, "Excuse Me" is gaining favor in places such as Australia, Spain, Brazil, and Canada. I can only guess the increase in plays this song has gotten is from its placement on recent playlists. According to CD Baby, Spotify's algorithm looks at unique user plays, shares, and playlisting positions.

A unique user play means that if I listen to the same song 100 times in a row isn't necessarily…

I can't believe it's almost been five years... 

My brother and I used to be in a band called Solution Zero. It was a metal band that consisted of my brother (Colton Franks), Devin Close, and myself (Rylei Franks). The band dissolved back in 2015, which led to me going solo. After that, my brother and I worked on writing songs for my solo career. It didn't take long before life got in the way of our music shenanigans. I went back to college to get my nursing degree; he started a business and a family. Soon…

One cold January day back in 2015. I got an email from the tv show The Voice saying that I was accepted into the second round of auditions and needed to be in LA to try out the next weekend. I booked a ticket and flew down. Lucky for me my dad was living in Santa Barbra. He picked me up and took me to the audition at the Lakers Stadium. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the next round. Later that day, my dad took me to the pier at Santa Barbra and we walked the beaches. You see the oceans in…

Home is where the Music is.

As I sit in the silence of my basement moving a load of laundry. I realize, since Covid-19 hit the US, I haven't played my guitar in months.  I pick up my guitar and my mind bursts with innovative words, strumming patterns and finger picking styles I can't remember ever playing before. As I look around I realize my home studio needs an upgrade. So I looked to the online blogs. 

I read on Cdbaby's blog how musicians are putting out a new song every week. Also how they've…

This goes out to all of my super fans!

I was playing my guitar the other day and created a chord pattern that sounded a little Irish. While playing, I started thinking of Irish lullabies and how it would be fun to make a second part to the song. I started dreaming of a guy who maybe didn't get the girl like he wanted. Keeping his hopes up and his head high he gets back out there. This is what I have come up with so far.

*note: This is a live recording from my basement on the first take. Don't judge the…

It was a cold windy February day. I was performing at the Moses Lake Brews and Tunes beer festival. My friends, (Taegan, Carmen, and Jordan) all toured the festival as I played. At every show I explain how my name is spelt. Only because it's so hard to spell correctly. After I spell my name out I say, "Franks like the hotdog". Well, my friends have heard me say this numerous times but it must have been the festival tour that got their creative juices flowing.

On a break,  Taegan came up to me and said he…

Today Facebook showed me a memory...

       It was a picture of me working with some friends making my first music video. I can remember it distinctly. It was on my first tour; I had called my friend Andrew who lives in Seattle. I told him I was making a stop in Seattle and was wondering if we could do a video together. We meet up early in the morning at the pier. Now Seattle is usually windy and rainy, but that day the wind was ferocious. Since I didn't have an album yet we had to record the video live…