Ben Rector sells out Ryman, stays grounded

There are plenty of reasons why Nashville musician Ben Rector is more popular than ever these days — but let’s not discount the power of positive thinking.

Unlike some other heart-on-sleeve singer-songwriters, he doesn’t seem to have any interest in moping around.

“I feel like windows rolled down, new city, streets and cabs,” he sings on the title track of his latest album, “Brand New.” “I feel like anything can happen.”

He sings about love while celebrating the pop music of his youth (“Favorite Song”), and quiet nights at home (“Crazy”). He’s trying to better himself (“Note to Self”) and keeping in mind that he’s been more fortunate than others (“The Men That Drive Me Places”).

Rector’s outlook has clearly struck a chord with listeners. “Brand New” debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard charts last month, and Rector has two sold-out concerts at the Ryman Auditorium Friday and Saturday.

As we learned during our chat, Rector might be one of the most humble guys to headline two nights at the Ryman, too. We also talked about his biggest Netflix binges, his goal to make a “life-giving” album and the hard-working guys that inspired one of his songs.

He had a plan to stay positive on “Brand New.”

“I wanted to get back to when music was a passion, and remember what that was like when I was in college. I was stealing time from other stuff to go and write songs. Everything was kind of new, and inspiration wasn't that hard to come by. The longer you do something, the harder it is to be naive like that. I'm never going to be able to make another first record, but my goal with this record was to make as close to a first record as I could. I was like, 'Man, I just want to make something that's just vibrant, life-giving, and just jumps out of the speakers.'"

“...I think some people are pretty adept at dark stuff. Not dark (as in) bad, just more somber stuff, you know what I mean? I don't know if I'm particularly good at that. I wanted to make something that was vibrant.”

“The Men That Drive Me Places” was inspired by two actual cab drivers he had.

“Those are two real guys, and it's pretty much exactly how I say it in the song. I was flying to California and had to leave at 5:30 a.m., and (Danny) showed up 15 minutes early and was so professional and in such a good mood…

"Most people I encounter when I'm on the road, I'm just like, 'Man, this guy is just as (special) as I am or any of the guys on tour are. For whatever reason, we got dealt a weird hand of musical aptitude at a time in history when people think that's cool, and it can be lucrative. For whatever reason, people celebrate that. It's like being celebrated because you're tall.

"As I was talking to Danny, I was like, 'Man, this guy should be up on stage at the Ryman, and we should be clapping for him.' There's a lot of reward in music. There's applause, and you can make money and things can grow. For Danny, he's paying for night classes by driving a cab so that he can be a computer technician. And he's brilliant, and great with people. He had ironed his dress shirt. He was awesome, and I guarantee that if I was in his shoes, I don't think I'd do as good a job as him.

He’s still surprised by his success.

“I never thought it would look like this. When I was in college, I thought, 'What if there were enough people in more than one city for me to actually be able to go out on tour?' When that started happening, I was like, 'Well, this is as big as it's gonna get. This is so cool that I got to do this, but it's downhill from here.' With anything that's ever happened, I keep thinking that. I feel like I'm probably the most surprised person with the way (my career) has gone. I believe in it, and I think it's worthwhile and good, but I'm not the guy who (says), 'You're gonna see my name in lights!'”

His biggest Netflix binges have been for ‘80s and ‘90s sitcoms.

“I don't know why, but my wife and I got into watching old sitcoms. We watched all of 'Frasier' and all of 'Cheers.' We started 'Wings,' but we couldn't make it through that one. Then sometimes I would get home from a tour and need to decompress a little bit. There were definitely some evenings where we motored through — this is a guess — but maybe 10 episodes of 'Frasier.'"