On The Row: Ian Munsick Brings The West To The Rest

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Ian Munsick

Warner Music Nashville’s Ian Munsick is on a mission to bring back western influenced country music. With his recently released debut album, Coyote Cry, the Wyoming native describes the project as “a firm handshake of the cowboy and the hippy, the traditional and the contemporary.”

Munsick grew up on a ranch, playing country and western music with his family band, The Munsick Boys.

“Modern western culture is one that is extremely underrepresented in today’s country music. Most people think that cowboys only existed in that age of the 1800s, but cowboys are still out there,” Munsick told MusicRow in a recent virtual visit. “They’re still out there doing work and being model Americans. They’re honest, hard-working people that you want as your neighbor and as your friends.”

He counts a wide array of musical artists as influences. “Being in the generation that I was born in, we’ve had access to Spotify, MTV, Apple and just everything. But growing up in Wyoming, we never had artists come through our state. The only ones were Chris LeDoux and more of that cowboy western [music]. I just remember as a young kid—probably eight years old was when it started—I was glued to MTV and to music videos, taking in all this music from System Of A Down to Eminem, to just everything that I could get my hands on.”

The 27-year-old’s access to music discovery via multiple platforms and his varietal taste in music inspired him to start producing his own music.

“That opened up the whole new world of hip-hop, pop, and rock music,” Munsick said. “Then trying to incorporate that into a country feel that I feel most connected to has been what I’ve been trying to do for the last few years. I think that this album is a strong interpretation of how modern the west is.”

He came to Warner Music Nashville with Coyote Cry fully formed, and made his WMN introduction with the dreamy, strikingly visual “Long Haul.” The tune will be his first single to country radio.

The 10-song project also includes a stomping romp about confidence called “Humble,” a Fleetwood Mac cover of “Dreams,” and a slow burner, “Come Home To You,” among other unique songs.

Munsick is signed under a co-management deal with The Erv Woolsey Company and his wife’s Caroline Rudolph Munsick / Not A Public Figure Management. After moving to Nashville in 2012 to attend Belmont, the singer-songwriter met Caroline, who was looking to start her own management company. They released an EP in 2017 and worked hard to establish a fully-formed brand with cohesive imagery.

“[The EP] started to grow some legs and we started to figure out our brand and how to capitalize on it. We decided that it was time to make a new album and went into the studio at the beginning of 2018,” Munsick said. “Once we had the project all done, Caroline and I were like, ‘Hey, this album deserves as much help as we can get.’ So Caroline and I reached out to Allen [Mitchell] and Erv [Woolsey].”

A few months later the team partnered with Warner Music Nashville.

“I’m definitely glad that we waited to form the right team around us because, as you guys know, the artist is only as good as the team around us. Our team is awesome and I’m very grateful to be with them.”

Pictured (L-R, top row): The Erv Woolsey Company’s Allen Mitchell, Warner Music Nashville’s Victoria Chaitoff, MusicRow‘s Haley Crow; (L-R, middle row): MusicRow‘s Sherod Robertson, Not A Public Figure Management’s Caroline Rudolph Munsick, Ian Munsick; (bottom row): MusicRow‘s LB Cantrell

LB Cantrell
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