"Feel Good Music" Lyric Video
"Stupid High" Official Video
"Stupid High" Lyric Video
"Faith" Official Video
BIO:
Jay Rydel is an American singer, songwriter, and producer born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. His music is rooted in rock guitar and explores pop, r&b, and hip hop vocals. If John Mayer, Andre 3000, D’angelo, and Justin Bieber formed a supergroup it would sound like Jay Rydel.
He’s made a living as a musician in Denver, Colorado for five years, and in 2020 he’s debuting original music as an independent artist. Jay spent the last five years writing, performing, and producing, but mostly learning that his success in music comes from throwing out all the backup plans.
Jay’s parents were both professional symphonic musicians early in their careers, so music education was mandatory for building self discipline. He started piano lessons at age 5 and then guitar at age 12. Singing was always part of music education at Paideia School in Atlanta, University of Colorado at Boulder, and with industry renowned vocal coach Jan Smith in Atlanta.
Careful to avoid music school because he feared he would burn out on music, Jay chose to study what would inform his life and career. In May of 2013 he graduated from CU Boulder with a double bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies and Political Science. Jay tried out and failed for the jazz ensemble, took classes in music technology, but ultimately found a calling in singing a cappella. He joined CU’s oldest a cappella group, The CU Buffoons, forcing himself to pry out of his shell, sing solos, and then take on managing the group his senior year.
The recent years after college Jay worked multiple jobs while managing and fronting his original funk rock band Dogs Got Flavor. In 2014 they moved from Boulder to Denver to immerse themselves in a bigger city after incidentally forming in the neighborhoods of Boulder at University of Colorado. They made a name for themselves in small social circles in Denver, but the night life culture in the open mic scene and the lack of creative direction in the band drove Rydel to leave the band and begin a solo project.
After being fired from a couple restaurant jobs he embraced the sign that it was time to find full time employment in music. Rydel worked on his craft teaching music lessons and playing freelance gigs while writing and producing in his spare time. After a few unprofessional and anti climactic years with full time cover bands, he learned what he wanted to avoid. Motivated to keep playing better gigs and writing inspiring music he is happy to patiently climb the ladder as an independent artist while having the best day job in the world running and walking dogs.
In 2019 he traveled to Australia to reorganize his lifestyle and play shows on a solo tour. He then flew to Colombia to see a friend and film his first ever music video for his debut single “Stupid High”. After Colombia he hopped over to Cuba to produce music and visit his friends making underground hip hop. He finished the year playing 125 shows mostly in Colorado including solo performances, shows with his band, weddings, and DJ gigs. 2020 will be another big year for Jay as he releases his debut singles and music videos. His trip to Europe and Denmark to play at the Musik til Roen festival has been postponed for August 2021.
