Ryan Kinder Gets ‘Close’ to 90s Rock Inspiration on New Single

The 90s are back in style, folks, and Ryan Kinder wanted to get in on the trend by releasing a song inspired by the iconic rock music that came out during that decade called “Close.”

Written by Kinder, Lindsey Rimes and Jeremy Stover, the guitar-heavy groove takes listeners to the easy times of love when labels create pressure and the romance is all about just keeping things simple. Although the country newcomer was inspired by his personal relationship with his wife, he and the writers knew they could capture the universal feeling of going with the flow when it comes to getting ‘close’ with someone else.

“It was more of a ‘live in the moment’ sort of thing, no pressure on our relationship. ‘Cause I remember when I first met my wife—it was inadvertently about my wife—I didn’t want to screw it up and put a label on it too soon. I just wanted it to happen on its own and not shoot myself in the foot coming on too strong, so let’s just take it easy. Might not fall in love, but we can come close…that kind of thing,” Kinder explained exclusively to Sounds Like Nashville.

Inspired by the likes of Matchbox Twenty for the music and some 70s songwriters with the lyric side, Kinder embodied all parts to create his own country sound on “Close” that resonated with the music he was raised on and loved dearly.

“A lot of the vocal stuff comes from Rob Thomas and Marc Broussard ‘cause that’s who I absolutely love. And lyrically, I always try to be somewhere near The Eagles. Just love The Eagles. In my mind, I’m trying to get there, but it’s probably not that at all. Probably going very far right. If your heroes don’t come out of an artist, then that wouldn’t make sense. That’s why you’re playing music: your heroes. They’re the people that molded you,” he said.

Overall though, Kinder just hopes fans connect with his latest single in whatever way the lyrics find meaning for them.

“I hope they hear the lyrics for what they are and not…somebody said [“Close”] was a hook-up anthem and I didn’t have that idea at all come through. But I can see how people think that. But if that’s how you interpret the song, then more power to you. You do you,” said Kinder.

“Close” is currently playing on country radio now and listeners can add the rock-country track to their Spotify playlists or pick it up on iTunes.