For aspiring country singer Ryan Notley, inspiration comes anywhere, anytime.On one occasion, it was while on the job unloading a forklift.“I'd just yell at one of my co-workers to get me a pen and paper because I'd just be on the forklift and something just came to me,” Notley said.He just recorded his first release in March this year. It's a self-titled, three-song disc featuring the songs, Diesel Smoke, You Mean the World to Me and Don't Say Goodbye.The EP is his only release to date and can be found at Home Hardware in Olds, on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.Notley, 20, moved to Olds 11 years ago from Strathmore. He currently works at Normark Construction.He started singing at a 4-H fundraising talent show as a 15 year old. He did not have much prior experience but used his deep voice to belt out Josh Turner's A Long Black Train.Following his performance, Notley said he received a standing ovation and people started encouraging him to pursue music.“Actually a couple months later I wrote my first song. That's kind of how it started and I haven't stopped yet,” he said.After his time in 4-H, Notley took formal singing lessons. He has also been a self-taught guitar player for the last eight years.Notley describes his songwriting as simple, drawing on life experience and those of his friends.“I just get an idea in my head or something that happens to one of my friends. I'll take that scenario, maybe twist it around a little bit,” he said. “About an hour-and-a-half sometimes for a song. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks for a song; just for the lyrics, not music.”The inspiration for the lead track on his CD came from one of his friends who suggested he write about the ubiquitous pickup trucks.“I drive a diesel and my little group of friends drive diesels, right? And he said, ‘You should write a song about diesels and what they call rolling coal, campfires and stuff like that,'” he said.When it comes to other musicians, Johnny Cash is Notley's biggest influence for the way he tells his life story through song.“I don't think there's any equivalent to him,” he said.Notley has performed at a couple of functions, including the Kiwanis Music Festival and at the Silver Springs Golf and Country Club in Calgary. His biggest stage was singing the national anthem at the Strathmore Stampede before 10,000 people.He wants to pursue music as a full-time career and has made some key contacts in the industry, though he was coy about revealing their names.“I got a few friends that can point me in the right direction. In this business, it's all who you know and we got in touch with a few fairly famous people in Canada so I'm kind of hoping they might get my foot in the door a little bit.”[email protected]
