When Tyler Rich was growing up, there were a few artists who left a lasting impression on him when he saw them in concert, and cemented his desire to be a performer and a songwriter. His first concert ever was George Strait, who is one of his musical heroes to this day, but he says, “Four years later I went and saw Papa Roach. They had just been blowing up. It was them and Linkin Park, and that was the moment I knew that I needed to be on stage.”
The same month he saw Papa Roach in concert is the same month Tyler got his first guitar and started trying his hand at songwriting. But there was another band called Augustana that had a profound impact on the kinds of songs he wanted to write. Tyler says, “Dan, the [lead] singer, is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. And they were playing in San Francisco, which is pretty close to where I grew up. And we went and saw them at this small theater and just watched him with his piano sing these songs and just captivate an entire crowd for so long. And that was my milestone of being like, ‘I need to write real music, not just energetic music.’”
While Tyler didn’t write his debut single, “The Difference,” he has written plenty of other songs, many of which will be on his debut album.
Tyler Rich – impactful live performance :45
“Four years later I went and saw Papa Roach. They had just been blowing up. It was them and Linkin Park, and that was the moment I knew that I needed to be on stage. That was the month I actually got my guitar. The same month. Yeah, like two weeks later. And just little milestones, I guess you would say, like George inspiring me in general. Leading into that rock show, I saw and the energy and me being like, ‘I’ve got to be on a stage,’ to … I remember right when I was out of high school, there’s a band called Augustana, and Dan, the singer, is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. And they were playing in San Francisco, which is pretty close to where I grew up. And we went and saw them at this small theater and just watched him with his piano sing these songs and just captivate an entire crowd for so long. And that was my milestone of being like, ‘I need to write real music, not just energetic music.’”