There is an entertaining book lurking in Ryan Malott’s memories. For two decades, he was the frontman and creative spark plug for the galloping Americana outfit 500 Miles to Memphis, and he’s always been quick to credit local legend David Rhodes Brown for being the catalyst of the band’s first major evolution, with his pedal steel prowess combined with his years of band and road experience.
In the same vein, Brown’s death from lung cancer in 2022 effectively put the final stamp on 500 Miles to Memphis. Brown had already been diagnosed when 500MTM released 2021’s Hard to Love, and Malott had the sense then that their self-described best album was likely their last.
“That is the loudest and most aggressive album that we’ve done and it’s my favorite,” says Malott over beers at the Northside Tavern. “I love that album. I’m most proud of the lyrical content of it. I really feel like I hit my stride with communication. And it’s loud. And fast.”
Three years ago, at a tribute concert for Brown organized by Malott, Kelly Thomas and Brown’s widow Bobbi Jean Kayser (who herself sadly passed away back in August after her own cancer battle) at the Southgate House Revival, Malott confessed that he was contemplating stepping away from music in order to concentrate on sifting through Brown’s tape archive to identify and release his work. He did just that, creating the Sad Cowboy label and releasing a trove of Brown’s recordings, making his catalog available digitally for the first time.
“I named the label after one of my favorites of David’s songs, ‘The Saddest of Cowboys,'” says Malott. “I created the label in the beginning as a platform to release old Warsaw Falcons albums because they’d never been released digitally. I went through tons of cassette tapes and stacks of CDs, and some of them were usable and I was able to extract the audio, clean it up and remaster it. I even had a lot of reel to reel masters that I was able to transfer digitally, remix and release. Everything held up pretty well. I was able to keep him alive through that. It was like he was always there. I was having conversations with him through the music, and I was appreciating him as an artist, which I had never done before. I got a bonus year of David.”
With the cessation of the process — save for one last album slated for release in the new year — Malott felt a natural emptiness, as Brown’s absence suddenly became more palpable. Although 500MTM played a couple of reunion shows, Malott realized that his passion for the band was inextricably intertwined with Brown, and that it was time to close the book on 500 Miles to Memphis.
“We did the reunion back in June, which was a benefit for Bobbi Jean, who passed just a few weeks after, and I reunited the Warsaw Falcons and played with them,” says Malott. “It was the first time I’d been onstage with 500 Miles to Memphis in two or three years. I’m up for reunion shows, but after the tour for Hard to Love, it just felt like the right time to stop.”
Perhaps the greater realization for Malott was the amount of time he now had to spend with his family, time that had previously been slated for writing, recording, local gigging and farther flung touring. He found full-time employment and reveled in returning to the home life he had precariously balanced with his band life for so many years.
“All that time investment I was putting into music is going to my children,” says Malott. “Now that limited resource of time is for my wife and kids, where it should be. I’m very lucky.”
Even as his ardor for his own work began to wane ever so gradually, he found that his love of music in general was gaining traction. With Sad Cowboy established as a viable label, Malott sought out artists who could benefit from his wide-ranging experience, in much the same way that he had absorbed similar lessons from Brown. In addition to the Warsaw Falcons material, Malott has subsequently released works by Bandages, Get Wrecked and Veronica Grim (who recorded Malott’s “Straight to Hell,” the last song he wrote for 500MTM that they never used). The rewards of those releases have been two-fold: exposing people to Brown’s incredible talents and to mirror the experiential wisdom that Brown bestowed upon him.
“I’ll have people message me and be like, ‘Holy shit, I didn’t realize David had these records out. I had never heard this stuff before and I didn’t realize how good David was,'” says Malott. “They’ll say, ‘Thanks for filling me in on this whole Dave thing. I’m going down this rabbit hole.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes! That’s what I did!”
“Then I started thinking about how I could keep the memory of David alive even more,” Malott continued. “David funded our second album, Sunshine in a Shot Glass; he introduced me to Erwin Musper, who produced it; he gave me a place to live. So I thought, how can I pay it forward? I’m not going to let anyone live in my house, but I’m going to continue this label and selectively record bands for free and help them pursue their careers. Sometimes that means helping them write or throwing on background harmonies or playing guitar; whatever I can do to help them make the best record possible. Then I give them like a kickstart to their career, like, ‘Here’s the contacts you need: You need a publicist; you need to play these festivals,’ and just share this knowledge that I’ve amassed over the years.”
Although Malott has largely set aside his own musical aspirations after a two-decade pursuit, he’s not averse to getting back on a stage for the right offer. Enter former 500MTM guitarist Stephen Kuffner, who called Malott and asked if he would be interested in playing with him at MOTR Pub. Always prepared to help a friend, Malott responded with a semi-rousing “Sure. Why not?”
“I didn’t ask for any details,” says Malott. “I was just like, ‘What’s the date? What time do you want me to be there?’ He didn’t tell me it’s with Owls of Ohio, his new band that he’s fronting. I found that out online. As far as material, I’ve got some new stuff I’ve been messing around with but haven’t recorded yet.”
An obvious question hangs in the air after Malott has discussed his love of family life and being satisfied with what he’s accomplished with 500MTM and the Sad Cowboy label. Given the right circumstances, would he ever return to music as a career, or was the title of 500MTM’s 2010 album, We’ve Built Up to Nothing, somehow prophetic?
“There are times that I’m like, ‘Nothing is great,'” says Malott with a laugh. “I don’t have any fucking projects on my calendar and I’m fine with that. I have zero responsibilities and stress as far as music goes. Children, day job, wife, home…that is about as much as I can handle anymore. As far as music goes, I’m not really thinking about it.”
And yet, Ryan Malott has songs that he’s been messing around with, and a studio in which to record things he hasn’t recorded yet. And he admitted that he’s inspired by the Clash, and he could start another band, and he could have another project left in the tank. Maybe, just maybe, that kind of math does itself.
Ryan Malott performs with Owls of Ohio at MOTR Pub on Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. More info: motrpub.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Nov. 26 print edition.
This article appears in Nov. 26-Dec. 9.