Ever gracious, when Southold musician Brady Rymer learned that he wouldn’t be taking home a Grammy Sunday, he immediately turned to Facebook with a message for the winning artist.
“Congrats to GRAMMY winner Neela Vaswani for ‘I Am Malala’,” he wrote.
Reflecting on his experience, Rymer told SoutholdLOCAL that he was happy to have embraced the experience. “I’m just so proud and excited to be at the Grammys with my band and my family. ‘I Am Malala’ is such a deserving project, and Neela, the narrator, is my new friend. Congratulations to her!”
Rymer also noted the scores of North Fork friends and neighbors who tuned in to the Grammys to get a glance of Brady and his family, who all came along for the journey.
“I loved all of the support from friends and fans,” he said. “So much fun feeling their support and encouragement. Our fans rock! We’re gonna enjoy the rest of the night and take the kids to some cool parties.”
One year after launching a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a new album, Rymer was nominated for a Grammy for the second time after the record’s successful release.
Rymer was nominated last Friday for his current Kickstarter-funded CD “Just Say Hi!”; his second Grammy nomination in the children’s category.
The album was produced after over $20,000 was raised last year in a Kickstarter campaign.
Rymer, who performs with his band, The Little Band That Could, said it felt “incredible” to be be nominated. “And maybe even better the second time around. We appreciate the honor and recognition so much and we worked hard on this last album,” he said.
The Kickstarter campaign just added to the significance of the nomination, Rymer said. “The Kickstarter campaign is one meaningful aspect. It was inspiring and overwhelming to have that kind of support from our fans, and that made us want to make the best album we could. Since they gave us the generous gift of their initial support, we wanted to give them something special. I think we did that,” Rymer said. “The nomination is the cherry on top.”
Having his lifelong mission of creating quality children’s music acknowledged with a second nomination, Rymer said, is “definitely affirming. It’s just nice to know that my music is bringing kids and families together. The recognition will hopefully get the music out to more people.”
Reflecting on his professional journey, Rymer said the best part has been making a connection with the audience. “Either during a live show or hearing about what the music means to them when they play it at home. That feels the best — to know that some song that I was having fun with has been created, gone out into the world, and has touched someone else’s life. Sharing that moment together is a wonderful feeling.”
The album “Just Say Hi!”, Rymer said, has an important message: “Be friendly, take a chance on saying ‘hi’, or approaching a situation — have your hand out and always give ‘em a great big a smile! ‘Cause you never know,” Rymer said.
The record was the seventh for Brady Rymer & the Little Band That Could, and was being created, Rymer said, for “families that rock.”
Looking ahead, Rymer said he has a few albums “percolating right now” and hopes to start recording something new in 2015, perhaps a lullaby album. “I recently discovered a batch of tunes that I wrote for my daughter when she was born in 1998. It could be perfect timing to record them now, as she’s in her last years in high school, heading towards college.”
