RHYNE McCORMICK – THROUGH THESE EYES
Written by Gina Tutko-Usalis
PA Music Scene
July 2010
Well it is already July… can you believe it! Things are really heating up… baseball, hotdogs, fireworks, the temperature and music, Music, MUSIC. It is festival season and seems like life is filled with everything we love as Americans.
Being a music lover, this time of year is a chance to get out as much as possible to hear some of Pennsylvania’s most refined and gnarly musicians. This particular night it was Third in the Burg and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to swing into the Stage on Herr at the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center for some awe-inspiring music. 
Rhyne McCormick was on the bill with my friends HotWingJones and Novak. Due to unforeseen circumstances Novak was unable to perform and Mycenea Worley filled in. The show went on and I got to buzz talk with Rhyne about his passion… his music.
A mishmash of country, a bit of rock, stirred together with some blues and soul… Americana music best describes Rhyne’s genre.
It all started with his first guitar at the age of five, a father who played keyboards in a rock band that took his son along to many shows and getting involved with the choir at church. This childhood home was filled with the sounds of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Chicago, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Toto. His mother, who was not a musician, bought a lot of records, loved artists such as Jim Croce, Three Dog Night and Don McClain. All of these things combined were a huge influence with Rhyne’s musical tastes and writing styles. He formed a healthy love of music during those years and started playing professionally at the age of 29.
As an adult, artists such as Shawn Mullins, Martin Sexton, Edwin McCain and Ryan Adams have been his inspiration. Rhyne is also hoping to do a duet this Fall with his friend Tori Sparks from Nashville. “That will be a matter of timing because she does a lot of U.S. and European touring.” So who does he listen to outside of his own music…? “Well, the four guys I mentioned before as influences (Mullins, Adams, McCain and Sexton) but I don’t just listen to artists who fit into the singer/songwriter genre box. I love Moby, Keith Urban, anything that Jack White does, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, OAR and typically anything that’s done well.”
Writing lyrics and music is always a different adventure for this Americana artist. “Sometimes my songs are written in less than an hour. Other songs have taken me over a year to consider finished. Usually, it takes about a month of sitting down once or twice a week working on a song to finish it. My early songwriting was most often inspired by my life experiences (relationships, heartaches, successes, etc.). More recently, I am inspired by things I see when I‘m out and about. However, I still also write from my experiences.” stated Rhyne. I wondered if becoming a father affected his songwriting in which he replied, “I haven’t written anything that I could directly attribute to being a father. However, it has made me a little more sensitive to the fact that I won’t be on this earth forever which I didn’t recognize at all in my 20’s and 30’s. That realization has influenced my writing. My son’s birth has also made me take my music career more seriously. It has given me more drive to work harder to be successful.”
Usually his favorite song to put on is the last song that he has written which is currently his new song “She Still Prays” which is a song about some personal battles Rhyne deals with. He asked a certain someone if they still loved him to which they replied, “Yes and I still pray for you.” He tells me there is just “something” about having a new song to play.
We touched on a few of his songs – “Open Wound” is probably the first real song he wrote. It’s about getting your heart broken and realizing a rebound relationship would be bad. Sometimes you just need time to heal. The first recording he made of that song was with Bret Alexander & Paul Smith at Saturation Acres Recording Studio (Danville) in ‘99. It was the first song he had significant radio airplay with.
The song “Through These Eyes” is Rhyne just coming to the realization that music is his calling whether he is mega successful at it or just a local guy playing in the bar. Playing and writing is enough for him. “I don’t have to be the next Rob Thomas to be happy,” he says.
When you see Rhyne perform he is using his guitar and voice to touch all of us with his songs. However, around his home, he messes around with the piano, harmonica, mandolin and the accordion. He hopes to someday be proficient enough in all these instruments to play them in the studio and at shows. Central PA has become more open-minded when it comes to original music; that is appreciated immensely by both the musicians and the fans who crave such creativity. Everyone in the music scene that is involved with that should be applauded for making that happen. There has been much progress in the last ten years but there is still a long way to go reiterates Rhyne.
There are a few small venues in the area that Rhyne has never played yet such as Suba Tapas Bar in which he would like to experience performing. But overall, he would love to play more colleges, festivals and theatres. He has played at all of those types of venues before but would like to play those most often. Rhyne’s goal is to continually get better at what he does. The only negative things that can affect him are if the crowd is unresponsive and if the venue owner isn’t into supporting original music.
He doesn’t have aspirations of winning a Grammy or making millions of dollars but he does want to continue to make enough money to sustain his family, keep building his fan base and continue to keep his career in music moving forward. That is what would please him. Rhyne tells me, “Most of the time, I am my own biggest obstacle. Being self-managed, I do all the booking, all the promotion, all the songwriting. I do everything and then I go and perform an average of three shows a week on top of that. It can be hard to stay focused with so much going on. I‘m inspired a lot by the folks around me on a daily basis. Musicians like Mark DeRose and Steven Courtney that keep plugging away at what they love to do… writing and playing music.”
So what is it that Rhyne McCormick wants everyone to know…? “I want people to know that this isn’t a hobby for me. This is what I do for a living. I’ve done this professionally for 13 years now and it’s what I’ll do until I die. It’s almost a disease. I was born into this, I have no choice. I also want everybody to know how important it is to support the music they like. It doesn‘t matter if they like speed metal, gospel or rap. If you have a passion for certain styles of music, buy the record, go to the shows and tell your friends about it. That kind of support is so important to the artist, like me, out there making music. It‘s like the snowball effect, the more support we have… the more we will be inspired to do what we do. If you love something, just do it to the best of your ability and don‘t ever stop. Don‘t let others talk you out of it and don‘t get discouraged when things don‘t go your way, just keep pushing ahead!”
More information on Rhyne can be found at www.RhyneMcCormick.net and his albums can be purchased at www.CDBaby.com/cd/Rhyne and on iTunes. The last album Soul Dust can be found on both sites and the new CD Live at the Capitol Theatre will be listed on both sites by mid-July.
For bookings you can contact Rhyne: morkelmusic@hotmail.com
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