The music of country duo Fast Ryde serves as the perfect soundtrack for Saturday night. With their catchy melodies, irresistible beats and soulful country voices, Fast Ryde captures the youthful anticipation of a night when anything can happen, fun is the only goal and a man is still largely defined by his potential.  "See these are the days/ ain't gotta work, got plenty time to play/ My favorite station blaring everything good, bright sunlight shining off my hood," they sing in "Top Down."

By fearlessly defying conventional musical boundaries, James Harrison and Jody Stevens have created a cutting-edge sound that isn't easily definable. These artists and their music are truly a product of their age, a time when the younger generation is influenced more by diverse iPod shuffles than a single radio format.

"I often refer to it as new country and I've also called it party country," says James. "It's a hybrid of a classic American tradition mixed with the sensibilities of the information age. Most kids today listen to Tim McGraw, Jay-Z and Nickelback, all in the same CD player. We're a filter of all of our various influences filed down into a pure American sound. It's in the country genre because we tell stories with our songs and connect with listeners. This is the values of country, the effect of country, but with a slightly larger pool of influences."Our stuff is very forward; we don't use a lot of hidden meaning," James says. "The title of the song is what the song is about. It's straight forward fun, sleek, youthful and fast. We have some songs about cars and girls, things that red-blooded American people can get into."

The duo wrote all of the songs and played all of the guitar parts on their self-titled debut project, which they co-produced with Jody's father, Nashville songwriter/producer Jeff Stevens. "Cashville" pays homage - or "throws out props," as James says-- to Music City, "a great place for young people because you can meet like-minded people and forge your dreams and alliances." The anthemic "Crunk" is a party song depicting a young act that convinces their fans to let go and throw caution into the wind. "'Riding Dirty' is probably going to be one of those songs that people with trucks or people who go mudding will really like," says Jody. "It's very fun, got a great youthful energy and it's just very rockin.'"

As much Southern as they are country, they have blended their own individual styles, which have been influenced from artists ranging from George Strait and Lynyrd Skynyrd to Conway Twitty and Stevie Wonder, to create a distinctive new sound that benefits from the duo's Yin-yang relationship of complementary opposites. They explore the best aspects of pop, rock and R&B and experiment with various technologies heretofore unheard in country. For instance, "Top Down" breaks ground by introducing country music to the auto tune effect, a technology that affects the vocal pitch that's usually found in pop and rock.

"We made a record that sounded like nothing else anybody has ever put out," Jody says. "I'm not sure if that was the goal, but it happened accidentally. That's just how we make our music."

Jody, who was born in West Virginia and moved to Hendersonville, Tenn., at age 5, listened to country radio every day while growing up because his father was a recording artist on Atlantic Records. Later on, Jeff became a successful songwriter, penning "Carrying Your Love with Me," "Carried Away" and "True" for George Strait, as well as "Back When" for Tim McGraw and "All My Friends Say" for Luke Bryan, whom Jeff produces. "The reason I didn't decide to be a country artist until a few years back was that I was trying to fight doing what my dad does," Jody says. "That only lasted so long."

Jody began playing drums at age seven and guitar a few years later. "My dad would have some of his stuff lying around and I would play it," he says. "When I got old enough, I would just inherit it." His first public performance was in fifth grade, when he delivered a drum solo to "Life Is a Highway." From sixth to ninth grade, he played drums in the school band, but chose sports over music while attending Hendersonville High School, where he won several wrestling medals.

But music eventually won out, and he studied audio engineering at a Nashville school and then engineered tracks for other artists. "I would play all the instruments on there and they would have something to sing to," he says. Inspired by his father, he began writing songs almost obsessively, sometimes creating as many as six in a day.

James, who was born in Jacksonville, Fla., was also influenced by his father, a guitar player who performed in bands and stayed at Lynyrd Skynyrd's famous "Hell House." James' family moved to Knoxville, Tenn., when he was 12, the same year he picked up a guitar. During high school, he sang in the school choir, which led to All-State honors as a junior and senior and a vocal scholarship to Middle Tennessee State University.

His first public performance was at 15, when he joined friends for a band gig at a Florida club. He began writing songs at age 16 and performing solo in coffee shops a year later. While in college, he joined a popular local band that opened for several national touring acts. After graduating from MTSU with a degree in education, he worked in the kitchen at the famous Bluebird Café and slept on a friend's couch while pursuing his musical dreams. He signed a music publishing deal, which allowed him to devote all of his efforts to singing and songwriting.

Troy Turnbow, who worked at the publishing company, was familiar with Jody's work and thought he would be a great collaborator with James, so he introduced the two men in 2007. They wrote a few songs together and the positive response was immediate, overwhelming and at a level in which neither had experienced with their solo work. It took the two of them finding each other to find themselves musically. "I felt like for the first time I was stumbling upon music that was close to what I naturally felt inside," says James. "It was coming together in a very organic way."

They performed "Cashville" at the Bluebird Café and received a strong audience response. The next song they wrote was "That Thang," the idea for which came to Jody while he was driving to a Nashville hotel for the duo's second public performance. "I called James up and told him about it," Jody says. "By the time I'd gotten there, I'd already had some lyrics texted into my phone."

Recalls James, "We wrote it in 35 minutes and my jaw dropped, 'This is insane.' We didn't think we were Lennon/McCartney or anything, but we knew we had just served up a delectable piece of candy. The next day, Jeff called and said, 'That song you wrote last night, I think you can get a record deal with that.'" He was right.

A& R executive Allison Jones heard their music and was so impressed that she gave the CD to her boss, Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records and its sister labels, The Valory Music Group and Republic Nashville. "Scott called and said he loved it," Jody says. "He said he had been blaring it at all hours of the night in his office and was dancing to it with his wife."

The duo played three songs for Scott in his office and chatted briefly. "Then we hear a rap on the door, and one by one, every member of the staff comes in, with clipboards in hand for a meeting," James says. "We play another five or six songs for the people, probably the most harrowing experience I've ever had in my life. Scott immediately took us in his office and said, 'I want to do something with you guys.' When he left, Jeff said, 'That is something that only happens in movies.' We were ecstatic."

Borchetta, a music veteran who discovered Taylor Swift, says, "Fast Ryde's music hit me as the freshest thing I've heard since Taylor's music came into my world. It's very Southern and suburban. This is right from the youthful country streets of the South, not the red dirt road. It's as addictive as Southern soul food cooking, Southern girls, four-wheel drives and Saturday night."

Musician, Entertainers, Country Music, Musical Performance, Celebrity Singer-Songwriter, Music,