from The Aspen Times on aspentimes.com

Just as fish are unaware that they're surrounded by water, and Aspenites don't notice the displays of extreme wealth in their midst, Ryan Bingham never paid much mind to the fact that his atmosphere was populated by the particular species of musician known as the Texas singer-songwriter. It's just what was there, in abundance, all the time, and perhaps he only would have noticed their presence if they had suddenly been taken away.

“The people I grew up listening to — Townes van Zandt and Guy Clark and Joe Ely and Terry Allen — these are just the people who were around,” the 29-year-old Bingham said from a tour stop in Eugene, Ore. “It didn't have anything to do with them being Texans. That never crossed my mind.”

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