Even though Ryan Necci—the founding member, bandleader, and namesake of Ryan Necci And The Buffalo Gospel—now calls Tennessee home, we’ve continued keeping tabs on him since he left Milwaukee to start a career as a professional songwriter. Since relocating, Necci has been part of some exciting co-writes and has made the most of awesome opportunities in the Nashville music scene.
On Saturday, December 6, Necci will return to his former hometown to join his Buffalo Gospel bandmates on stage at Vivarium for their annual Milwaukee concert. Prior to next week’s homecoming concert, Milwaukee Record caught up with Necci to ask him about his brand new album, the process of writing and recording long distance, the tradition of playing in Milwaukee each fall, and what’s in store for Buffalo Gospel in 2026.
Milwaukee Record: While writing songs with or for others, you’ve quietly been at work on The Dead Can’t Take A Hint, which came out last week. Given the volume and breadth of songs you write, how did you determine which songs from your extensive catalog would live on this record? I guess, what about these songs made you say “this one’s for me”?
Ryan Necci: That’s a great question. A lot of the songs I’m lucky enough to write these days are with one or more co-writers. You’re all aiming at the same star, the best line should always win and when it’s working, it’s a beautiful dance. There’s usually some sort of vague assignment, and commercial appeal plays at least a small part in the process. For better or worse, it’s just kind of the nature of the beast down here in Nashville.
The Buffalo Gospel project has always been a home for the ideas I catch that I just don’t really want to compromise on for one reason or another. Maybe the story I had in my head was one I didn’t think I needed help telling. Maybe there were lines that I knew were too strange to make it in the writer’s room, but felt like something I hadn’t heard before. I think it’s more of a gut feeling than anything.
This batch of songs, in particular, came about in a pretty short period of time. My partner was going through some relatively serious health issues and we were home-bound for a bit while she, thankfully, fully recovered. I think I was trying to keep everything I was feeling at that time from burdening her, and all of that fear, hope, anxiety, resignation potentially wound up in these words.
MR: What are some themes the album touches on? In my first handful of listens, I’m hearing the mournful and introspective style Buffalo Gospel has mastered through the years, but I’m also hearing a palpable sense of warmth, comfort, and acceptance throughout the record that wasn’t always at the forefront of past releases. Am I off base with that?
RN: I think that’s probably very accurate. I’ve always been pretty hard on myself and it’s easy for me to fall into the “what could I possibly have to say that’s worth listening to” trap. As I’ve gotten a little older and seen how fragile all of this can be, I think I’m more comfortable letting myself enjoy the discovery process and not chase as much. There isn’t as much pressure. Songs don’t have to be everything all at once. They can be the smallest moments. In fact, sometimes those are the heaviest hitters, I think. They don’t have to make perfect sense to anyone else. However, there’s a reason there’s a billion songs about love and death and heartbreak—it’s because those things are universal. So it becomes a game of trying to find new ways to say old things.
MR: Though this project began in Milwaukee, the band’s members are now split between three states and collectively have a bunch of other artistic endeavors vying for their time. First, how was the album even recorded? And how did you all find a way to add your own personal stamps to it while navigating the distance and limited availability?
RN: I don’t say enough how insanely lucky I am to have this band helping bring the songs to life. They really are top-shelf humans and musicians. It makes creating such a joy. Our bass player and my longtime musical brother, Kevin Rowe, and I produced this one. It had been seven years since we released a proper record and we decided to approach this album much differently than anything we’ve done in the past. The band was thankfully up for the challenge. The whole process ended up as a very low-budget, DIY situation. We self-recorded everything with inexpensive gear in whatever spaces we could find—living rooms, basements, attics.
I started working on these songs in my small home studio. It’s a one-room space that I built out in our barn during Covid. When I began recording, it was more an exercise in remaining sane while my wife was slowly getting healthy again. I ended up with something that felt roughly like an album to me and decided we should see what we could do with it as a band.
Kevin and Haley [Rydell] came down to Tennessee and we borrowed an old empty log house that’s down the hill from ours to start building the songs out. We hung up moving blankets for isolation and ran cables from room to room. They recorded all of their parts over the course of two or three days. Nick [Lang] recorded the drums and percussion at his home in Milwaukee. Kevin and I met up with Andrew [Koenig] there for a few days and recorded all of his guitar parts.
I brought all that home, put a rough mix of the songs together and then handed everything off to my friend and collaborator, Teddy Morgan, to do the final mixing at Creative Workshop here in Nashville. The goal was definitely for it to feel as alive and real as possible—warts and all. I think Teddy smashed it out of the park. We were also lucky enough to have the legendary Richard Dodd master everything for us.
MR: Now that the album is out, you’ll be able to truly celebrate its release with two early December shows, including a December 6 homecoming show at Vivarium. Why has it been so important to return to Milwaukee every fall? And can you talk about the excitement of getting to play many of these songs in front of family, friends, and some of your longest-tenured and most devoted fans?
RN: We started doing the homecoming show as a little celebration of the year with the folks that have been so good to us since the beginning. They’ve grown a little each year and I’ve talked to a handful of people who have fully incorporated it into their holiday plans which makes my heart almost burst. I do have to be a little careful that I don’t lose my voice before the show, talking to all those dear friends and family. It’s a real gift to see our loved ones every year. Milwaukee is always going to be home and we’ll keep coming back as long as it’ll have us.
MR: Once the album has some time to reach people and after these Midwest shows are over, what’s next for you? And what’s next for Ryan Necci And The Buffalo Gospel? Any specific hopes or big plans for 2026?
RN: It sure will be nice to add these new ones to the set list and see what happens when we get a chance to play them on stage. It’s always fun to see how they change after we work our way through them 20 or 30 times. We were off the road most of the year and I’d like to try and change that in 2026. I really enjoy playing house shows lately and smaller non-traditional places. We’ve been talking about doing a couple weeks of those kinds of shows throughout the Midwest. We’ll see how that shapes up.
MR: Anything else you’d like to add about the album, this project, Milwaukee, or anything else?
RN: I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone that takes a chance on the album. There’s no machine pushing it. Just good folks like you. I don’t think most people realize just how important they are to the success of an artist, album, or song. Every little interaction. The simple act of sharing something you like with someone else that might like it is valuable beyond words and we’ve been lucky enough to have friends that are so willing to spread the songs. Grateful doesn’t do it justice.
Ryan Necci And The Buffalo Gospel will headline a show at Vivarium on Saturday, December 6. The band’s new album, The Dead Can’t Take A Hint, is currently available on all streaming platforms and for digital download on Bandcamp. Necci says CDs will be available “very soon and there’s a limited batch of vinyl being pressed” that will be offered for pre-sale in the near future.