Ranzel X Kendrick visits with Coyote Music about Costa Rica's "Pura Vida," learning song arranging from Roger Miller, avoiding Belgian Police, and much more!

Coyote Music: Ranzel, it's great to "meet" you! I've had the pleasure of reviewing your Hill Country Hip Best Of and the "Ms Mystery" single. In the moment, it took a second for it to click in my head: this is the same guy! Few artists' discographies and writing is prolific enough to warrant completely separate personas.

So let's start there. As I figured out, you've got two stage identities: Ranzel X Kendrick is the Americana artist and Alias Wayne is a melange of Rock, Blues, and all sorts o' stuff. Could you talk a bit about your story--how'd you get started and then how did you eventually grew into two artists rolled into one guy?

Ranzel X Kendrick / Alias Wayne: Thanks for the interview Wiley, I've read about you and enjoyed catching up with your history. And to answer...

It started long ago, when I was 7- or 8-years old and didn't know what a "genre" was yet. And around 9- or 10- when I was showing my multi-Grammy award winning Uncle Roger Miller a new song I wrote... He said, "Give me your guitar."

"You need a chorus," he told me. Then started showing me chord-combinations for a chorus. As I watched bewildered and wondering... "What's a chorus? What's a chorus?" I didn't know. So, I grew up in a world of widely different music genres pretty much embracing them all. And along the way I lost track of where the lines were supposed to be drawn. So, I just kept writing my style of new songs, getting the genres all mixed up in my earliest songwriting adventures.

Later in life people kept saying I needed to rein-in my songwriting to one genre. But that didn't interest me so I never did it; which kept me wondering how I would ever be able to come out with my music...until it dawned on me over Christmas 2017 I could start by releasing a trilogy of albums featuring my "Americana" / Texas Roots-Country-Folk music to give myself a normal artist identity people could comprehend.

Then my love Mia came up with "Alias Wayne" for all my "Alt-Indie"- Rock Blues Jazz & World songs. And I released my first alter-ego SNAFU EP, to escape always playing Americana songs.

CM: What do your friends call you?

RXK/AW: My love Mia calls me "doc," with a small "d," and some Costa Rican friends have taken to calling me that too. Otherwise, it's 50-50 between Ranzel or Kendrick. With lots of "Ranzel" pronunciations. My favorite is "Ramses" the Egyptian Pharaoh from the time of Moses. I get that a lot.

CM: You're from Boerne, Texas. My family is from New Braunfels, dating back to the mid 1800s. From an artist's point of view, what was it like growing up in the Texas Hill Country? And how did the blend of Country, German folk music, and Mexican Conjunto/Tejano affect you early on and then on into the present day?

RXK/AW: I was pretty young when I lost track of the rules for playing genres and I wrote all kinds of crazy things with all kinds of influences, none of which songs ultimately made the cut because I was just learning how to write and compose songs. But having that brave courageous young soul to keep innovating set me loose to write free of too many forethought constraints, and to just let go and be me.

CM: Costa Rica. Damn. I want to ask "What led you to living in Costa Rica?"

RXK/AW: 1- Artists often feel the gentle tremors the rest of the world doesn't recognize as anything but a mere misstep. So, for my sense of life balance, I couldn't live with all the blood-letting of the "Ms Mystery" persona--NACC / Spotify / YouTube-VIDEO. And the tremors were growing stronger and longer to me. The sun showed up in the wrong side of the sky one morning--like it was late afternoon at 10:00 am. My love Mia saw it too. Maybe nobody else noticed that extreme bending of time. But I'm an artist with a keen sensitive scrutiny to help me decipher such things differently than most.

Blood-letting? It's who they are as war-makers. And Life-saving is who I am being one of the peace-makers. It was so uncomfortable back in the States I didn't want to do it anymore. That began the whole Tilt in my New Life I am living at an advanced stage now from being down here so long. Pura Vida is real-world true Reality folks. Pacific Pura Vida - Caribbean Pura Vida - Central Valley Mountain Pura Vida are all real world Pure Life Pura Vida. No place else on earth. Only Costa Rica!!!

CM: But the answer is in the short video on your website. It's gorgeous!

RXK/AW: I walked outside the other day into our enormous view of paradise found a "cliente" staying in one of our cabins. And I stood beside him quietly overlooking the Main Lodge large deck that hangs out into the sky - facing the active Turrialba Volcano, when he said suddenly, "This is the most beautiful place in the world."

CM: Can you talk a little bit about the path that led to where you are now, physically speaking?

RXK/AW: We sold our cars and moved into a rental right across from Coles Beach by the Jaguar Center. We bought two nice custom-colored his & hers bicycles. That began our two years of living like the natives here. Riding in the light rain frequently. Always on the beach. We rode or we got a 3-wheel tuc-tuc taxi wherever we went. Every 90-days we had to leave the country and I went to Austin, Texas to record with friends there.

When we felt the whisper-in-the-wind calling we went into the mountains to look for someplace larger for more of our Stateside family and friends. Miracles started happening when we made an offer on the first place we went to, with no money to buy it. And we bought our current mountain home: The Lodge at Reventazon River Mountain Ranch. They countered the offer, and we signed the deal - with no money to pay for it. Next day or two - the money came in from years long-owed unpaid debts from my Texas real estate dealings.

So now we're here "Open" for free-spirited adventurer souls to come say hi and hang at one or two of our cabins a few days.

CM: Can you compare a typical gig in Costa Rica to, say, gigs you played stateside? From booking, to the rooms you play in (or maybe more outdoors these days), how compensation compares, and the ease/difficulty of booking and playing out here and there?

RXK/AW: There were lots of cool private gig opportunities the first two years living on Cocles Beach. The past 3+ years at the mountain it's been back-n-forth to Tres Rios or San Jose recording everything here now. Nothing live, no gigs. I live too far out in the middle of somewhere-else for that. But it's all good and lovely and quite wonderful in fact. It's either here or our "Pirate & Mermaid Beach House" in Playa Negra / Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean (See Booking.com) [Editorial Note: check out this place!]

Gonna be doing a livestream sometime when we get to it, and we will. That's gonna be fun! From the mountain top to the world kinda' gig right here at the ranch. Smiles.

CM: You've been doing this for a long time. Any fun/cool/crazy highlights that you'd like to share from your career up to now?

RXK/AW: Playing the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, New York back in the day was a really cool highlight. The band that was supposed to play went missing. The booker called because he knew we were in town, so we changed gears and took the gig on the fly just like that. There were so many people it was jam-packed. Standing room only with faces stacked high filling the large front window. I'll never forget it. We rocked the house and then some!! Then we all went our separate ways down our own paths, but that was one fun spontaneous gig night to remember!

CM: From my point of view, you're kinda living an enviable "hippy/beach bum" sort of existence, which most people dream about. What do you love about life in Costa Rica, and what are some challenges or limitations you've experienced there (if any)?

RXK/AW: What I love about life in Costa Rica is every day, every evening, every night and every new morning. It is a better life just being here, as I always say.

We have been burned badly many times by attorneys. I know... It's true. Paradise has devils about till Jesus returns, so they say. Then doing business with the wrong partners, which will happen anywhere. Living on the beach, you don't have a Wal-Mart around the next corner. That's inconvenient. So what. Riding bicycles in the sun and drinking too much, without drinking more water! That is not advised here in the Tropical heat.

Hippy. Beach Bum - I think we can live up to that. My love Mia and I learned it's not that bad. And the healing waters of the Caribbean will make you feel another kind of whole true peaceful goodness. The salinity in the Caribbean Sea so much different than the salinity in the Pacific Ocean. We love them both.

CM: Moving up to present day, what are you working on now?

RXK/AW: Super excited to be coming back from health crashes that had me in a wheelchair half the past 3 years or so. I'm looking good on my feet again these days! Hallelujah. Got some super exciting projects looming too, which I'll be proud to release this coming September: My Ranzel X Kendrick Texas Time Warp EP, and then a real special "pet project" with a full orchestra for Christmas. Yea, and I'm loving every minute of it. Working on these next up releases closing with the orchestra single for New Years 2025! Yes and amen.

CM: Looking ahead, what are your musical goals over the next 5-10 years? Are you focusing particularly on playing live, recording, or branching out learning new instruments, production, etc.?

RXK/AW: I guess all-of-the above in my dreams! And I split off into more Aliases to do it all maybe? Yes & No. Know or not. I'm thinking 5- to 10-years is an awfully wide swath of pavement or prairie. Hmmm... Stumped me on that one, mate. My goal is to invite people into their best-than-ever future for their best life - on good terms with God. Why not? I never told my crossroads story yet, but there was a bolt of lightning involved and the devil's offer sitting on the table. Streaming specific little gigs from the mountain or the beach will be coming soon!

CM: Music streaming. It's the bane of most of our musical existences but it's what we've got goin' on right now. How much do you work on keeping active with your streaming platforms and social media presence, to perhaps extend the reach of your music?

RXK/AW: Yep, you got my number. Streaming little shows from here is where I'm headed. And continuing to create and release new music like I've been doing. Not really traveling to play gigs. I like where I'm at and "that world" is very well covered by lots of talented people waiting in line - who like playing old music and don't mind playing the same songs over-and-over again live. I'll give it up to em and keep moving in my always-new directions with my new music on all new horizons.

CM: I'll wrap this up for now, but I could listen to you talk about life in Costa Rica for hours! Please share anything else that I didn't touch on that you may want to let folks know about.

RXK/AW: Thank you Wiley. Our Tinderbox Music promo team's got us thousands of returning YouTube visits monthly. So, we want to share some ongoing backstory adventures and stories to fill in the blanks of the songs and songwriting behind the music. And we stumbled outta the gates with a first few to get warmed up. But coming up next: the 3-part true music history behind "Ms Mystery"--a story that will leave you seeing things visually like you've never seen before. And it's just music, right? Yea, yea well...

"Ms Mystery": Modern-day frustrations at the tipping point with the ending from another song I first played publicly in Brussels, Belgium titled: "N Victory." I took the end of "N Victory" and tagged "Ms Mystery" with it. Whoa! What a story that was! That ending goes back to police sirens in downtown Brussels and I knew they were coming for me, and they were. And there I was singing a harmless song sitting at a little fountain in a strange world of statues and symbolism at the Botanical Gardens in the large front fountain area.

No way to tell that story in one release. More like 3- parts to cover where it goes next explaining the powerful backdrop to writing, performing and releasing "Ms. Mystery," which at last count had up to 1 million views on [my] YouTube [Channel]! And next, upcoming soon, the supernatural story behind it all.

Pura Vida mate! Keep on keeping on!