The Raw Humanity of Riddy Arman

In the fall of 2021, I traveled to rural Montana to direct Riddy Arman’s first music video and document her post-debut album lifestyle.   

I can’t recall which Waylon Jennings song was playing when Riddy Arman’s manager, Travis Blankenship, picked me up from the Montana airport. Close friends call Travis ‘Rural Sultan’ and like Riddy, he’s a larger than life presence.  Travis is a lovely bear of a man from Kentucky. 

My first impression of Riddy was how tall she was- 6’2, and that she had beautiful hazel eyes rimmed with green- much like my wife’s.

After spending five days with her, I found that you know exactly where Riddy stands at all times and yet somehow can’t put your finger on her. Every movement seems calculated, yet, inspired. You’ll catch her processing endless thoughts. Something deep is stirring inside her, almost always. Then, she escapes into the beautiful mundane of day-to-day pleasures: bathing her dogs, drinking coffee with her boyfriend, or listening to records. 

She both hates talking about herself and yet loves engaging that inner-self which investigates her intentions. It’s clear she treasures simplicity. There aren’t many things on the walls of the small, two bedroom country home she rents. All her furniture looks thrifted or donated. Riddy is sensitive and strong and loud and gentle; all the best characteristics of a cowboy. She seems to have a storm inside her capable of wreckage yet she pockets the tempered confidence of control. Riddy asks great questions and listens deeply. I believe she thinks she can learn much from others and is an incredibly empathetic conversation partner.  I can sense both a thick fear and peace within her. We talked often of “imposter syndrome.” She’s terrified appearing pretentious- perhaps a more appropriate sentiment would be that she treasures her humanity and the humanity of others. She protects this human connection at all costs. Riddy is quite aware of what the drug of fame does to a person’s humanity. 

To her it’s not about “not being bothered,” it’s about not becoming an entity to strangers. The irony is that Riddy wants her music to be heard by all who may connect with it. I am afraid of an apparent truth: the more who connect with Riddy’s music the more she becomes her music to those people and not the woman who her loved ones know fully. 

Music is a force. And listening to Riddy’s music is like watching a wall of rain charge your direction and then fully drench you. But even here, standing in a dense downpour, you cannot fully grasp Riddy’s humanity- her identity. The creation of personal art cannot keep up with the constant shifting internal landscape of a person. Riddy’s music is so closely connected to her heart, though, that she will continue to give piece after piece of herself to us all. I’ll be the first in line to buy her next album, longing to find more of myself in her songs and discovering more of my new friend, Riddy. 

We talked about the abandonment of the American small town midwest, the deconstruction of agriculture and traditional ranching. Riddy and Travis spoke of Tribal rights and the indigenous plight for their own voice. We listened to half-worked demos of an Americana artist we all admire- Travis somehow had a cut of them. We ate more burgers and fried food than I’d eaten in the past month. Riddy wasn’t greeted as a local celebrity, though they did share a story when a fan tracked down which restaurant she frequented asking about her. Most folks that know Riddy knew her as a friend first. Acquaintances seldom suspect she is anything more than a local ranch-hand and those in Riddy’s circle would never share that there are hundreds-of-thousands of people who love her music. Her friends know it’s not long until her fans number in the millions and I can feel a wall of protection being built around her. 

Riddy expressed interest in acting. She is a natural beauty and most importantly has a clear grasp on some intangible “emotional muscle” as Travis calls it. If she really wants that, I have no doubt that an opportunity will present itself in that medium. We bonded over our loath of the music video industry. She says that she’ll watch every Cardi B video that comes out. Her heart breaks with not only the content of the songs and videos but with the impossible standard that young girls have to put up with. She said that when she was younger she saw a woman at a ranch supply store and that she was absolutely taken by her presence. Riddy said, “She just looked like she knew what she was doing.” Riddy hasn’t fully processed what ways she is responsible for how her art influences others. She is very aware, however, of the unique space she occupies as a woman in the folk/country/Americana genre and music industry as a whole. I know that if I somehow well with pride at Riddy’s very existence, I can’t imagine the sight Riddy Arman is to the little women she hopes to inspire. 

On our final day, film anything. Riddy said she was “camera’d out.” I would be too if some asshole director badgered me with questions for five days, asked me to relive dark moments from my past and jump in a freezing cold river for a music video. So instead of asking more questions I sat and listened. Riddy and her boyfriend planned a birthday trip to Colorado, or maybe Santa Fe, or perhaps they’d simply hop (illegally) onto a railcar and decide when to jump off. All three dogs lay asleep. A punk vinyl I’d never heard played quietly in the kitchen. The recent cold front killed almost all the colony of flies. The two drank coffee until they ran out of beans. I loaded the gear into Travis’ rental, gave Riddy a long hug and thanked her. 

As I rode out of the long, tall valley for the last time, I was overtaken with emotion. For the first time, music didn’t play. We say in silence. I hate writing this next line because I know Riddy is going to cringe but I feel like I experienced the purity of an artist like no other musician on the horizon. I believe Riddy’s music will be eternal. I don’t know why God allowed me five days in late September to see a small amount of what is and will be the greatness of Riddy Arman, but He did.