India Ramey - Blazing Through Outlaw Country’s Revival | Instagram Live | Rugged Revival
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There's something quietly radical about watching a woman trade a career prosecuting domestic violence for a path through honky tonks and dive bars, armed with nothing but a guitar and a refusal to soften her edges. India Ramey isn't your typical outlaw country narrative—not because the story doesn't fit the genre's rebellious spirit, but because she's lived too much of it to need to perform it. The Appalachian-raised singer-songwriter carries the weight of her past in every note, transforming personal trauma into unflinching songwriting that's become the cornerstone of contemporary country's most vital revival.
When Camden caught up with India on Instagram Live, you could sense the kind of weariness that comes from juggling multiple lives simultaneously—the touring musician, the working artist, the woman trying to stay on top of timezone mathematics and a packed schedule. These are the unglamorous realities of carving out space in country music without corporate backing or industry machinery, yet India navigates it with the same unflinching resolve that likely served her well in a legal career spent in the trenches of some of the darkest human situations imaginable.
I have like two sets of shelves upstairs in my closet that are just boots.
— India Ramey
What emerged across their conversation wasn't a rehearsed artist bio, but glimpses into how someone constructs identity when they've already deconstructed their entire life once. India's approach to stage presence perfectly encapsulates this philosophy: she's not interested in playing a character, but rather in owning her aesthetic completely. When discussing her evolution as a performer, she moved seamlessly between talking about commissioned pieces—like the white jumpsuit with red flames she designed with Barry Kaufman, or collaborations with Sabel—and her unchanged classics, particularly a black and white western wear set from Americana Fest 2021 that she keeps returning to because it lets her subvert expectations. The goth aesthetic layered over classic cowboy wear feels genuinely earned, not affected. It's the visual equivalent of her musical approach: taking country's traditional scaffolding and rebuilding it with darker, more complex materials.
Perhaps most revealing was how casually she discussed her actual life away from stages—the black t-shirts, the house slippers decorated with cats and bunnies, the collection of Stetson boots that she speaks about with the kind of genuine affection usually reserved for relationships. There's no performance in how India talks about real leather boots that "smell really good" or the realization that stepping out in normal clothes feels transgressive after living in stage wear. This grounding is crucial. Too many artists in the current Americana boom traffic in fabricated authenticity, borrowing aesthetics and trauma narratives they haven't earned. India's the opposite: her carefully considered aesthetic choices emerge from someone who's already been broken down and rebuilt herself, and who understands that true style comes from conviction, not curation.
I like to take that classic western wear thing and put my little dark spin on it.
— India Ramey
What makes the contemporary outlaw country revival worth paying attention to is precisely this—artists like India Ramey who came to music not as career trajectory but as survival mechanism. The legal profession she left behind was noble work, necessary work, but it clearly couldn't contain what she needed to express. The music became the vehicle, and the stage became a space to transform her experiences into something that might help someone else recognize their own story reflected back at them.
If you've been sleeping on India Ramey's music, the full conversation with Camden offers much more than fashion talk and boot recommendations. It's a window into how someone who's lived on the harder edges of American life has channeled that experience into an artistry that refuses compromise. In an industry increasingly dominated by polished product and streaming algorithms, there's something genuinely revolutionary about an artist who insists on showing up as herself—boots, black t-shirts, honky tonk grit and all.
I'll help you. I'll help you start a revolution for this Monday morning situation. >> Oh, there we are. We're live. All right. >> Yep. >> Hello. >> Hey, how are you? >> I was going to say it's been a long time since I've been stood up for a date, but hey, that's okay. Yeah, I'm I'm juggling a a lot of things. So, I I was like, "Oh, it's two it's not two o'clock yet. I'll go get something to eat." And then I was like, "I wonder if he meant Eastern time." >> Yeah. Yeah. I always forget. I have to um clarify that with uh a lot of you guys come from that part of the states. Happy to have you. So, you know, I like to keep these kind of short and sweet so we don't eat up too much of your day. And um you know, we're talking all things uh hair and fashion. Um now, this is in part with the Rugged Revival podcast, who I don't know if you've been on their show before. >> Nope. >> Okay. So, this will be your little intro to them. They're based out of the UK, so we'll we'll chop this down to the main part of the discussion and put that on their podcast. And um yeah, so I'm excited. I ordered your record yesterday. It should be here um tomorrow. >> Oh, thanks. >> Yeah. All right, let's get down to it. So, do you prefer me to call you India? Miss Remy, how should I address you? >> India. >> India's okay. All right, cool. I never want to um step on back. >> All right, India. >> Now, I can't remember. I was watching somebody and I it might have been Jenny from Jenny Dalton and the Spurs. >> Um do you also make your own stage gear? >> I do sometimes. I don't make all of it. Um some sometimes um Sabel makes stuff for me. Um and uh Barry Kaufman has made a suit for me. She made the white jumpsuit with the red flames. Um I I drew it and gave it to her and then she did it. So um when I have time I make my own stuff >> and when I don't I contract it out. >> I mean it's really impressive. That is such a different level of skill. I love it so much. It's so cool. Um I don't know if you're a WWE fan, but one of the lady wrestlers, the EST, Bianca Belair, she was making her own stuff, making her own chap. Like, this is takes such a different level of um talent. So, why don't you tell me about your favorite stage outfit, your go-to? I think my go-to is uh I've got this black and white um very like classic western wear shorts and shirt set. Um I've had it for a long time. Like I had it made for Americana Fest in 2021 and um I just always keep going back to it because you can I like to put it with like some gothy like lacy tights and >> um little ankle boots with tassels on them and just kind of like you know take that classic western wear thing and and put a my little dark spin on it or whatever. But I always I always end up going back to that one. >> Love it. Okay. All right. So, when you're not on stage and you're hanging out at home, um what's your favorite kind of at home hangout attire? What do you like to wear? >> Um it's generally, you know, something like this. Like I'm I'm always in a black t-shirt. Uh and uh either Chucks or just, you know, like my house shoes. I have like I have a big thing of house slippers and they're all like cats and bunnies and stuff like that. So, you never know. Our >> feet. It always feels funny like stepping out in like, you know, normal gear like I'm in, you know, I'm home today. Band shirt, sweatpants, ball cap, you know. >> So, it's, you know, when you're when you're like dressed down a little bit, it's like, oh no, I'm doing something I'm not supposed to be. >> Yeah. >> So, >> all right. So, you you prefer like a like an ankle booty almost like a like a roper boot. Um, who makes your favorite pair of boots that you have? >> I Well, I have like I have a plethora of of boots. Like, I have um I have two sets of shelves upstairs in my um closet area that are just boots. So, I have like I have a pair I think my ma my go-to pair of boots is um they're a black and white standard cowboy boot. Um they're Stson boots. >> Yeah. >> And they smell really good because they're like real leather and they make my whole room smell like leather. >> Love it. >> Yeah. I just uh last year bought two of their boots. A Billy the Kid and then they had a motorcycle boot. I love them. Like and those things are gonna they're going to outlive me. Those things are sturdy. >> Yeah, they are. And they they break in really nicely um and easily. Like I didn't get a lot of blisters or anything the first few times I wore them. >> Um and I like I I generally am in black and white. Um I have Venus and Virgo, so I have a very minimalist aesthetic and uh and so they're just like they're my go-to because they're really pretty black and white. Someone just commented, "Unlike Doc Martens." Yes, that is very true. I bought my oldest daughter a pair of uh Docks for school this year. Ox blood with flames on them. And >> she's like, "These are going to take some miles to wear them." I'm like, "Yes, ma'am. Yes, they are." >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um All right. So, do you have a favorite uh cowboy hat that you like to wear? And who makes it? >> Yeah, I have a Stson. >> Okay. You like a Stson? Yeah, I have a black Stson that um I got last year for my birthday in Austin, Texas. And um it's branded. It's got my initials on the side with a little snake in the middle. >> Oh, that's cool. >> And um it's like it's like 6X um you know, beaver fur or whatever. So like you can't it's like the STS and boots. Like you can't kill it. You can it can get rained on, whatever. It's it's fine. It's like a having a, you know, a beaver on your head. >> Did you have that size for you? You did you go in and they actually sized you up for that? >> No, I didn't. I just kind of it was like an impulse buy. So, I bought whatever they had on the floor. Um, but it it's like it's a good fit. And I've got like a little piece of felt in the back to kind of fill in the gap where it's a little loose. >> Yeah. Yeah. Just depending on like your haircut too, right? It's like might fit looser or tighter than others depending on what's going on there. I've always usually if I'm on stage, I have my hair down. >> Um, and and my hair's like my hair's really >> shiny. Like it's I don't know. Like it's it's really fine. And so like sometimes my hats kind of like slide around on my head. >> Yeah. >> My hair is like shiny, >> right? A strong gust of wind will knock that across the hall. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, let's talk about um hair and skin products real quick. >> What are some of your favorite go-to hair and skin products? >> So, for hair, I'm an Aveda girl because um I uh I am on the spectrum and I have some pretty intense sensory issues, especially smells. >> So, um so like I can't stand a lot of >> um hair products out there. like I I can't stand like a soapy perfumey >> smell. So the you know the kind of essential oil herbbally you know spicy kind of smells um for Aveda like I like that it it calms me down. >> So I'm really in it for the smell. >> Yeah, I totally agree. There was a place um called Lush and we had one out here in Georgetown and I couldn't walk in it because you walk in and you're you're just it's an onslaught of like that flowery like I like a whiskey or like a leather fragrance, anything like that. Like you know something like that campfire, that kind of thing. >> Yeah, I kind of gravitate more toward like masculine smells. Um like even if I I don't really wear wear perfume because of my issues, but like if I wear essential oils or something like that, um it's generally like puli based or frankincense or something that's a little bit more >> male. Yeah. Yeah, I got you. Makes sense. Now, do you take a certain set of products on the road versus what you keep at home? Like, do you take the good stuff with you on the road or vice versa? Yeah, I I have like the little travel sizes. I I use the Aveda and body because I have really fine hair, so it's like it thickens your hair. >> Um, and I have the little travel sizes cuz I like I've learned >> from all these years of being on the road that >> there's something I don't know, there's something psychological about taking your fancy stuff with you. Like you >> it matters. It matters when you're really tired and you're homesick. It matters. Comfort is key. >> Yeah. And it anchors you back down and it's like, you know, like it's like a comfort food, you know. >> Yeah. I mean, like there I have to prioritize self-care when I'm on the road or else I start to get sad. >> Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, we're coming to the end of the line here. I've just got a a few two more questions for you. >> Sure. Um, when you were coming up, you know, I think you and I kind of crossed paths a little bit, uh, in that we kind of like like we grew up with like the punk and goth kind of stuff, like cramps, Ramones, that kind of thing. I think I think weave in and out. >> Um, when you were coming up, who was your first style inspiration? Like you looked at him, you said, I want to riff on some of that as much as I can. >> Pat Benitar. >> Okay, cool. Nice. Um Pat Benitar was my north star from like age five or six. >> Um and then you know and then it was like Suzie Sue >> and Poison Ivy and you know it kind of like went out from there but Pat Benitar Pat Benitar has always been like my northstar >> and I can see that too. Like I can really see like it's funny like you do wear those influences on your sleeve but they're very much your own. like the way you pulled that like you you know it's like you can see it's it's come into its own thing and it's you're very much India and all that. >> Thanks. >> Um >> well okay so last question for you and I'll let you go let you off the hook. >> Um do you have anything to plug? Do you have a tour? I mean I know you just put out an album. Do you have like a single coming out? >> I I actually will have a single coming out. Um, I can't announce it right now, but um, >> soon. Um, we will be announcing it soon and it will be out before the end of the year. Um, I, uh, I have a lot of really really exciting stuff um that I'm like chomping at the bit to tell to tell everybody about. like I I mean I really have like um I've had a lot of good fortune come my way lately and a lot of hard work has paid off and um so there's going to be new music coming before the end of the year and then there's going to be new music coming after the first of the year there'll be a new album just awesome wonderful stuff that I'm really happy about. Um and in the meantime we are making our way back to Texas in October. will be out there the week of the 15th and I've got the dates all posted on my Instagram page. >> Okay. Well, that is fantastic and very exciting. Hopefully, we'll get you out to the DC area soon. Um, I saw you out here with Corb and I was sitting outside of Pearl Street and I saw you walking around and it was thankfully it was super busy, but hopefully we'll catch you again soon out here. We get get a little face to face time in person. >> Yeah, I'd love that. >> Yeah, and you know, thanks for taking the time and uh >> Yes, thank you. And sorry about the flub, about the time. >> Don't even worry about it. Um, we'll talk again soon in the future. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much. >> Bye >> bye.
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