Ryan Paisley, son of bluegrass icon Danny Paisley, and mandolinist in his dad’s band, The Southern Grass, has just been appointed as Vice Mayor for the town where he lives, Clayton, DE.
That’s right, the 23 year old Ryan, the third generation of Paisleys playing bluegrass professionally, has so impressed his fellow members of the Clayton Town Council since being elected last year, that they unanimously selected him to serve in this new role.
Anyone who has ever met Ryan is immediately impressed by his intelligence and earnestness, and for the striking maturity he shows for a man so young. Surely his fellow Town Council members have noticed the same thing, and have chosen him to represent them thusly.
We asked Ryan to explain a bit about how this honor has fallen to him.
“Like my colleagues, I took the responsibility of being on the Town Council seriously, devoted a great deal of time and effort to it, and took charge of amending the Town Charter (effectively a Town or city’s constitution), finding ways to upgrade Infrastructure, and developing long-term plans for municipal equipment, just to name a few.
In addition, we have met with Mayors and Council members all across Delaware and the whole nation to work on problems all of us are facing, and we addressed those issues and advocated solutions to them in meetings with our federal congressional delegation and state leaders.
As we have been working on that, I was approached by the Vice Mayor at the time, who informed me he intended to remain on Council but step down from his position as Vice Mayor – given that he was swamped with being involved in the leadership of so many other organizations. Furthermore, he told me that he hoped to nominate me to succeed him and would submit it to Council. When it came to a vote, the nomination passed unanimously; I was and am truly grateful for the trust he and my colleagues put in me.
Although one thing that has surprised me is the messages from people I’ve gotten who think because of my public service, I’m leaving bluegrass. However, I’m not leaving it behind, I’m bringing it along with me! I count myself as truly blessed to be able to peruse two things I absolutely love and am passionate about!”
Congratulations to Vice Mayor Ryan Paisley!
