Get to know your hosts
Brian Hopkins - Host & Producer
Brian is from a small town in Northern New York. At a young age, he got a guitar for Christmas and began learning and playing. Country music had always been a staple with both of his parents listening to country music while growing up. One very vivid memory he remembers, while building the log cabin he was raised in, was his father dancing and singing to some of the golden age country music stars; Merle and Waylon and all the way through to Garth and Vince. “You know… when country music played on country radio…”
Brian furthered his love of music while pursuing a career in audio engineering with guidance from his mentor Michael Hopkins and a trip to Nashville to see the ins and outs of what it takes to record and produce an album. He has always loved to find new music, to find that amazing song lyric or that perfect hook that grabbed you. That pursuit for new music and musicians coincided with Ronnie’s desire to bring fourth up and coming musicians thus leading to the creation of Outside the Circle.
Brian is an Audio Engineer for a day job in New York City. He enjoys the outdoors more than most. He can regularly be found Bow Hunting, Fishing, Camping or just spending time with the family. Brian enjoys playing his guitar and singing to anyone willing to listen and has been known to write a song or two. You can find Brian on Instagram @bhopsound.
Ronnie Marmo - Host & Social Media
Growing up in New Jersey meant finding out about country music later in life for Ronnie. He spent his childhood listening to and playing in rock, metal and punk bands. One perfect summer night about 12 years ago now, Ronnie heard Brad Paisley’s Letter to Me, Tim McGraw’s Don’t Take the Girl and Garth Brook’s Thunder Rolls and his life forever changed. Country music quickly became the priority.
As life moved forward, being a musician took a backseat for Ronnie. Many years of no longer playing music eventually lead to feeling like there was something missing. That is when he had the idea to start a podcast focused around country music. Sick of hearing the same artists on the radio and remembering how hard it was as an unknown musician to gain any traction, he became determined to put his energy towards those who grind it out day after day to eventually become a household name. And so was the birth of Outside the Circle.
When not working on the podcast, Ronnie is a summer camp professional in his day job and also a writer of poetry. You can find Ronnie on Instagram on both his personal at @inakedronnie and his poetry at @ronniejosephpoetry.