Andrew Ryan

There’s a movement in Ryan’s music, giving the impression of simultaneously moving forward while self-reflectively looking back. This could be attributed to an aggressive touring schedule before the pandemic. Ryan spent most of 2019 touring the country playing the songs of his upcoming album, A Tiny Death, in front of audiences for about ten months. He’s mostly toured solo or as a duo over the past few years. The solitude or near solitude lends itself to deep reflection.

After spending so much time on the road, Ryan found a kindred spirit in William Least Heat-Moon’s book Blue Highways. In fact, on his upcoming album, he wrote the song “Heat Moon'' about the fellow traveler. The book chronicles Heat-Moon’s journey across back highways (blue highways), where he encounters a diverse group of people along the way while discovering more about himself in the process. Ryan says, “I find inspiration in everything I experience, the people I meet, the places I’ve been, and the difficulties that life presents. I credit a lot of it to touring and being on the road.” 

Life on the road isn’t the only source of inspiration. Ryan’s hometown, Desloge (formerly known as Cantwell) in southeast Missouri also plays a role in his songwriting. An economically depressed area, the town and area’s history revolves around the lead mining industry, the only reason the place even exists. The blue-collar work ethic is relatable to Ryan, who spent a decade as a journeyman in the Boilermakers Union traveling the country working at various oil refineries and power plants as a welder throughout the midwest. 

Ryan eventually landed an internship at Electrical Audio in Chicago under Steve Albini. He has since recorded other artists while ultimately pursuing his own career as a solo musician in 2017 when he released his first album, Across Currents. Ryan, a multi-instrumentalist, says, “I feel like playing multiple instruments is a huge advantage when it comes to making records. But I’m also smart enough to know when I should have someone else record a part for me. Letting the song hold the ego instead of an individual I feel is very important.” 

Centered firmly in heartland Americana, Ryan’s upcoming album, A Tiny Death, departs from his last record, Wild Terrain/You Cannot Delete Yourself! Wild Terrain encompassed folk, garage rock, and alt-country, an amalgamation that caused The Columbian Tribune to draw comparisons to a Jackson Pollock painting.

It’s this return to his roots, whether through his hometown or a stop on the road, that makes Andrew Ryan innately authentic.