Friends, 

This just came out this morning. It’s available pretty much everywhere world-wide where you listen and stream music. It’s called “Farewell”. It’s a cover of one of my favorite early Rod Stewart songs. It was written around the time that I was born. That was yet another time of turmoil, confused compasses and eventual hope. Martin Quittenton and Rod Stewart wrote it. 

We did this hoping to warm your ears a little. This is such a strange and hard time we’re all moving through. For me, music is always an essential sense of fight, good fight and shared experience. A sense that we are here to make what’s beautiful not only possible, but real. 

All love, gratitude and respect to Dave Coleman and Kevin Salem for making this beautiful noise. Dave did most of the heavy lifting, Kevin batted “clean-up”. I got the joy of just singing to the determined noise they made... 

It’s hard to believe with what we know of Rod Stewart now, all that he’s accomplished, that he inhabited these words. I love its simple story of defiant hope, youthful optimism. Sometimes strings are chains. We have to know when change is not only preferable, it’s necessary. 

The video was made by my dear friend Tom Sierchio. Our hope was to express the circular nature of our conflicts and how we crash sometimes, but we have to keep going. And besides all that, those cars are badass. 

Thank you to Joe Maiocco for designing the cover art you’ll see on the listening platforms. And always love to Hans DeKline for his beautiful mastering work. 

Finally, if you’re inclined: Save, share and playlist this song or any songs you love. It really does help artists like myself that are fully independent. 

Here it is on Apple / iTunes: Matthew Ryan "Farewell" on iTunes

On Spotify: Matthew Ryan "Farewell" on SPOTIFY

YouTube: "Farewell" Music Video Directed by Tom Sierchio on YouTube

Hope it warms ya up a bit. 

Always.

M. Ryan

Friends & Listeners,

It’s a strange sensation. I knew early on albums were photographs. Home movies of found footage from and for the wilderness. Quietly offered, hopefully with a time defying dignity. Fields to be discovered and contrasted with the soulful maps, wisdoms, questions, and notes of others. Music is always a collaboration. Song and listener. Musicians and song. Amp and feel. Pencil and quiet.

Concussion was recorded and produced by Richard McLaurin in his home on Idaho Avenue in the early summer of 2001. Direct to 2inch tape. We lived down the street from him then. It was a beautiful and hard and hopeful time. Concussion was my third official album release. 

This album is where Lucinda Williams offered her monument of a voice to Devastation. Craig Krampf played his amazing drums and brought many of the songs to warm muscular life. I always remember Clay Steakley, Mack Starks and I digging in with "Pogues-like-abandon" for the gang vocals on my cover of The Clash's Somebody Got Murdered (which was later included on a full-length track by track tribute to Sandinista). Laughing and yelling all three of us in a guest bedroom around one of Richard's amazing mics. Jeff Black's harmonica on Drift (the opening track), hearing that happen, it was pure lightning.

My only thought before recording was: Very little compression, let the levels, words and sounds sort it out. Make it feel like weather, a humid summer in the south in particular. I wanted the music to welcome the ambient noise of living, to collaborate with it, not dominate a room. Tire noise. Traffic. Birds. A conversation. Rain.

Richard did an absolutely masterful job of capturing such a pure and minimalist americana noir. 

Richard McLaurin, Clay Steakley, Craig Krampf, David Henry, Ray Kennedy, Mack Starks, Jeff Black and Lucinda Williams. That’s the beautiful gang on these recordings. I'm so grateful always to all of them. Their friendships and their talents. All work is collaborative in music. And that makes it feel like play. Even with songs as "heavy" as these. Joy isn't always trumpets and wild kicks in the air.

Summer 2001, a few months before September. I love these songs. I’m grateful to finally make them available to you again. 

I never really know what I’m writing about in the moment. I just follow the river. Stay true. Don’t interfere with what wants to be said. Trust that it will be useful for someone somewhere sometime. I think now these songs were about choices, what happens when we let our darker drivers take the wheel. There’s a lot of death in these songs. Literal and figurative. There’s also a lot of sorrow too. But most of all there’s a want for redemption, a day that breaks with lessons learned and the dark stuff...? Just a passenger. Maybe in the backseat mumbling. Even better in the trunk while you drive to an isolated location to drop ‘em off forever. Somewhere where they can’t even get close to the wheel. 

Somewhere.

Please give a listen and share. It helps. I always hoped this album would eventually be rediscovered. Making it available again is the first step. You welcoming it is step two. Everything after that is magic.

More to come. You and yours, stay healthy and smart.

Always,

M. Ryan

Friends,

Working on more beauty for you guys with some of my closest friends across the wires. Today, a vocal. Yesterday a mix of something else. The back and forth is slow and beautiful. Love the gang I’ve come to know. There’s more to share ahead. And more after that. 

If you love that version of “Heaven...” we offered last week please keep advocating and sharing it. Your words give context and context means everything.

Click the image below to watch the beautiful video my friend (Tom Seirchio) made for Heaven Is a Place on Earth: 

Again... Always.

M. Ryan

Friends, 

I quietly released a new song for you with the help of some wildly talented and generous friends today. Just below is the video for it. I hope you’ll take a moment and watch and listen. This beautiful video was made by my friend and filmmaker Tom Sierchio. A special thank you to Molly, Neilson, Joe and Hans for their beautiful talents on the music. 

All respect to Ellen Shipley & Rick Nowels for writing such a beautiful song. And of course to Belinda Carlisle and her strong and beautiful voice that tattooed its melody on all of us.

This was all done remotely and made us feel closer. Give it a look and listen. Please share it if you love it. It’s also available on all the streaming sites. Please consider saving and play-listing it. 

Here it is on APPLE

Here it is on SPOTIFY

Here’s the vid directly on YouTube

And here's the HYPER LINK that guides you to all the streaming sites you can find the song as its made available.

Thank you for listening. Hope you and yours are healthy and staying hopeful.

Be patient. There’s more beauty ahead.

Always,

M. Ryan 

Friends,

As I've said, I'm enjoying being home and writing a new album but have reserved the right to do something that caught my heart. And this is one of those situations. I'm happy to be opening for the seminal punk gang BLACK FLAG for two nights later this month.

Here are the dates:

January 29th at Iron City in Birmingham, AL

January 30th at The Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, TN

Hope you'll join us!

Click the image below for more details and tickets.