An old friend coming in from the cold, with warm greetings and stories of the road traveled. That’s what it feels like, to hear him speak, play and sing. A beautiful lyric, a funny line—on the surface—but deeper meanings with every hearing. A voice to draw you in, and intricate music made effortlessly to sound simple and intriguing.
Ryan Michael Galloway takes you on a winding path, an adventure through different soundscapes, landscapes and eras. It may touch on the history of the West, the Blues of the South, or the Bluegrass of the Appalachians. It may be electrified or acoustic, edgy or soothing. It is always evocative.
Mr. Galloway is a veteran performing songwriter who started his career in the 1970s writing music for Columbia/Screen Gems Music, Sherlyn/Kimlyn (RCA) Music, and InterWorld Music, among others. He holds decades of experience, which he leveraged to become an accomplished author and speaker. He has educated and mentored “indie” musicians regarding technical and business strategies of the new recording industry. His bands have included the east coast 70s group Primadonna, Dallas-based Promise and The Rafter Rattlers, and currently the energetic Country Rock duo Faith & Rye. He has also occasionally backed legendary Texas bluesman, Michael “The Mudcat” Reames.
Often mistaken for being an adult due to his age, he quips “Getting old doesn’t exactly mean being old, I’m old school, ’cause old’s cool–at least that’s what I’d like to think. It’s all attitude. I mean, you have to grow old, but you can always be immature!”
To prove his point, he attended the final three Warped Tours, and spent time checking out everyone from Falling in Reverse to Yellow Flag to Streetlight Manifesto to Dallas’ own Light the Fire. “These artists know how to market themselves, there’s always more to learn. I believe in mentoring down, and mentoring up,” he says.
Today, he travels all over the US engaging in his favorite activity–house concert performances. He continues to write new songs and perform, while producing several albums a year and mentoring other musicians of diverse genres and ages. He stays involved in a variety of side projects, and has teamed up with former colleague, Faith (Vicknair) Boyd, to form the acclaimed songwriting duo: Faith & Rye. Starting as a cover group, sometimes with a full band behind them, they released their debut album original music (October 2017), A Prayer and a Shot of Whiskey. Just as Mr. Galloway has done, the duo has an outstanding house concert act, either with or without Mr. Galloway’s solo show, and they make trips all over the lower 48 states to perform. Their second album project recently wrapped, and singles from the collection dropping throughout the year. Material will be available the duo’s Patreon site in advance of public releases to the major streaming sites (www.patreon.com/faithandrye).
In addition to Faith, Mr. Galloway has been supported by a host of outstanding musicians and technical team members, including Producer/Engineer David Williams (The Vault Studio), Producer/Engineer/Musician Ron Logan (Shabby Road Studio), drummer and percussionist Chad Ireland, multi-instrumentalist Matt Gaskins, bassists Bill Brody and Eric Sykes, pedal steel guitarists Kerry Moore and Bob Gwaltney, multi-instrumentalist Dylan Levan, fiddle player Linda Relph, Producer/Engineer Gary Tullier, multi-instrumentalist Aaron Yuhas, saxophonist Ken Miller, vocalist Trey Chamberlin, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Clark, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Alex Yuhas, show tech and photographer Max Yuhas, photographer Jenny Yuhas, pedal steel guitarist Brandon Arthur, his father, the late pedal steel guitarist Robert Arthur, and many others.