Ryan Keef

Ryan Keef is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Fort Payne, AL, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where it’s hard to be any of those things. Even Fort Payne’s most famous musical successes, the members of country group Alabama, had to move hundreds of miles away to make their start. Ryan cut his teeth in various traveling blues and rock n’ roll bands, most notably regional favorites Electric Voodoo and The Handlers, singing, writing songs, playing guitar, and mastering the precise art of awakening sleeping venues to the surging life of the best kind of late night live shows. His clear tenor voice and his uncommon skill on guitar (two particular strengths on display with Ryan in any context, from an appearance before hundreds in a five-piece band to an acoustic lark by a campfire) help distinguish his performances from that of myriad other “bar bands” making the rounds in the Southeast. Whether playing original songs or covers, every solo is a revelation; their improvisational nature keep Ryan’s knack for nuance and taste on full display. Unlike many of his local peers and contemporaries, Ryan’s music resists easy assumption or categorization based on his background. The son of a preacher on Lookout Mountain, in his sound we do not find the affected twang of country or the stubborn simplicity of mere blues or gospel. Instead, we find a craftsman using the tools of every genre of music he has encountered and found useful to express his singular experience with life and with music itself. While it’s true that in his sound we may trace the influences of folk, rock, gospel, or various others, these traces are merely means to an end, and not the central focus. Picasso once said of art, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,” and that is what Ryan has accomplished with music. In the wake of this milestone of an album, every performance by Ryan Keef should be an event. They are an opportunity to witness, in real time, the expanse of an artist and a performer well worth our attention in the midst of his continual unveiling of himself.