“I’m singing about things that will never go away no matter where you are in your life. I want my music to be timeless. I want to create music that can be whispered between two people wrapped up in an intimate moment, and screamed by thousands on a summer night.”—Ryan Wickersham
That’s quite the musical goal he has set for himself, but if you listen to the elegant passion and heartfelt sincerity coming out of every chord, note and lyric in the music of Ryan Wickersham, that goal isn’t too far...
“I’m singing about things that will never go away no matter where you are in your life. I want my music to be timeless. I want to create music that can be whispered between two people wrapped up in an intimate moment, and screamed by thousands on a summer night.”—Ryan Wickersham
That’s quite the musical goal he has set for himself, but if you listen to the elegant passion and heartfelt sincerity coming out of every chord, note and lyric in the music of Ryan Wickersham, that goal isn’t too far off. With his debut album completed and all the musical talent, drive and hope you could possibly fit inside a 19 year old artist, Ryan is a guitar-playing, love-song-singing old soul.
Long before he sang about love and loss and joy or even dreamed of playing guitar and writing his own songs, Ryan’s first boyhood musical love was drumming to songs in church, where he discovered his rhythmic abilities and a love for jazz music. Jazz band drumming and church songs weren’t the only music filling Ryan’s heart and head through his junior high and high school years.
“It started with Billy Joel. Everyday in the hallway related to a Billy Joel song,” Ryan says. “No lie, at least three nights a week I would get through an entire Billy Joel album lying in bed with my headphones on before I went to sleep. I would just lay there and play out my life like a movie to his songs.”
All those late night Billy Joel albums inspired Ryan to imagine himself performing live as a singer/songwriter, but it was the artistry of John Mayer and Dave Matthews that pushed Ryan to stop simply being a fan of music and to start really listening to music.
“I was in the process of finding my own voice with music, and I was amazed at what these guys had done,” he confesses. As the drummer in a Christian rock band in high school, Ryan became inexplicably drawn to the acoustic guitar. He kept on drumming, but taught himself to play guitar, which led him to develop his vocal skills, and learning how to play piano soon followed. As his singing grew stronger, Ryan’s inner creativity compelled him to combine words with his music.
Like all great artists before him, Ryan drew upon his inspirations and influences to forge his own artist identity. Within the nine songs on his debut album – Bottom – Ryan sounds like a very young, love-struck, wide-eyed musical troubadour because he is that young, heart-on-his-sleeve type that expresses his innermost feelings through poetic lyrics and soft, stirring vocals. Ryan’s simple, universally relatable lyrics and soulful, lilting vocals open up the door of musical promise that he says fans can “invest in, and believe in and expect me to grow,” because he will grow and evolve as all musicians do.
Ryan is already planning his next musical direction which centers on forming a full band to expand his sound from softer acoustic tunes to full-on “stadium rock sounds,” as he says.
“The record I just did – Bottom – refers to it being my first step into the business and music world,” he says. “I’m at the bottom of the so-called ‘totem pole.’ It’s a great acoustic record, but it’s not where I want to stop. I know that my sound is much bigger than that.”
While Ryan Wickersham works on finding that magic combination of players that will form his ‘stadium rock’ backing band and propel him to create what he calls his “true sound,” get to know him on the nine amazing songs on Bottom.
Whisper the lyrics and hum the melody quietly to someone you love, just the two of you…
Before too long, you’ll be surrounded by thousands singing along to the music on a warm summer night.
Bio courtesy of www.musicbiowriter.com
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