“endlessly satisfying, 11 songs here, and absolutely no filler” – Paste
NASHVILLE, TENN. – – The April 1 release date of Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State was no April Fool’s joke. The eleventh disc for Nashville folk/rocker Matthew Ryan broke into the CIMS Top 100 Chart with first week sales and continues to receive critical acclaim. Ryan will embark on the second leg of his U.S. tour in June with his longtime band Vs The Silver State.
Currently in the midst of his May tour, Ryan reports from the battlefield, “We’re trying to build a community with this record, with this music and band. For the first time in my career I feel utterly connected to the people I’m playing music with and it’s starting to look like we’re reaching for what we set out to achieve.”
He further reflects, “In all the static the new world of media and entertainment offers, it doesn’t offer intimacy. And music is the great connector. It’s perfect for all the isolation and loneliness and happiness and struggle that connects us and creates that grateful sense of belonging to something outside of ourselves.”
Since its release, MRVSS has connected with critics at home and abroad:
**** “Editor’s Pick” – Paste Magazine
**** – Uncut Magazine (UK)
**** – Glide Magazine
**** – The Independent (Ireland)
“Best Albums of the First Quarter of 2008” by Paste.com critic Andy Whitman
“Ten noteworthy albums I’ve recently listened to” pick by USA Today editor Ken Barnes
8/10 – drownedinsound.com (UK)
“A hell of an album. I feel like I’m discovering Blood On The Tracks for the first time,” praises Joe Hill, author of “Heart-Shaped Box” and “20th Century Ghosts.”
In his article “Matthew Ryan’s Essential New Album,” Vanity Fair journalist Frank DiGacomo touts: “[MRVSS] is the best album of Ryan’s career so far. It vaults him into the top tier of singer/songwriters, alongside Steve Earle and Paul Westerberg.”
Despite military imagery on the front cover, MRVSS isn’t about waging a political war, but rather winning the war within oneself. Ryan explains, “Nevada is The Silver State and home to Las Vegas. All that beauty and risk rises up out of nowhere. I think the idea of Las Vegas speaks to where I’m at, maybe even where “we” are as citizens, a country – gambling on or with the future. So to me, it means Matthew Ryan Vs An Uncertain Future.”
Listening to MRVSS, it’s hard not to notice the visceral, fully engaged spirit of the songs and performances. Gone is the almost “just the facts, ma’am” delivery of some of his previous releases. MRVSS is the sound of a brilliant writer and a careening band fusing the passion, indignation, hopes and struggles of its characters with intimacy and an explosive, anthemic cinema. Utterly human and wide-awake, it’s music that feels like a Scorsese film for the ears.
Recorded with longtime friends and compatriots Brian Bequette (guitars, bass and piano), Steve Latanation (drums and backing vocals) and Doug Lancio (production, engineering, mixing, guitars, bass and piano), MRVSS features guest contributions on vocals from Kate York and Thad Cockrell, Eoman McLouglin (The Greencards) on viola and Kris Donegan on guitar. Vs The Silver State is Bequette, Lantantion, Lex Price and Molly Thomas (violin).
Confirmed dates for Matthew Ryan vs The Silver State are:
SECOND LEG
June 11 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK Bricktown Ballroom
June 12 HOUSTON, TX Continental Club
June 13 DALLAS, TX House of Blues – Cambridge
June 14 AUSTIN, TX Cactus Café
June 18 ST. LOUIS, MO Playback STL presents MRVSS at Off Broadway
June 19 NEWPORT, KY Southgate House
June 20 MADISON, WI High Noon Saloon
June 22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Reveille Magazine presents MRVSS at Fine Line