Everybody loves Ryland. Moranz that is.
The local musician and songwriter recently released “Hello New Old World,” his debut solo CD of erstwhile folk and roots and bluegrass music shortly before embarking on a European tour with Leeroy Stagger and his band.
“We‘re almost sold out of the first pressing,” Moranz enthused, adding he is excited to be on tour with Stagger until mid-June. He is playing guitar, keyboards and banjo on the tour. They will be spending a lot of time in the United Kingdom and Germany.
“It’s really, really been amazing working with him. He’s been very good to me. It’s been valuable to me watching him work. He has does a lot to help me including producing my record which was really nice of him,” Moranz enthused.
He was looking forward to touring Europe with Stagger.
“We‘re lucky we have a couple festivals and we’re doing seven shows in a row. So it is really an aggressive tour,” he said, adding while he probably won’t be doing an opening set, he will make a lot of contacts in case he wants to do a solo tour.
“I’ve never been to Europe. It’s my first time so this will be a neat way to experience it,” he continued.
He is excited about his first solo CD, though he has also recorded three with pop punk band Sophomore Jakes and another with his mother Maureen Chambers and sister Gillian.
The songs include personal songs like the heartfelt ode to his family and friends “Instead of Falling Apart” as well as some more historical based stories like “Miners of the Somme.”
I really believe if you sing anything it so would be personal or honest. That’s the only things worth writing about,” he said.
“They were great. I played the songs once for them and they said let’s do this. We recording it live off the floor. Most of the time we used the first take,” he said.
He even sings a duet with his girlfriend Alex Westwood.
“It was fun to get to do a duet with her and she’s also in “Instead of Falling Apart.”
He had to trim that song down.
“I wanted to include my grandparents. I’ll have to write another song about them. There was just so much to cover,” he said.
Other songs, like the title track “ Hello New Old World,” were inspired by his love of reading.
“I read a lot of T.S. Eliot and Hemingway and a lot of history,” he said, addicting there are mentions of the Worlds Fair and Nikola Tesla in other songs.
Miners of the Somme was inspired by his reading s of the First World War.
“I read ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ It was intriguing because my family is half English and half German,” he said adding it inspired him to write a song about a printer who becomes a soldier.
He was impressed by learning about the extensive tunnel system built during the war.
“I grew up listening to this type of music. This is truly who I am as a songwriter and as a human being right now. I couldn’t be happier with it,” said Moranz, who is studying music at the University when he isn’t on tour or performing his own songs.
“I’m actually almost done the next album,” he said.
