Rural Ledge-ucation #75: Matthew Ryan Interview

I have wanted to interview singer/songwriter Matthew Ryan for a long, long time...even before the creation of my music podcasts. In fact, it was during my time as music editor for Tempest that I discovered his first album, May Day, and hoped that somehow he would perform somewhere close enough to our fine little city that I could do a feature on him.
That obviously didn't happen, but I continued to follow his career through most of the nearly fifteen albums he has released over the past two decades. My opening to chat with him actually happened over a year ago when he was part of the festivities celebrating the screening of Color Me Obsessed in Minneapolis. While we did have a short interview during a smoke break outside of a Minneapolis restaurant, I still wanted a full-length interview.
It has finally happened. Ryan is releasing a wonderful new album, In the Dusk of Everything, this Tuesday (October 30), and he agreed to wake up early on this chilly Sunday morning to guest on Rural Ledge-ucation. Besides picking out the playlist for the show, we talked about not only the new album but about the music that set the foundation for his entire life, the songwriting process, participating in Color Me Obsessed, his favorite bands over the years, and the various issues that a current artist must deal with to get their music noticed. It's a marathon show, but it is well worth sitting through every second. Great thanks to Matthew for participating.
You can find In the Dusk of Everything, along with the rest of his catalog, at all of the various online music stores, or directly order it at his website. To hear my interview with him, you can stream it via Stitcher, download it in the iTunes store, or...

DIRECTLY STREAM/DOWNLOAD BY CLICKING HERE!!!

Here's Matthew's music choices for today's show:
1. Matthew Ryan, Lonely Not Homesick
2. The Ramones, I Wanna Live
3. The Constantines, Draw Us Lines
4. Bruce Springsteen, The River
5. The Pretenders, Middle of the Road
6. Kevin Salem, Will
7. The Replacements, Skyway
8. Rod Stewart, Mandolin Wind
9. New Order, Ceremony
10. Matthew Ryan, I Hate Everyone
11. Matthew Ryan, And It's Such a Drag
12. Jimmy Scott, Slave to Love
13. Neil Young, Hey Hey My My (1991 Arc Version)
14. The National, Bloodbuzz Ohio
15. The Clash, Magnificent Seven
16. Joe Strummer, Redemption Song
17. Matthew Ryan, Stupid World