Not too long ago, Ryan McFadin, his fiancé Melanie, and myself met a coffee shop in the Short North to discuss his transition from being in the blues punk band, The Muddy River Reverends to his new venture of indie folk songs that faintly remind me of Modest Mouse, but with a blues kick.
Briana Henry: How long have you been playing music?
Ryan McFadin: Man, I’ve been playing forever. I remember getting my first guitar when I was probably like 13 or something. I pretty much have been playing ever since then, but like serious music probably, I don’t know five years, maybe.
BH: What made you transition away from doing stuff from your band?
RM: Really, to be honest, like with the band it’s a whole different atmosphere. The hardest part with the band is collaborating and each person has their own vision of how they want everything to go. The solo thing just started out as me just wanting to do my own folk stuff. If it do it myself, I can like craft how I want it to be. I have a vision of how I want each song to turn out, and being by myself I can do it exactly how I want it, you know?
BH: Where does your sound come from? Where does your inspiration come from?
RM: Um, well my parents were old hippies, right. I remember taking road trips when I was kid and we always listened to The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan. But as long as I can remember, I’ve been surrounded by that kind of music. I really like that kind of stuff and emulate what I’ve heard for so long. I just like old music.
BH: What are you listening to now?
RM: Um, man I go in like kicks. Right now I’ve been listening to a whole bunch of Bob Dylan. I go in stages of listening to like everything, man. Basically I would burn one CD and listen to the hell out of it and then get bored of it and move onto something else.
While his singing voice isn’t my glass of whiskey, his style of guitar-playing makes up for it. It’s blues-y and indie, but is far from the mediocre indie-folk-rock sounds that we’ve come to expect. You can currently find McFadin’s music HERE. To get a taste, I’d start with the track, “Bind”. You can catch McFadin playing around town or playing with his band at Farm Jam in the sweltering heat of Atlanta in August.
