Ryan makes connection
JEFFREY LEE PUCKETT
* 02/26/99
The Courier-Journal Louisville, KY
(Copyright 1999)
When Matthew Ryan called from his Nashville home a few days ago,
he had the new Paul Westerberg album spinning beautifully in the
background. That kicked off an enthusiastic music-geek exchange that
touched on the Replacements, Joe Henry, the Waterboys, Van Morrison,
Tom Waits and - every once in a while - Ryan's own music.
The subtext was clear: Ryan loves music that connects on a deeper
level, that works as "a personal conversation" between musician and
listener, and he has tried to achieve the same with his own songs.
He succeeds often enough to wring fresh tears out of old heartaches.
Ryan, 27, has been writing only since age 18 but has seemingly
leapfrogged the awkward beginner's phase. His debut album, "May
Day," was released in 1997 and is filled with songs that would make a
veteran rock romantic proud. It's squarely in the familiar tradition
of folks such as Westerberg, who has long dealt with love, loss and
the search for self while hanging by a self-obsessed thread.
Ryan, who grew up in bluecollar Chester, Pa., knows he's telling
old stories but believes he's doing so with an honesty that makes
them fresh.
"A lot of love songs don't really tell the truth," he said. "
`May Day' dealt with the placement of blame in a relationship when
there's really nowhere to place it. Timing has just as much to do
with things falling apart as something like infidelity. It's a big
gray area.
"Stuff like `My Heart Will Go On' is all just a big lie, and we
shouldn't keep believing that lie because 30 years down the line
we'll all be miserable."
And then we can listen to "Certainly Never," in which Ryan
captures in a few words one of those universal moments - when you
stand at her front door, hesitantly determined to try a failing love
one more time: "I gave it my most polite rap and wish / I held my
heart loosely in my other fist."
That's Ryan at his best. He makes the connection and has the
conversation. It's why he started writing.
"You write things to connect with those people you feel alienated
from," he said. "When I first started writing, that was the moment I
realized what my ambitions truly were. That's what writing was for
me. The more I did it, the more I felt alive."
