Award-winning, Minneapolis-based songwriter delivers insightful, heart moving lyrics with a clear, compelling voice and finger style guitar that compliments the compassionate underpinnings of her songs.

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, FOLK: Traditional Folk



Details:
After four years of touring the U.S. Barb Ryman is back home to release her fifth CD, Earthbound, co-produced with percussionist, Marc Anderson, and featuring 14 original and diverse songs from unique contemporary ballads to traditional, country gospel & bluegrass. In addition to Rymanâs vocals and guitar, the CD features Peter Ostroushkoâs mandolin and fiddle, Adam Grangerâs flat picking, Prudence Johnsonâs vocal harmonies, and Dirk Freymuthâs electric guitar. Enrique Toussaintâs bass and Andersonâs percussions also grace the album and will be accompanying Ryman at the CD release concert on February 25 at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. A lyricist of exceptional depth and perception, Rymanâs new songs traverse the Earth, the heart, mysteries of God, politics, women, love, disillusionment, joy, and the whimsical. Included on this release is the title track âEarthboundâ, a lively celebration of the creative process, â90 Years 28 Movesâ, the melancholic tale of an old woman who canât settle down, âThis Empire Is Fallingâ, a challenging to the power elite and a call for change, âSong For the Motherâs Gospel,â an archetypal questioning of the fate of God the Mother in the face of praises for God the Father, and, in keeping with her gift for topical humor, âSpam Meâ, an adaptation of Roger Millerâs âDang Meâ bemoaning the woes of email spam.

Ryman began her music career when the Minneapolis Star Tribune proclaimed her 1995 CD, Lay Me Open, âa heart on sleeve triumphâ and reviews in Dirty Linen and Sing Out acknowledged her emerging talent. While balancing a career as a speech-language pathologist and a single-parent of two children, she managed to perform throughout the Midwest on weekends, and record four CDs, receiving nine nominations for Minnesota Music Awards including Songwriter Of The Year, Recording Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Female Vocalist. Then in 2002, Ryman won the 2002 American Composerâs Forumâs McKnight Fellowship, no small accomplishment for this self-taught, late-start singer-songwriter. The grant was the break she needed and in 2003, Ryman quit her speech therapy career and began full-time national touring. In 2006, she received another break when ABC television bought rights to her satirical song âAll American Dysfunctional Family.â The proceeds funded Earthbound, which has been in the making since April.

Barb Ryman continues to tour throughout the U.S. performing in concert series, folk festivals, house concerts, and radio shows. Her previous recordings include, Winds of Good Fortune (1993), Lay Me Open (1995), Like A Tree (1998), and Falling Down to Heaven (2002). Her songs have aired on folk programs across the nation, in Europe and Australia. You can find out more about her music at www.barbryman.com or at www.myspace.com/barbryman.