I saw a great satirical article the other day; I think it was the Onion, via exclaim! – it was how bands & artists often use the terms “we’ve got big things coming this year” &/or “lookout for huge news coming soon” but then it always just ends up being more songs & more records.  Anyway, that gave me a chuckle as maybe I recognized a little of my own hype-tastic  tactics in there…

So, with that said – I’m going to be doing a lot this year hahah

The album is on target for early June, and we’ve got 2 more singles coming out leading up to that.  “Lost & Found” is out Feb 3rd, and “Feed Your Mind” will be out a couple months after that.

As for right now, it’s all prep-work, relationship fostering & running around (the good kind) for the next few months.  One week from today, I’ll be in Ireland for the first time, at the Showing Roots Festival, and about 9 days after that, Kansas City for Folk Alliance.  Huge thanks to everybody giving me the opportunities to showcase my songs alongside all those great writers & performers – I’m thrilled to be there with you all.

What else… You guys have heard I’m running through Western Canada with my friend Joel Spillette on piano, right?  A lot of my songs will be re-imagined, and the initial rehearsals are sounding killer.  More on that soon…

A couple of days ago, I was selected as one of the first 100 accepted artists into this year’s Canadian Music Week in Toronto!  I have done that festival a few times over the years, both solo & w/ Lion Bear Fox, and it’ll be a real treat to return to showcase the new record that’ll just be coming out.

I will certainly try to add some Ontario dates in & around the festival as well – there are some killer venues & great people I wanna see that I haven’t caught up with since before the pandemic & it’s high time we re-connected.  I’ll keep you posted on that as it shakes down.

So, like all your favourite bands say: “We’ve got some really killer news lined up for you” & “we can’t wait to see you” & …

because it’s true.

I’m beyond excited to be back to the good work; full-time & with focused intention.  I’ve worked all my life to get to the point where I’m about to be releasing music that I’m this proud of, and I plan on being more present in all these moments than I think I was in the past.  Happy Saturday & see you all soon;

~R

Ryan McMahon