It's often incredible to believe how much healing power an artform like music has. It provides determination, willpower, comfort and shelter to those individuals going through severe health problems of any thinkable nature even in the hardest of times, helping them so much on a conscious and unconscious level.
For a musician, especially, to get music taken away from them against their will, when health problems arise, is a massive blow, as one would expect. But someone like Ryan McGarvey, one of the most talented and loved Blues/Rock guitarists and singer/songwriters of this generation, he did not let health adversities to take music away from him and kept on fighting for almost seven years until regaining again, thankfully, full use of half of his body, allowing the American ace guitarist to start playing again and, most importantly, starting working on writing and recording new material from his own base camp in Albuquerque.
Needless to say, McGarvey had so much music in him, waiting to pour out, after this unwanted and unexpected long break. He threw himself on working on new songs, with the assistance of his trusted long-time music Compadre and talented drummer and producer Logan Miles Nix, which resulted in a smashing hybrid of Blues/Rock and Hard Rock album, called, rather aptly, Up From The Ashes, a record that our website has recently had the privilege to review too.
With a new exciting record out and a mounting amount of live performances taking place right now in the United States to seal the return on the music scene of such a brilliant talent like McGarvey, the American artist took graciously some time to talk to us at Bluebird Reviews about his comeback, the new record and, as we imagine, the joy and liberating feeling that the singer/songwriter must have felt the day that Up From The Ashes was released. "It's hard to describe. All that happened in the last 6-7 years felt very surreal. Everything that kept me side-lined for the last six or more years, it got me to a point where originally I was paralysed on the left side of my body, so I couldn't move my arm, my hand, my fingers, anything. I couldn't even hold a guitar, 'cause I didn't have the ability to do so.. I tried my hardest to stay positive and really try to fight forward, because that it's just my nature. But there were many times where it was very questionable whether I would be able ever to make any kind of music again. Fast forward through all of the stuff I've been through, I am now very thankful to be able to get to where I am now, sitting down with you and talking about the new record. In the starting point, I thought I was gonna probably do just a very sloppy Hill Country Blues kind of slide album, maybe and I was gonna be very happy and thankful, if I could pull that off. But then I just really forced myself to sit down, wanting to do different stuff, really trying to be as creative as possible, wondering whether I was still able to write good songs anymore. But when I started to write, an unstoppable lyrical flow kept on getting out of me. Although some of those songs didn't, in the end, make the final cut for the album, what I chose, song wise, was started developing really well, doing some really amazing demos just at my house, sending them then to L.A. and having my drummer Logan (Miles Nix) playing drums on the demos in his studio. We both felt that what was developing was very exciting, sound wise, with the songs becoming increasingly more complex, with a very personal songwriting that felt very telling and very much in line with the sound I wanted for the album. When the album was finished, I couldn't quite believe I was able to put together such a solid record so close to my heart, with the exciting perspective to get back on tour and share it with crowds all across the country. I'm actually back doing shows and so far, we've only done a handful of them, but each of them has been sold out and it felt amazing to be back on a stage. I feel it's just the therapy I need, right now, to play night after night and getting stronger and stronger with my hands, playing guitar solidly for almost two hours. In short, it's great to be back doing what I love the most in life".
The return of Ryan McGarvey releasing new music happened in a gradual way, with a new single called Rio Grande, which was published back in 2024, in what may perhaps be seen, in a way, for the American artist, an opportunity to test the "Music Water" and see how was the fans' reaction after such a long period of inactivity. "The track was something we had in mind, initially, for a TV show, then possibly for a movie soundtrack but in the end, nothing was agreed. As with what happened with Rio Grande, I was sitting on several cool songs that we'd recorded during COVID time, so I thought that releasing at least Rio Grande when I did, was the best time for me to do so. Furthermore, it was important for me to keep people entertained with new material, because I wasn't doing things yet, back then. The song had a great response from people, which made me very happy, because I intended, through that song, to show a new side of myself as an artist which somehow interwebbed also with the new album, sound wise, although I feel that Up From The Ashes shows an even more sonically multi-layered side of my music, which I think that came through very clearly, judging by the positive response to my new album so far".
Sonically, one can sense a feeling of self-liberation, on Up From The Ashes, like wanting to keep firm McGarvey's Blues roots on one side, while the other was verging more on a journey of borderline Hard-Rock, with very interesting results. On that note, we asked the American Guitar Maestro whether was or not his intention, right from the start, to create a musically multi-layered album or whether did some of the album’s songs go through a journey of sonic development, as he was recording them. "You are quite right. We certainly wanted, on one side, to be true to my musical roots, because it would have been very unfair to literally slap the fans in the face, by abandoning completely Blues and Blues-Rock in favour of a record completely structured on a much heavier sound. Initially, when I started working on the album, I went in thinking I was only gonna be able to do the album in a very minimalistic way. From that point, things started forming the way they did very organically and the very first song of the album that I sat down and completed, felt like a good little Rock hit single. Needless to say, the sonic outcome of that song made me feel like I was back to life, that the record needed to have that overall direction, a strong and heavy sounding record. I was not trying to regain where I was or anything of that ink, but just trying instead to make a straight statement, like "Hey, I'm back!" The sound of Up From The Ashes came out very organically, never planned or forced in any way. It just developed itself naturally, perhaps as a result of an instinctive desire to get back to music just as it was coming to me, following what I naturally felt, the spur of the moment".
Given the lyrical context of the whole album and the eclectic sonic arrays displayed throughout Up From The Ashes there must have been some challenges, along the way, to reach the musical shift McGarvey intended to apply on his new record. "Yes, there was some stuff on the album on which we did different things. I wrote ideas for new songs at home, playing bass guitar and, while doing demos, I just started doing crazy things, like running the bass through fuzz effects pedals and distorted amps, stuff like that. I wanted to test if I could get more of a modern Rock band sound out of me, Royal Blood style, so to speak, to incorporate with my own stuff. As the new material was forming with this new sonic approach, where almost everything was sounding different from my previous albums, I realised that, as much as I loved the new material, I also wanted to keep my Blues-y roots in place, stuff like Delta-style Blues, but using different instruments, like playing a 1931 National Duolian Resonator guitar but wanting to mix it, so to make it sound half Acoustic and half Rock. One of the most challenging things that we are trying to pull off, at the moment, is how to work best on one of my new songs, Searching For You when played live. It's a very sweet ballad and there's a lot of people that really love that song. But it really twists, at the end and it's just all out Rock... There is also another Bluegrass tune that is giving us a little bit of head scratching, in terms of how to best perform it live... I'm probably going to start playing a double neck guitar, sooner or later, a little like Jimmy Page used to do, which can provide me with a good shortcut to resolve all these little challenges (smiles)"!
One of the many highlights of McGarvey's new album is the impressive quality level of the guitarist and singer/songwriter's vocals, something that, given the length of time McGarvey has been away from music, was a surprisingly marvellous added bonus. "I was actually kind of shocked in a positive way with it too, to be honest. I really hadn't sang in years and, you know, because I'm a very quiet person, I didn't want, whilst at home and working on the album, to belt out something while walking around the house, because I didn't want to upset the neighbourhood. The demos I had recorded at home with my vocals, they were pretty soft and, you know, in fairness, I had only a little mic set up that I would use from home. So, by the time that we got into the studio, I was a little concerned on the depth of the vocals, initially, but then I regained confidence pretty quickly, knowing exactly how to treat things. I feel I had a more measured vocal approach too, while working on the new songs in studio; in the past, the way I used to work was that I might have had an idea in my head, then just hearing my head screaming off in wanting said idea to come across in a certain way, but this time I thought, "Well, you gotta watch the note, you don't want to go too far" or stuff like "You can reach this" . I feel that a lot of a diverse Motus Operandi for me was developed with this album, in terms of being more natural with my voice, rather than thinking of having almost to have myself killed, while trying to reach a certain note. All in all, I think that this type of compositional and singing approach helped even more to communicate sincerity, to my fans, like trying to say "Hey, this is me trying to reach you in a way as brutally honest and sincere as I can possibly do".
When promoting Up From The Ashes, there was a common pattern in the Music Press questions to Ryan McGarvey, describing this moment of the American artist's career as Ryan McGarvey 2.0 sort of stage, something that perhaps reflects also in McGarvey's transformation in the way he his now, about writing, playing and recording music, in comparison to the "Ryan McGarvey's 1.0" version. "Yes, what you said about me joking with the press, about having a sort of Ryan McGarvey 2.0 moment of my career, is true. You know, when I started working on what then became Up From The Ashes, I felt very vulnerable and a little bit anxious. The reasons were related to me trying to be as real as possible and not having to, necessarily, put some mind-melting guitar solos with a million of notes played on each individual song. On top of that, I was concerned on how the fans would have or not welcomed this new approach of mine in making music. But then, about a year ago, I took a trip to Europe for a quick little visit to my Team over there and mentioned this new trajectory my music was going to go towards, on my new album. The response was quite overwhelming and reassuring, with the whole Team saying that all they wanted from me and my music, it was for me to go on Tour in Europe back again and play live for them and so were the fans. I am so incredibly lucky to have some of the most loyal and caring fans in the world, sticking with me through thick and thin through the years ... When the new record was released, they were still incredibly positive and encouraging, saying things like "Yes, it is a little different from your trademark sound, but we can still "feel" you lyrically and sonically on the new album". It's kind of ironic that the circumstances that led me to have to reinvent myself have been unfortunate, but in a way, I also think that it was a blessing in disguise too; in a very competitive world like the music business, it comes a point when you have to get on pushing yourself, reinvent yourself to prevent you from oversaturate yourself and to keep your music fresh and contemporary. In that respect, someone that was incredibly good at that, it was the great Jeff Beck.
Among the many inspired songs, our website to curious to discover a little more about the story behind the making of the song called Filthy Lies. "Some years ago, I wrote a song that was called It's Too Late and I often thought of wanting to do something, with that song. Filthy Lies, in terms of context, came from that song. Lyrically, it was about a relationship that was no longer and ended up badly for the protagonist, with the other person in question, some time after, suggesting to give another go to said relationship, while the protagonist was like "No, we went through this already in the past". Musically, I did new things on that song, used different effects for the guitar solos, in order to create a different soundscape from my trademark ones. As it happened with all the songs of the new album, this song too was born as an instrumental, with me then mapping it out lyrically on a later stage, as I kept on playing the instrumental over and over again".
The Up From The Ashes Tour in support of McGarvey's new album, in US, seems to have started very successfully and almost overwhelmingly, for the American Blues-Rock guitarust, something he may, perhaps, not have expected to such an impressive scale. "It was good. The first real show we did, it was a home show (Albuquerque), the CD Release Party. I felt we did really a great concert, it was the first of four shows that we had planned to do. Some people told me that I should have to allow about six months, to make possible that all the wheels were in motion to sell out the venue, but we succeeded to sell all four nights pretty fast. There was also some added pressure, because I had a lot of record labels wanting to sign me and the new record, but they wanted to wait another year, before releasing the album, while I didn't want to. I just wanted for the album to be out and released ASAP. During those early shows, of course, I was keeping an eye on the fans' reactions for the new songs, but they all seemed to enjoy them. They danced, they rocked, they all seemed to have a good time. Of course, I played also some of fans' favourites too, how couldn't I? (smiles)
Ryan McGarvey, through the years and has mentioned before, has built a very solid fanbase in Europe too, especially in countries like The Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with so many adoring fans surely hitching to have McGarvey taking the new album on Tour across Europe. Given the success and the praises Up From The Ashes is getting so far, we wonder whether McGarvey has got plans to Tour Europe too sooner rather than later. "I am keeping things sparse, for the time being. I have been playing great shows in the States, so far, in places like Texas, Colorado and so forth. With my Team in Europe, I reconfigured most of said Team and made contacts with new partners involved too. The original plan, for me, was to come in October to Europe, play a handful of shows, basically saying to people "Hey, this is what the new album live sounds like, come and see us next year for a longer, proper Tour". Then things got changed and we are now looking at coming to Europe and UK in the beginning of December and still do a few shows, then coming back for a full Tour over there in 2027".
There is no doubt that music has covered so far a very important role in McGarvey's life and career. Given especially what the American artist went through in recent years, music has been and still is, to these days, McGarvey's safety valve, what motivates him, what he loves and, in many respects, what defines the guitarist and singer-songwriter too. In a world where sadly a big part of our society seems to be losing things like values, ideals, respect between one another and towards themselves, before we part company with this inspired artist and human being, we ask Ryan McGarvey how would he sum what music has done and still does for him, every day, in terms of making him feeling grounded, serene and appreciative with life. "I feel that, for me, music has always been the anchor, that safety blanket where, no matter whether I could be happy or sad, I could still run to a guitar which would help me to deal with any state of mind I would find myself into. With all I have been through and dealt with, in the last seven years or so, with some crazy things but also some other incredibly amazing things happening, the guitar was always there to be my outlet, my go-to place for all those moments. Speaking on a more global level, I feel that music, in general, it should be an escape for everybody from our daily lives. It's that connection, that bridge between the artist on stage and the crowd, where it doesn't matter if it's a political song, a love song or a silly song is performed, because it's more about the way that that song works as a connective cable not only between artists and fans, but also among all the people that come to a show and find themselves all connected on an emotional level. They might be living different lives from one another, perhaps, but that song, in that moment, although meaning something different to each and everyone will connect all of them taking down any social barrier. That type of emotional and physical connection between people is something that things like AI can never give to you. There is a magic, to music, it's like you can listen to something and you know you can tune the entire universe out; you can listen to something and don't think of anything, except for what's going on.... I think that, with what is going on in the world right now, people need to get out, go to concerts, listen to music, take time to sit and listen to some songs and dissect them, in the same way things used to always be. Now music it's a little too much about instant gratification... I hope that, in time, people will rediscover the pleasure of picking up a CD or a vinyl, sit down and listen to it intensely, with their eyes shut concentrating solely on that. Music has still got the power to take you to another place of your mind and I don't think that there are many things left in the world that are able to achieve that.
