Matthew Ryan Preps 12th Album

Due Oct. 27 for all you downloadin'  types. The rest of us have to wait until next year.

By Blurt Staff

Respected singer-songwriter - and BLURT blogger - Matthew Ryan is set to drop Dear Lover, his twelfth recording, via The Dear Future Collective. It arrives digitally on Oct. 27, while the general public will be able to nab it on CD next February 16.

The album's described as  "a mea culpa, a cry to fight for what you hold most dear" with some of Ryan's "most poignant" lyrics - "I want that feel/Like a plane when it arrives/Where at the gate/Family waits with quiet smiles" (from "City Life').

Much of the album, Ryan notes in the official press release,  "was inspired by events in the Spring of 2009. In short, last winter I found myself in an emergency room with someone I love. It seemed too soon. I guess it always is. But it started my head spinning around these songs once everything turned out alright.... It's a collection dedicated to saying the things between lovers that often go unsaid. It's not all doom and gloom. But you know, earnest to say the least."   

 
The record is his first self-recorded effort. Nine of the ten tracks were recorded at The Lerkim, his home studio in Nashville. Among the musicians playing on the album: Molly Thomas (violin), Scott Simontacchi (mandolin), Brian Bequette (guitar, bass, accordion), Billy Mercer (bass), Amanda Shires (violin) and Rod Picott (vocals). Meanwhile DJ Preach tackled a remix of the song "Spark."

Dear Lover is the followup to 2008's critically hailed Matthew Ryan Vs The Silver State.