RYANHOOD PREMIERES SINGLE
"WIDE AWAKE IN A DREAM" VIA ATWOOD MAGAZINE
NEW LP UNDER THE LEAVES OUT ON APRIL 16TH
Intricate and challenging, Ryan’s acoustic guitarwork creates a steady and solid foundation for Cameron’s lyrics to shine - American Songwriter
This Tucson, AZ duo really knows how to get your feet tapping while delivering a genuine message about internal reflection - The Indy Review
Photo: Ehab Tamimi
LISTEN: “WIDE AWAKE IN A DREAM”
Award-winning, Tucson, Arizona-based acoustic duo Ryanhood has released “Wide Awake In A Dream,” a poignant new track from their forthcoming album, Under The Leaves, set for release on April 16th. “It’s getting to be that special time of renewal and rejuvenation – and while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage throughout the United State and around the world, we’re beginning to see a faint light at the end of a very long tunnel. It’s time for a breath of fresh air, and today that comes in the form of Ryanhood’s achingly expressive new single,” said Atwood Magazine in their premiere. “A breathtaking folk ballad full of bright acoustics and soaring violin work, ‘Wide Awake In A Dream’ captures love’s dreamy wonder with elegancy and delicate grace.”
“I was thinking about those big, almost painfully-big feelings at the beginning of a relationship,” lead guitarist Ryan David Green told Atwood Magazine. “Shortly after I graduated from college (Berklee College of Music in Boston), I met the girl who would later become my wife. I taught her weekly guitar lessons, and she would come and help sell our CDs when we street performed at Quincy Market. I had a huge crush on her but didn’t tell her for the longest time. This song is about those times, laying awake at night, filled with those huge feelings, but not yet having revealed them.” “Lyrically, Ryan is painting dreamlike worlds,” bandmate Cameron Hood said, adding, “and I think that’s a good metaphor for what he’s done with the melodies, rhythms, electric guitars, and string sections of this whole album.”
“Wide Awake In A Dream” follows the release of fiery instrumental jam “Appy Returns” and lead single “The Fight.” “‘The Fight’ and its intellectualism is a strange though perfectly complementary companion to its mainstream indiepop sensibility,” said American Songwriter of the song. “While the rhythm clutches the primal hunger for melodicism, the subject matter challenges you to reach in deep and ponder what it takes to achieve peace, eventually encircling the truth that change can only come from within.”
LISTEN: “APPY RETURNS”
Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards, Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. They’ve since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 45 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more.
Their latest album, Under the Leaves, sees the lead guitarist Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving—a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks.
Hood, the band’s primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album’s songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change - ourselves - as the duo sings on the album’s second track, “the only revolution is the one within.”
Under The Leaves will be available digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. The band has also written a companion book, featuring essays and stories behind the songs, expanded artwork, and photography that is also available for purchase. Click HERE to order.
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