Tony Ryan grew up in Dublin (Ireland, not Ohio). His sound, while more relaxed than somehow reminds me of another Irish singer-songwriter. Tony's songs aren't quite as high-energy but the overall feel of these songs is reminiscent of Elvis Costello.He has a groovy guitar sound in these eight simple tunes, especially in "Up and Down World." They are well-crafted mellow tunes with good lyrics. My favorite lyric on the album is in "Angel," when he sings "…walking on water like the Jesus lizard."
I can just imagine Tony Ryan playing in the local coffee shop or neighborhood pub. The mellow groovy vibe would be great at a small venue like that. But it's also one of those CDs that kind of sneaks up on you. You listen to it once and think, "That's pretty good." Then the more you listen, the more it grows on you. Soon you've recommended it to a lot of your friends. If you like singer-songwriters in general, or more specifically, Elvis Costello, you'll dig this CD.
