Ryan Knorr

For today’s music monday I thought I would do a little bit of partial self promotion and at the same time share with all of you a cool website for checking out new artists. The website is insidersessions.com At this site you will find “sessions” from local Iowa musicians, as well as regional and national artists that happen to be stopping by the area for a show. The concept is the artist will play a few songs as well as be interviewed so the viewer can learn a little bit about the person(s) behind the music.

Now here’s where I come into the picture. A little over a week ago I participated in an Insider Session and that is now posted online for you to check out. Click here to check out the videos and be sure to check out other past “sessions” as well. You’ll find some great music. Enjoy!

Here we are again on music monday and it seems like I was just writing a post yesterday. The weeks are flying by. This week I’ve decided to share with you a band that I’ve been listening to off and on for a quite some time. That band happens to be Relient K. I was introduced to them in my early teen years by a few friends and didn’t really pay that much attention until their album “mmhmm” came out. There was something about it that even to this day just makes me feel like every song is speaking directly to me. In terms of lyrics it’s quite a bit darker than their previous material and if you know anything about my music, you’ll probably see why I relate.

Aside from the album mentioned above, I’ve just recently been listening to their latest effort called “Forget And Not Slow Down.” It’s a mix of sounds and each song seems well thought out and unique in its own right. However, the title track caught my ear right away and I have a video below that includes the music and the lyrics so you can follow along. Specifically what I focus on is the depth of the lyrics. For a band that has the “pop punk” sort of sound it is rare to find lyrics that are this well thought out. At first you might be bobbing your head and tapping your foot along to the beat, but take a moment to really soak up the lyrics and I think you’ll appreciate the message here. The theme of this song is something that’s been on my mind lately while I try to stay more in the present instead of dwelling on the past and worrying about the future. I hope you enjoy this one and make sure to check out the rest of the album as well.

It’s time for week 2 of my Music Monday series here on the blog. Red Wanting Blue is a band out of Ohio who has been touring the country almost non-stop for more than 10 years. I actually “discovered” them through a friend of mine, Nick Motil, who is a singer-songwriter and Ohio native himself and has opened for a few of their shows. Recently I’ve been listening to their latest album “These Magnificent Miles” and I find myself hitting the repeat button over and over again. Truly a great album with every single track being a memorable one. Not only is the album great, but a little while back I saw them live in Ames, IA. I was impressed by not only the live performance, but also the obvious passion they have for sharing their music. But enough rambling from me, let’s get to the music. Below is a video for one of my favorite tracks, “Where You Wanna Go.” They also have tons of live performance footage on Youtube so be sure to check that out as well.

Recently I’ve come to the conclusion that I need more content on my website. Not only more relating to my music and those endeavors, but more sharing of content in general would be a good thing. On twitter they have a hashtag for what they call “music monday.” For those who don’t understand twitter lingo it looks like this (#musicmonday) and it’s a way for you to tag one of your posts on twitter so that anyone can search that same tag. It works great for events so you can follow along with the conversation. A great example would be the #superbowl when many people are watching the same thing and can participate on twitter by following that tag.

In terms of the #musicmonday hashtag I can share a link on twitter of some music I like and add that specific tag at the end of the post. Then anyone who searches that tag will find my tweet as well as a multitude of other tweets from people who have done the same thing. Pretty cool, actually. However, since not everyone uses twitter I thought it would be cool to post my own “music monday” of sorts on my own site. I constantly find videos on youtube or new music in general that I would like to share with anyone and everyone. So as part of my blog on this site, I’ll share the music and videos here. This is week one, and I hope you enjoy it!

Starting off week one is City and Colour covering “Old Man” by Neil Young. For some of you (myself included) Neil Young is a little before our time, but he’s quite a legend in the songwriting world. And if you don’t know City and Colour, check them out as well. Specifically in this video I’m drawn not only to the voices, but the acoustic guitar tone and recording sounds spectacular. Great stuff!

Wanted to pass along this article. Thanks for the kind words, Fern.

Hope for the musical world
Some people say that young, new musicians can’t get anywhere in life, but I know that that is just preposterous.

By: Fern Sweeney – Monday 30 May 2011

Some people say that being a musician in this day and age is pointless, since it’s difficult to be original anymore without singing something that already been sung, but Ryan Knorr has proved that wrong. His music is original, amazing, and true.

As a ninth-grader last year, I wrote my English sonnet on his song ‘Time Machine’. When I heard his piano cover of ‘3am’ by Matchbox Twenty, it brought a tear to my eye and evaporated my migraine better than any Excedrin ever could. Music is medicine for the soul, and Ryan Knorr’s music is the antidote to everything. He gives me hope for decency, life, and passion in music. He gives me hope that music will evolve past Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. He gives me hope that I, as a musician myself, could survive making my own music, beyond just writing songs on my guitar like I do now. He gets past those who openly claim to dislike him and just goes on with his life, helping others with his life-giving music. When I read his blog, and hear his music, I think “This is what I want to do with my life”. I also think “OMG you are the best EVER!”, but that is just my high school girl pheromones taking over.

Writing music is the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever felt, and to know that it’s possible to do that and share it with the world gives me faith in the human race itself. I’m inspired to continue on with my life no matter what happens. He’s my idol, my favorite, and the one musician I can have conversations with on twitter – which, as a high school girl, seems like the coolest thing ever. Sometimes I wonder when I became both a crazy fan and, in a way, his student, but then I know it was the very moment I heard his voice; it was his cover of ‘Her Diamonds’ on YouTube.

I hear people like Rebecca Black get famous for being horrible, and I think “WTF? Why can’t Ryan Knorr be famous for being good?”, but the answer reaches me before I realize it. The majority of the world doesn’t want good music, they just want sound that they can dance to. I’d guess that at least half the world doesn’t care about lyrics or passion, just a swaying beat, but when I hear Ryan, and I see how many fans he’s gained, I know that, someday, the rest of the world will grow up and be ready for him. I just hope that day is soon, while he still has as much faith in himself as I do.

Hello, it’s me again. I know I’ve been away from the blog for a while. By now I should realize that when I promise I’ll write more often, I’m probably not fooling anyone anymore.  But I can promise I don’t stay away on purpose.  Tonight I felt compelled to sit down and write, so that must be a good sign.  Writing for me is often like songwriting and writing lyrics in that it uses the same part of my brain and sparks my creative side.  It also feels very therapeutic, just as making music often does.  So here’s what’s on my mind.

I’ve been thinking a lot about life lately.  This isn’t exactly something uncommon for me as I think about life quite often.  Probably more than most people do, actually.  But I’m not talking about life in the sense of “what happened today,” but more like the big picture, the point of it all, and the search for the real reason I’m on this earth.  It sounds like serious shit, and I guess you could say it is, but that’s the type of person I am.  A thinker, a dreamer, a person that’s always searching for meaning. (more…)