GHOST TOWN by Clayton Ryan

Leaving Los Angeles broken-hearted and destitute wasn’t a scribble on Clayton Ryan’s touring 2023 schedule. Returning home is the natural move for most of us, but what do you do when your hometown is built on the soil of that now-dead romance? The “twangy soul” singer seeks to console the hurting and the longing with his debut LP, GHOST TOWN.

Now laying his own bricks in Minneapolis, the former South Dakotan has quickly established his bellowing voice and brutal vulnerability as a force of nature in the alt-country music scene. His first ticketed show ever sold out at the Bryant Lake Bowl, followed by opening slots at First Avenue’s 7th Street Entry and Turf Club, and a collective 50,000 streams across his releases. There is much anticipation behind GHOST TOWN; produced by Isaac Levy (Ryan Lewis, Yam Haus, Chase Bryant, Brian Setzer) and multi-platinum songwriter Michael Shynes, the 11-track blossoms with real tones and sleek production, born from real instruments played in a live band setting. Levy’s career-defining guitar tones, real keyboards - including a vintage Wurlitzer and Sinatra’s upright piano from Capitol Record’s Studio B - and the cavernous drums of Bennett Vee (that’s right, Bobby Vee’s grandson) grant this album a plush, authentic warmness from start to finish. Clayton himself is baked into the mix as the bassist of his own record. The album also includes a soulful duet of the previously-released “No Return to Sender” featuring Julia DiGrazia, Nashville-based songwriter and fiddler with a daunting 2.1 million listeners and over 66 million streams with her collaborations with Evan Honer. Award-winning flutist Ryan Little Eagle lends his internationally-recognized talents to the heartwarming story of youth that is “Evergreen.” The final artistic touch to the product is the pristine mastering of Greg Riereson at Rare Form Mastering, who has put the final say on albums for Prince, Jeremy Messersmith, and many others.

“I was running on my own, now everywhere I roam it doesn’t feel much like home when you’re gone.”
A borderline concept album, GHOST TOWN, opens with a rustic slice of cowboy prose spoken by Ryan over a reflective piano rendition of the theme before crescendoing immediately into the guitar-driven title track. With a harmony-rich chorus contemporary with bands like The Wild Feathers or Jason Isbell, the message of haunting hometown heartbreak stains the entire rest of the album in a brooding, melancholy mood. Tracks like “Locked Up, Locked Down,” “Mountain Time,” and “Smooth” quickly divert the listener to happier memories of Ryan’s South Dakota young love, run-ins with the law, and backwoods party anthems. The second half of the story takes a turn with the hopeless “No Return to Sender” with Julia’s iconic fiddle and cracking, desperate voice as the duo sing of a love gone cold. “August, LA” lands as the most heart-wrenching segment - a solo piano ballad that reframes the titular track as the “hometown” for the singer and his lost love, expressing hope that the two of them might be living better without one another. Not one to end on a sad note, the last three tracks “Please Don’t Let Me Die Over A Woman,” “Wild Man,” and “Evergreen” talk of young love, a comedic fear of falling at the hands of a lady, and hopeful, reckless young love.

Clayton Ryan has built his inimitable, homegrown voice from various stages across the Midwest. Intentional with both old-school sound and unique Midwestern storytelling, the bellowing Minnesota singer's universe is built from blue-collar soil and down-home sense.
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