SWEET SOUL MUSIC

RYAN SHAW - THIS IS RYAN SHAW

Growing up in Georgia, Ryan Shaw was raised on the sweet smooth music of his church's gospel choir. He would eventually become a choir member himself as a singer and director. In the late 90's he moved to Brooklyn to pursue a career on Broadway which never really panned out, lucky for us. He was working as a choir director in NY, was heard by the right person, and the next thing you know he is recording a few tracks of sweet soul music which led to his debut album THIS IS RYAN SHAW.

Ryan's album is mainly cover songs by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack, Chairmen Of The Board, The Four Tops and more. He does them justice with a voice that's as smooth as Sam Cooke or Otis Redding. Instead of tossing Ryan in with your average watered down soul/r&b music of today, his album belongs smack dab in the record bin along side of the great soul singers of the 50's & 60's.

While some of the highlights of this album are "Do The 45" (The Sharpees), "I Found A Love" (Wilson Pickett) and "Workin' For A Love" (Bobby Womack) the real gems are the three original tunes by Ryan Shaw. "Nobody" and "We got Love" are 2 tunes straight from the 1950's snatched right out of Sam Cooke's song book. Ryan's voice is as smooooth as velvet on these tracks. The other original song, "Over And Done" has a little rougher sound to it, similar to Wilson Picket or Sam Moore. THIS IS RYAN SHAW is another CD that right now has permanent residence in my car....the boy (my son) truly digs this one.