tag archive: ryan montbleau band

This is organic soul food, so much better for us than the star-making factory meat grinder. We have to stop wolfing down Cheez-Its.

This post is tagged “Ryan Montbleau Band,” but the song is from a new solo album by Ryan coming out soon: For Higher.

“Heartbreak Road,” by Ryan Montbleau

I’m still feeling lazy, so I’m going to add a soundtrack to this post, to help say more (!) than I can say myself. Or more than I’m willing to say. Or just to add another sensory dimension. And because I like this artist and I want to sell him to you. And because it seemed exactly right for this post, even if I’m awkwardly glomming it on at the end here. (Ha! It will be assimilated. Like with the Borg, get it?)

I feel like I’m in possession of a secret. A secret known by a lot of people, but still, RMB is a Big Secret. I want to tell the whole world about these guys, yet… I don’t want to have to share them with too many people at one time. I would love to always see them play at venues like The Dakota.

My memory of the evening is fuzzy after one year, so maybe the best I can say is, “It was great, man.” The Varsity Theater was a huge improvement over the 400 Bar on their previous headlining tour. I went with my wife and an old friend on a seasonably warm autumn evening, enjoying streets blessedly empty of zombies.

“Are you livin the life that you always dreamed of?”

Welcome to Brother Martin’s traveling salvation show.

Worship services are commonly held in a theater. Last weekend I was blessed to have attended twice: at the Majestic in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Fitzgerald in St. Paul, Minnesota.

We rocked and rolled and filled our souls.

As far as I can tell, the main tenets of the Church of Martin are Peace and Love, Unity, Freedom, and Dreams.

Chasing your dreams.

Dreams of freedom?

We give thanks to failure in the Church of Martin, for it can make dreams come true. The dreams that choose me and you.

Brother Martin calls out to Jesus, Allah, the Higher Power, and the Universe to help us in our journey.

He gives us this meditation: Hop the dog!

Walking to the bar, the zombies seemed friendly enough. 400 Bar was pretty much the dive I expected. The few tables and seats were taken, so we took up position by the corner of the stage, near some other non-zombie refugees. (Apparently there was no wait staff, since those few tables became filled with empty glasses and bottles over the course of the evening. This was noted after we commandeered a table partway into the show.) There was a decent pre-existing fan turnout, judging by the number of us non-zombies. We talked to a few of these, plus a couple of nice zombies. The zombies had no clue about who these guys were.

That chorus kept running through my head, and I thought about how this and other RMB songs have inspired me. And I realized I should go. I should rearrange my “plans” and do something different. I wanted to support the band, do my small part to help make their dream come true, and maybe find some more inspiration toward my own dreams. I suspected I would see a great show.

So I headed out to The Cedar Cultural Center on April 14.

And oh man am I glad I did. It was nearly a religious experience. I’ve seen the light. My goal with this post and at least one more to follow is to share the joy with others; to persuade you to listen to their music. Give them a try. What kind of music is this, you ask? I have no idea what category to place it in. It’s just good. Great. Reviewers describe their style as folk, blues, soul, R & B, ragtime, and rock.

Martin was awesome. He almost lived up to my impossible expectations for seeing him live.

But first, let’s talk about the opening act: Ryan Montbleau. I had never heard of him before learning that he was opening on this tour. He normally plays with a band but last night performed solo in keeping with the spirit of Martin’s “Solo” tour. I had downloaded a few freebies from his web site and liked what I heard, so was looking forward to seeing him also.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a music reviewer’s vocabulary and training, so I can’t say something like, “he is evocative of the classic period of American folk music in a way that the neofolkists never fully understood,” but I can say he was GOOD. You can see and hear for yourself in my first …