Northern California native Ryan Lafferty is a musician of multiple talents, playing guitar as well as bass and drums, not to mention his vocal skills. Having been immersed in music as a child, Lafferty began playing shows at the tender age of 18, moving on to attend Santa Clara University where he became a musical regular at campus shows. Lafferty plays in a band called Montana 1948 [myspace.com/mt1948], but his heart lies in what he does on his own: playing folk
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Lafferty’s voice is one of obvious strength, playing out with a solid sounding clarity, even in the roughest of recordings. Currently in the process of putting together newly written material and recording, Lafferty does offer a few songs for sampling on his myspace [myspace.com/ryanlaffertymusic]. One of which is a Johnny Cash cover, completely well suited for Lafferty’s style, which is one of oaky, smooth and traditional folk. His original songs offer a calm and melodic sound, complete with twangy slides and soft percussion.
Lyrically Lafferty is a hit and miss with us. Songs of heartbreak and aching are just fine, but need to be handled with great care to be taken seriously. In some songs his phrases and lines come off as trite, just a little overdone in the achey breaky heart context [My pen it drips my sorrows/Blacken the roses with ink again- Lives in Disguise] but what those few slip ups take away from his songs is compensated by his stronger lyrics, such as: When you think of me tell me please, what comes to your mind?/A sharp dressed man with a guitar that treated you too kind./I know that I am the man that you’ve always wanted/But I don’t know if I’ll be there when you finally want him, in his song ‘Show Them’. A musician of very apparent skill, and a writer who shows promise, Lafferty is also an artist with integrity- he turned down an offer from Upscale Records because, in his words, “their label wasn’t the best fit for me.” We give him kudos for holding out for a contract that works for him and not the other way around. Be sure to look out for a release from Ryan Lafferty, and listen at: myspace.com/ryanlaffertymusic
Tags: Artist Profile, Local Music
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