Ryan Shaw ~ The Interview

Words and Photos by Joe Koch

It’s been over two years since the release of Ryan Shaw’s debut record, This is Ryan Shaw. The release gained him some noteworthy fans like Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart and Carson Daily, all who have left him an open invitation to return to their shows any time.

Ryan has also earned the respect of his peers — Robert Randolph, Derek Trucks and Keb Mo, who he has sat in with and jammed with numerous times. His song “I Am Your Man” won him a Grammy nomination. He has opened the Bonaroo Festival and closed the Montreal Jazz Fest to a crowd of 60,000 and had a successful opening stint with Van Halen last summer. Most of all, he continues to grind it out on the road, gaining one fan at a time. Ryan believes, “If I can just get them to my show, they will instantly get it!”

The last time we talked, in the spring of 2008, you were preparing to hit the road as the opening act for Van Halen. How was that experience?

Well, the Van Halen tour was really, really ridiculously great!

How long were you on tour with them?

We were out with them for about six and a half weeks. It was crazy.

How receptive were the Van Halen fans?

It was pretty cool. What happened was… On the first night, the very first show, where you have 15,000 to 20,000 people there to see Van Halen, most times they don’t even know if there’s an opening band.

So when the lights went down and everyone screams thinking Van Halen is about to take the stage, I appeared standing in the spotlight. Instantly everyone started booing, screaming ‘Get off the stage!’

So I had to find a way to catch them off guard. I couldn’t just do the same old thing as everyone else. So I started the show like I always do — acapella singing “Change is Gonna Come.” It opens with “I was born, and I hold that note extra long, by the river.” Got’em from that moment through the rest of the show. The boos changed to screams of approval.

Did that work for every show?

Every show without fail. Van Halen fans were coming up to us after shows, just to tell us that they were there to see Van Halen. But, we have new fans now. It was actually overwhelming at times.

Did you have to change things up musically to appease the crowd?

We strategically chose some cover songs that were a little more on the rock side —Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart,” the Beatles’ “Let it Be” and Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness.” We would take one or two of them and fit them in with our originals. We were only allowed a half-hour set, so we usually only played five or six songs.

Any favorite venues from that tour?

We played Van Halen’s only outdoor show in Canada with them. It was in Quebec City and they were celebrating 400 years as a city or something. So there were about 200,000 people. They came from all over. That was crazy.

We played Madison Square Garden with them. That was my first time ever in the Garden and I was performing.

I’ve had a couple of first time ever experiences like that — my first time at Carnegie Hall was performing at the Elton John Tribute Concert and my first time at Radio City Music Hall was the Dream Concert.

Another subject that we talked about last time was movies. You were getting ready to go and shoot a couple. What ever happened with them?

Yes, I was in “Bride Wars.” which starred Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. I was the wedding singer that you can hardly make out, I’m so blurred. But, they did use my version of “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a song written by Blood, Sweat and Tears on the soundtrack.

Wasn’t there two movies were getting ready to work on?

Yes, I was also in the movie “Chess,” a movie about the Chess brothers and their story of how Chess records got started. I was in the opening scene. I played Billy Breeze.

It got great reviews at the Toronto film festival, actually better than the other movie about Chess with Beyonce in it.

After the screening they held a concert and I got to perform with Keb Mo for the first time; that went great. We keep in touch now and we actually have another show together coming up soon.

So now that you’ve done music and movies, which do you prefer?

Music will always be my first love. I love acting, I love theatre, I love the stage.

Have you ever done Broadway before?

Yeah, I originally moved to New York to pursue Broadway but it just didn’t happen. But, that was my original goal. So would you still do Broadway?

I would love to, if I wasn’t touring.

I noticed your touring schedule has been kind of light lately. Have you been performing?

Well, since I’m not instantly recognized by a lot of people, I went back to doing what I was doing before all of this — playing weddings.

No one really notices me. But, I told my band leader that if people start recognizing me that I would have to stop doing it. But, it’s a good way while I’m not touring to keep my chops up, to keep singing, to keep my voice strong and it pays really well.

This year you participated in the Mayercraft Carrier — a cruise hosted by John Mayer. What was that like?

Oh my god, it was great. There were about 12 different artists on the boat and you have to perform about three shows. The promoters ask you to be out mingling with the fans, but it’s hard, you’re really busy the whole time that you’re out to sea. I had to host different events in between performing. I was usually exhausted at the end of the day.

How was John Mayer?

He was the most down-to-earth guy. He was always out partying with everybody every night. He was dee-jaying ‘til five in the morning one night. He did all the morning announcements. If I were to ever host my own cruise, I would model it after John’s.

So what’s next with your career?

We’re continuing to work on new songs for the next record. Hopefully it will be out by early next year.

Anything else?

I actually would like my own reality show, ‘cuz I’m always walking around doing something stupid and I think cameras should follow me around and show everybody what happens.

For more information go to: www.thisisryanshaw.com