|
|
Speaking of Taylor - to whom Ryan tips his songwriter's hat in "Windows Down" - the legend has had a profoundly catalytic effect on Ahlwardt's future as a performer. Recounting the blistered fingers and gritty guitar strings of his youth, Ahlwardt recalls a much more recent date - Monday, November 13th, 2006 to be exact - that definitively altered his perception of his own future as a performer.
Onstage on the Murat Theatre on a blustery Indianapolis fall evening sat Taylor, performing two hours of songs before a packed audience with only his guitar and an accompanying pianist. Amidst the seemingly palpable anticipation between songs, Ahlwardt watched in awe as Taylor graciously returned to stage for no less than three encores. He recalls telling his fiancé Lauren Orenga - his muse for "Saturday Night Live Girl" who gives a stellar vocal performance on "Turn My Head to Home," alone worthy of the album's purchase price - "That is what I want to do the rest of my life."
And so it has begun for Ahlwardt, although "begun" may be too relative a term to describe his ongoing journey towards a yet-to-be-determined - or is it disclosed? - final destination. Acknowledging the opportunities and challenges that lay in wait ahead along his path, Ryan studiously takes notes from his trailblazing predecessors. Despite his many highlights and extensive resume', the Hoosier singer/songwriter claims to be "just getting started." We are invited to go along with him, bystanders-turn-travel companions, through his music, passion, and confidence in knowing that he is creating his own legacy with every note he sings and each song he leaves behind.
|
|
 |
|
|
