Sailboat in the Prairies
Country-folk artist, Ryan Lindsay, has now released his fourth album, Sailboat in the Prairies. A collection of songs written on the road infused with influences from folk and Canadiana music. The album was recorded live-off-the-floor in a barn-converted studio in rural Texas.
Prairie cowboy music on the surface, his songs are balanced with layered narratives and his winsome country voice.​​ If you pay close attention, you might notice a subtle east coast rhythm or an oddly specific line that offers a lens into a stranger’s life.
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Lindsay recognizes the pressure for artists to "be like Nashville" rather than to embrace being where you’re from.
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"I feel like this record is my own way of pushing back at that a little bit and hoping there’s an audience out there that’s going to resonate with it."
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- Ryan Lindsay
on Calgary Eyeopener, CBC Radio One
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With this album, he embraces the nuances that come with live-off-the-floor recording. A method that brought five musicians into one room, playing together. The resulting mic-bleed makes it electronically impossible to edit the recording. It forced Lindsay to lean in to all aspects of his voice and not edit, or overdub, or make changes to it.
"From the very beginning, you approach the music differently when you know that you are committing to a take. What you hear is what you get. You realize that it's actually just character and nuance and not something that needs to be 'fixed.' One might say it's commercially irresponsible even, in today's overly polished music scene."
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- Ryan Lindsay
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Lindsay is nostalgic for the analog ways of the 90s. He hopes to carry that energy forward with his music as he continues to embark on cross-Canada radio tours, and discover unique listening room venues in a digital world full of distractions.
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Lindsay has now put on thousands of miles as an artist – his music taking him across the landscapes of Canada and the United States on a string of listening room tours, for countless shows, from intimate back-room performances to major country music festivals. ​His past work has earned him a CCMA nomination and 5x Country Music Alberta awards.
