A private show will feature Ryan McMahon at the Smaug鈥檚 Vap Shop in Weyburn on Wednesday, March 16 at 7 p.m.
There are a limited tickets available, for $20 a person, and they are available at Smaug鈥檚 Vap Shop on Third Street, or by calling Rickee-Lee Webster.
Ryan is looking forward to playing Weyburn for the first time in his career.
He鈥檚 been a solo act for 15 years, having won several West Coast awards and having his songs placed Internationally, including 鈥淚鈥檒l Be Damned鈥� which was featured on the final season of Showtime鈥檚 鈥楥alifornication.鈥�
Ryan McMahon was born in 1979 in Chemainus, BC. The only child of a longshoreman and a future educator, Ryan began entertaining early. The circles of aunts, uncles and grandparents were tickled by his early renditions of the theme song from Davy Crocket: 鈥淜ing of the Wild Frontier鈥�. The same relatives were not so thrilled by his discoveries and emulations of the early stage stylings of Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor.
Whether the attention he received was positive or negative, it was during these early childhood days that hooked Ryan into evoking emotion from those around him.
Now 35 years old, Ryan has carved out a 15-year career as an independent artist in Canada鈥檚 vibrant music scene. He鈥檚 always been a genre fence sitter, hanging out on the edges of country just enough to say he isn鈥檛; Ryan is both a whisper and a scream.
鈥淩yan sings to anyone and everyone who has ever got drunk, smoked, cried, loved or been loved,鈥� said producer Andre Wahl (Hawksley Workman, Luke Doucet).
Ryan鈥檚 life goal has always been to craft songs that speak to the human condition. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know who I was until I found music. I found that the person I was becoming in my songs was far more confident and self-assured than I was myself. Writing songs was my way of relating to people on a broader scale than I could otherwise.鈥�
Over the course of his career, Ryan has toured Canada over 25 times, released three full-length albums, and seen his music licensed nationally and abroad. He has shared the stage with an extremely wide-variety of artists, ranging from Lisa Loeb and Carole Pope to Nickelback and Mother Mother.
He鈥檚 also had the honor of participating in JunoFest, the Western Canadian Music Awards, Canadian Music Week, Music West, and various other notable Canadian Music Festivals, including three wins (Male Vocalist, Record & Artist of the Year) out of five nominations at the Vancouver Island Music Awards in 2012.
Legendary Canadian TV/Radio personality Terry David Mulligan may have summed up Ryan best: 鈥淭he complete package. Singer. Songwriter. Performer. Troublemaker. Passionate human being. For me鈥� priceless.鈥�
McMahon has played some of the best venues the country has to offer, including the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, the Ironwood Stage in Calgary, The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver & Nanaimo鈥檚 Port Theatre.
In 2012, Ryan co-founded 鈥楾he Lion the Bear the Fox,鈥� with song-writing colleagues Cory Woodward and Christopher Arruda, and the band was immediately named as one of the Top 20 Finalists for the 2013 Peak Performance Project in Vancouver.
The opportunity gave Ryan and his band mates the chance to shine light towards their charity, the BandWagon Project (mobile recording studios that visit various lower mainland care facilities). This charity project was inspired by Megan McNeil and The Will To Survive Campaign that Ryan was deeply involved in helping take shape.
In April of 2014, Showtime鈥檚 original series, 鈥淐alifornication鈥� featured the single 鈥淚鈥檒l Be Damned,鈥� which will be included as a bonus track on the upcoming full-length album titled 鈥淧ut Me Back Together,鈥� produced by LBF cohort Christopher Arruda. That album is due in April, 2015.
鈥淐hris and I had no budget, and no expectations, other than to track ten songs that we both believed in,鈥� said Ryan. 鈥淲e set up mics, made sure we stayed out of the way of the songs, and had an absolute friggin鈥� blast.鈥�
鈥楾he Lion the Bear the Fox鈥� will be criss-crossing through the province during the month of November, during a theatre run this fall.
