Ryan Link & Friends, Vinyl Lounge

Born in San Francisco and raised in the suburbs of Seattle, son of an airline pilot and a flight attendant, Ryan spent his extended adolescence devouring radio pop, hard rock, funk, reggae and soul throughout the '90s. He played out in several lesser-known Seattle bands as a young drummer/vocalist - grunge trio Chin Muff, funk-rock jam band Salamander, the lush overdrive of Clementine (with Heather Duby and Reggie Watts), “transcendental groovehop” trio Phase 4, and trip-hoppers Strange Voices (featuring Nikol Kollars). A brief stint as a Berklee music student gave way to some local recognition as a power-pop frontman in Boston (one album released with Miss Fortune, and an EP with Now Is Now). Around the same time, he was bit by the acting bug. Another “indefinite hiatus” led him on a sharp thespian detour into New York City theater.

Less than two years after moving to the big city and declaring himself an actor, he made his 2003 Broadway debut as rocker Roger in Jonathan Larson's RENT. Later, he was employed on Broadway and across the country with the 2009 revival of HAIR, the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. Between acting gigs, Ryan kept one toe in the recording pool ("One Song Glory + remixes"), formed a remedial rock quartet (Kill The Camera EP) and jammed out on blues, classic rock and reggae with a cover band residency (The Ryan Link Affair). Since 2013, Link has been traveling with the Glen Hansard- and Marketa Irglova-composed stage adaptation of the cult indie film hit ONCE (www.oncemusical.com), currently on an extended tour of the U.S., Canada and Japan.

Link’s "Reverberations" EP was recorded by Don Chaffer (Waterdeep) outside Nashville in September and October of 2014. Ryan plays drums and acoustic guitar, and is responsible for most of the vocals on the record. The other players include Jay Barclay (The Waterboys, Augustana, The Damnwells, Ben Kweller and the aforementioned Miss Fortune), and John Pahmer (Rev. Al Green, Jordin Sparks, Sandra Bernhard, Celebrity Apprentice) -- as well as castmates from the ONCE tour, Ray Bokhour and Ben Magnuson.

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