I was lucky enough recently to have my song selected for the 2022 Western Arctic Moving Pictures 48 Hour Music Video Competition!
Nancy MacNeill and Maia Lepage put together this great little video capturing some elements of Yellowknife summer as well as the legendary Gold Range Hotel (brief cameo of Ernie Constant).
I want to take a minute and thank some of the folks who have given me some radio play lately! First and foremost, Samantha Stuart at Cabin Radio here in Yellowknife, who will be featuring From the Railyard to the Woodyard on her show, Cabin Country, on Tuesday night, January 26, 2021, from 8-10 PM (with repeat broadcast on Saturday January 30, 5-7). We will be talking about the album, life in Yellowknife, and some other stories…
Also a quick thanks and shout out to Alberto Basarte in Spain and his show Blue Moon Kentucky, and Sean Burns from Boots and Saddle on CKUW in Winnipeg, for including me on their shows!
Just want to say thanks to Brian Saunderson down in Kamloops, BC, for featuring me on his online radio show, Hurtin For Real! Episode 932, part 2, week of January 29, 2021.
A couple years ago on HFR #777, I did a show of all songs about Stompin' Tom Connors. There's a new song that would have fit right in, off Ryan McCord's brand new record… https://t.co/Rix1rtJWRe Rest of the album's good, too. Solid twang from Yellowknife. #Yellowknifepic.twitter.com/qpKO9eZ3db
Back in 2014, or maybe 2013, just minutes before I was getting on the plane to California to record my first album, Janna Graham and I went out to the ice of Great Slave Lake to make some sound recordings of vintage ice saws cutting the ice. Now, after six years, Terry Woolf has put together this beautiful video of my friends and I harvesting ice for Snowking’s Winter Festival. I believe that the footage is shot by Terry, Anthony Foliot and Wade Carpenter, all on their phones. Thank you Terry!
The new album goes on sale on Monday December 21, 2020! It’s called From the Railyard to the Woodyard. There’s Vinyl, CD, and Digital. I’m super-excited to share it with you! Recorded back in February, in Nanton, Alberta, with producer Steve Loree and a great group of musicians (Brad Brouwer, Paul Holden, Jimmy Roy, Scott Duncan, John Gorham).
Here in Yellowknife, the album will be available at a couple of my favourite local stores: Weaver and Devore, and the Down to Earth Gallery. Please note that Weaver’s will only carry the vinyl for the first few days (it takes a lot of counter space), and that Down to Earth Gallery is not open on Mondays.
You can also find the album online. For online orders of Vinyl or CD, or for digital downloads, please check out ryanmccord.bandcamp.com. Another option if you’re in Yellowknife is to call or text me at 444-0322. You can listen on Soundcloud. If everything goes as planned, it will be available on all the major streaming platforms too.
Since I’ve got a new music video coming out soon, I have some tracks ready to go for when things like the Western Arctic Moving Pictures48 Hour Music Video Competition come up, I can submit a song for the creative filmmakers to make something great. Thanks so much to Cat Fauvelle and Miles Johnson for putting together this video, and congratulations to them for tying for the Audience Choice award!
In the 1970s Craig Mishler spent some time in Old Crow and northern Alaska, and wrote a scholarly book documenting Gwich’in fiddle music and culture. It’s called The Crooked Stovepipe; Athapaskan Fiddle Music and Square Dancing in Northeast Alaska and Northwest Canada, and it’s available at the Inuvik Public Library. I had it out a few years ago. The video shows Charlie Peter playing some tunes in 1972 – there are some familiar ones, and some interesting variations of them too.
The PunchBrothers take traditional bluegrass instruments and play everything from classical music to contemporary rock. This tune is an old bluegrass number that they play in their own exceptional style. All of the band members take amazing solos in this video.