The Working Man’s Blues of Erik Ryden & the Unk of Funk

As you are looking down the list of winners from the 39th Review Music Awards and see Erik Ryden’s name appear in three different genres - Country, Blues, and Funk - you might ask yourself “what is going on here?”

If that is anywhere close to your reaction, I guess I’d like to ask you  a follow up question:  What do you think of when you hear the term “working musician?”

Would it be someone who is versatile in their repertoire?  Would it be someone who can fit into a variety of musical settings?  Maybe someone who conducts their business with you professionally?  How about someone who their bandmates seem to consider a “good hang.”

If you nod in agreement with at least a couple of those, I hope it sheds a little light on the sometimes schizophrenic nature of a Review Award Winner’s trophy shelf.

When I sat down with Erik as he was getting ready to load in at the Governor’s Quarter’s in Bay City, he really summed it up with his first statement “I just want the work.”

“I am just happy to see a room full of people that want to hear me play.”

As a side bet, when I asked you to picture a working musician, my guess is that what you did not picture was a Korean guy slinging country blues guitar across most of Lower Michigan.  On this point it’s probably worth delving into Ryden’s “origin story,” as they say in the Marvel franchise.

Born in South Korea, Ryden was adopted as a toddler into a musical family.  His mother, a violinist, and his father, a drummer, provided his first musical inspirations.  It was on these two instruments that he cut his musical teeth.

His move from orchestral and symphonic band to pop genres came organically at a later point.  As he describes, “I didn’t really pick up guitar until I was 13 or 14.  Before that it was more drums and percussion than anything.”

He took his new vocation to Alma College.  While, as Ryden puts it, “I majored in partying and football,” it did allow him to meet other musicians who were navigating the same “Americana Revival” that was going at the time, like Mark Lavengood.

It was through these connections that he also got a chance to jam with a “hot shot” teen that was burning up the same circuit that he and Lavengood were playing.  Turns out Billy Strings was everything they were saying about him and more.

These days Ryden hopes to play upwards of 200 shows a year. He has been working solely as a musician for a few years now, leaving his day jobs and their taxes on his time and energy behind.  “I was putting in 500 work days in a year between cooking and gigging.”

Ryden is also quick with a joke in this regard.  “People will say that it’s not a very good way to make money.  And they are right.  But also people don’t always think about the costs associated with their jobs”

He elaborated on his business model, at least for the “solo / singer” side of his career.

“I play all over Michigan, but try to concentrate on gigs within two hours of my house.  My set might be a little different in different towns.  I also try to play most of my shows at venues where the cost to get in is free.”

“As a solo artist, I will play almost anywhere, anyhow.  When I bring out the band, however,  I am looking for different qualities in a gig.”

Which brings us to “The Band.”  Ryden is referring to Best New Artist and Best Blues Video Winner Erik Ryden & The Unc Of Funk.

This plugged-in and dance friendly “super group” started when Ryden approached drummer Steve McCray at a Soul Express gig and asked if he wanted to do some recording.

The lineup drew to include Rhett Yocom, who moved from his normal slot on guitar to bass for this project, saxophonist / multi-instrumentalist Jeff Grassl and the occasional augmentation on keys by Denny Fisk.

As people who attended the Awards show saw in their “tour de funk” performance or you can see in their winning video for “Drifting (Live),  this is a slick and professional unit that flirts with the edges of a variety of genres in the name of funk.  They are a welcome addition to the music scene, gaining new appreciation from the somewhat neglected set of music fans who like to boogie.

When I talk about the people who appreciate Ryden and his band, there is one point worth making that isn’t specific to Erik or his projects.

One of the things area musicians understand about the annual awards is that a very large proportion of the votes come from other gigging musicians.  You quietly vote for your own band if you are nominated, but then you look around at the other nominees and cast your votes across the whole gamut of categories - 60 in total these days.

To that degree these are largely peer driven.  The other musicians know who is working hard.  We all know who can actually play and who can’t.  It translates into the results.  I’m not saying friends, family and fans have no impact.  Just go to the show some year and watch the reaction of the other musicians to the winners.  The awards celebrate the scene.  When you see people winning across categories, it’s often because the other musicians want to make sure that we recognize our friends and their best efforts.

Ryden echoed some of this sentiment when he told me his main memory of the night was how happy “Steve, Denny and the rest of the band were” when their names were announced.

Ryden's plan for the near term is “more and more of the same.”  He has solo work booked through the remainder of the year, dates with the Unc of Funk planned and work as a sideman in Brett Mitchell & the Misfits.  In his “spare time” he’d like to pull together a bluegrass combo from some of the players he has met around the state.

This is the life you sign up for as a full time professional musician.  Playing means paying the bills, filling time with sound.