Hey, thanks for checking out this page! I'm very excited that you're here. I love teaching music... but I love writing, recording, and performing even more. Below you'll find some bits and bytes about the projects I'm involved in
This project is kind of a catch-all that formed after a few bands I was in broke up. I figured hey, if I just name the thing 'me and the somethings,' it can never break up :) Many Leavers tunes were written by me alone in a dark closet. Some were written with other folks, and some of those folks were students of mine. I'll generally call upon a different combination of musicians I've met in my journeys for each tune, depending on what it needs. But that's not why it's called '& the Leavers.' Any Daniel Quinn fan will know exactly what 'Leavers' is in reference to :) Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream.
Zoey was one of my very first students, and holds the distinction of having been my student for a whopping 11 years. Needless to say we became very close, and (for some god unknown reason) we started introducing our (her) family holiday party performances with: "Hi I'm Zoey, and I'm Ryan, and we're The Dirty Dirty Men. He's dirty, she's dirty, AND WE'RE MEN! (hi-five)" And hence, the band name was set before either of us could prevent it. Zoey and I can hammer out songs like nobody's business, and there are many in the pipelines. We never ever discuss exactly what it is we're writing about until after the song is completed, for instance 'Land' is about a very sad parting of ways on my end, whereas she was writing about her favorite TV show, 'Supernatural' :) I'm happy to tell you we are continuing our efforts despite being on opposite coasts thanks to the magic of modern things. Same deal, Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you stream.