Lighting up the Volcanic with “Fire” but also “Wood,” “Water,” and “Air,” Ryan Montbleau will take the stage and perform hits off his new collection record on Saturday, May 6—”Wood, Fire, Water, and Air.” Montbleau is a singer-songwriter from Boston and has been a touring artist for just over 20 years. Over the last couple of years, he put out four EPs—”Wood,” “Fire,” “Water” and “Air.” This February, Montbleau put out a full record, a combination of the EPs along with a couple of bonus tracks.
The record is dynamic. The lyrics combine humor, sadness and joy, capturing the human experience. Montbleau is known for his storytelling abilities and in-between song dialogue, like Todd Snider, John Craigie and other folk storytelling musicians. His track “I Don’t Wanna Go” off the album has over 2.5 million streams on Spotify, and it takes listeners on a journey from childhood to adulthood.
“My goal with music is to express all the different range of emotions and all kinds of stuff that everybody goes through in life,” Montbleau said. “Some is really joyous. Some sounds really sad. Some will make you want to move. Some will make you want to stay still. I’m just always trying to tell the truth.”
Montbleau opened for Todd Snider in October 2022 at the Tower Theatre. A few months before that, Montbleau performed at the Volcanic for a solo show. He said he loves playing in Bend.
“I had a great show at [the Volcanic] last time,” Montbleau told the Source Weekly. “The vibe was so good. It just felt like my people. My music is very lyrically driven, centered around the lyrics. It needs to be listened to. I felt like people were really locked in but also really fun. I don’t know, it was like perfect last time, so I’m psyched to get back.”
This article appears in Source Weekly May 4, 2023.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
