ABOUT
“His music gave me permission to find myself…”
Ryan Deakin is a Singer-Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist and visual artist from Cheshire, England. For more than a decade, Ryan has performed his eclectic mix of folk ballads, ragtime and country blues to audiences and has gained recognition from the Bert Jansch Foundation as a highly skilled guitar player and a unique songwriter in his own right.
Since
2018
Ryan has self released over 20 albums available online, and has written and recorded more than 200 original songs as well as unique arrangements of 1930s folk blues songs and jazz classics. His eclectic and vast catalogue ranges from intimate solo guitar tracks, to multi layered folk-rock and classic rock tracks that Ryan creates by himself. Throughout his recording sessions, Ryan has used guitar, bass, drums, piano, mandolin, banjo, electric guitar, flute, harmonium and recently violin and cello.
Finding
INSPIRATION.
“I think I was perhaps 13 when I heard my dad practising Anji,” Ryan recalls. “It took me a couple of weeks to learn it, and I found it such fun to play! That’s when I fell into a rabbit hole of strange, magical music…”
That rabbit hole led to the haunting, intricate work of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Davy Graham — artists whose influence still threads through Ryan’s playing today. By 12, Ryan was gigging live, and his performances now captivate with a raw, hypnotic blend of folk, blues, and intricate fingerstyle guitar.
His poetry chronicles heartache and depression, with songs like “Honey” presenting a dark, absurd and nihilistic story of the universe. However this darkness is often juxtaposed with Ryans spirituality and the creatives’ devotion to love and beauty. Songs like “Blue” and “Silver Star”, from his 22nd Album “The Parade” tell weird stories of incredible beauty and dreamlike imagery. His poetry is lifted by his clear, often falsetto vocal which has been described as pure.
Ryan embraces
melancholy.
Chambertin:
A TRIBUTE TO A LEGEND.
In 2019, Ryan recorded Chambertin—one of Jansch’s most demanding instrumentals—for Around the World in 80 Plays, a tribute to Bert’s legacy.
“Many see it as Bert’s Magnum Opus,” Ryan says.
“The way he played was sometimes like two guitars at once—raw, almost punk. His songs made me feel like something magic happened long ago, somewhere far away.”
Music,
Art &
A MICROPHONE
As Well as music, Ryan is also skilled in drawing and animation. As seen in his album covers, Ryan specialises in colourful fantasy sci-fi and comic book illustrations, often depicting anthropomorphic animals and multi-coloured abstractions. He brings his drawings to life in animations created with a variety of methods including digital, claymation, paper cut-out stop motion and cel animation. In 2024 he released a fully animated music video for his song “It Would Have Been Nice”, made digitally with a drawing tablet. He has also created other comical animations including voice acting, available on Ryan's youtube channel which he has been running for 9 years, posting many surreal and highly creative video projects and animations.
In 2025, Ryan visited the Bert Jansch recording studio in Frome to start work on his first studio album “Best Songs Vol.1”, re-recording some of his best work into a collection of folk-rock, country and folk arrangements intended as an introductory compilation for those yet familiar with Ryans music.
Best Songs Vol.1 will be released in July 2025.
Upcoming events,
just for you.
Available
on All Platforms.
STREAM NOW
Whether you're discovering him for the first time or following his journey, Ryan’s music is available to stream everywhere. Each track is a glimpse into an evolving voice'; one that’s both timeless and strikingly original.
Contact
Ryan.
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