Features

Spotlight: The Ryan Montbleau Band

Ryan Montbleau was bitten by the poetry bug as a senior in high school in Peabody, Mass. through “a great English teacher.” Accepted at Villanova University in the late ‘90s, the budding songwriter began to find himself.

“But still, when I went away to college, I was a chemical engineering major and I would sit in the back of chemistry class and write poetry.” A restless academic, he turned to economics, before finally settling on English.

“I continued to write poetry and play a shitload of guitar,” says Montbleau. “ Play guitar, not practice guitar. All I ever did was play, play, play.” It was at Villanova where the singer/songwriter began to write material that would make up his debut album, which he recorded and self-released after graduation in 2002.

To make ends meet, he began substitute teaching and performing at TGI Fridays, which were his first live gigs in front of an audience. Shortly after, the budding artist met his musical hero, Martin Sexton, when the singer/ songwriter made an in-studio appearance at Boston radio station WERS and a DJ friend invited Montbleau to watch.

“I gave him a copy of Begin, my first CD, and looked at him like a little schoolgirl,” gushes Montbleau.

Gradually, Montbleau formed the Ryan Montbleau Band, a sextet that now includes James and Jason Cohen on drums and keyboards respectively, percussionist Yahuba Garcia-Torres, bassist Matt Gianarros and violinist Laurence Scudder. Together, they’ve recorded and released two studio albums, One Fine Color and Patience on Friday, without a producer.

Over the years, Montbleau and Sexton stayed in touch, often running into each other at festivals such as Gathering of the Vibes. A firm believer in Montbleau’s talent, Sexton invited the young musician to open for him on tour several times. And, most recently, Sexton asked Montbleau and his band to be his backing band in support of his new album, Sugarcoating.

While rehearsing with Sexton for the tour at a Victorian-style house in Lawrence, Mass. that Montbleau rents with three band members, the cards fell into place to have Sexton produce the band’s new record, Heavy on the Vine.

“We were trying to get different producers to do it and looking at different options,” says Montbleau. “[At the same time], we were rehearsing and playing with [Sexton], so he said, ‘I want to throw my hat in the ring and try to produce you.’”

“My mom always told me, ‘God helps those who help themselves,’” Sexton says of his inclination to guide the young musician. “So when you see somebody who’s really good and you feel like you can help, you go in there. I wanted to see what I could do.”
While Sexton says that he wanted the album to sound like a Montbleau Band recording—“I wanted to be sure not to get my fingerprints on the record”—his influence is certainly evident.

“He definitely had some arrangement ideas,” confirms Montbleau highlighting the roaring ‘20s styled ditty “Stay” and the ‘70s country rock of “More and More and More.” After the band’s first take of the latter, which is the most radical departure from the band’s natural Americana and blue-eyed soul, Sexton suggested that the group try a “Stones go to Nashville version.”

“We were so pissed at the time,” laughs Montbleau now. “We were like, ‘What? This is so stupid.’ But we did it and now that’s what’s on the record,” he says proudly.

Drummer James Cohen, who’s been performing with Montbleau since Begin, agrees. “With [Sexton] being like, ‘Do it!’—somebody that we look up to so much—it was just so much easier to take any chance,” he says. “[Multiple arrangements] was something we had not done in the studio or even really considered.”

While listeners can hear Sexton’s involvement on Heavy on the Vine, Montbleau feels that this studio effort is the most representative of the band to date. “It still has the same vibe of the past records,” he says. “It’s still us, you know? But then again, we had Martin Sexton’s ears to fall back on!”