Serena Ryder

Serena Ryder is a tiger. “Unlikely Emergency,” her feisty first international release, dares to begin and end a cappella. The soulster’s move would be too showy for some, but Ryder and her husky range make it work, mostly because what comes in-between is so juicy.

Both delightful and slightly spiteful, Ryder’s soulful voice is as full-bodied as a bottle of cabernet sauvignon but as unpretentious as a can of beer. Although an enduring and original individual, she’s somewhere between an echo of Janis Joplin and a copy of Joss Stone.

Ryder’s vulnerability can be heard on such songs as the title track and the chirpy “Daydream” while her rawness powers “Again by Two” and “Just Another Day.” Sure, Ryder would be a prerequisite on the Lilith Fair bill if that chick fest ever kicked up again, but she’s still a tiger. Go on, hear her roar. - Derrik J. Lang (Associated Press)

THREE AND A HALF STARS

She arrives on the U.S. scene having already established herself as a rising star in her native Canada, earning fans like Steve Earle who took her out on tour in the process.

At 22, Serena Ryder is blessed with a powerhouse, multi-octave voice and enough confidence or cockiness to close this album with a completely a cappella, blow-down-the-doors cover of Etta James' classic "At Last."

That's the only non-original on this 10-song set, which spotlights a major new talent. She shines against some organic instrumentation on highlights like "Just Another Day"; the raspy party song "Every Single Day," which has banjo breaking through it; the beautifully gentle melodic charmer "Daydream"; and the scathing, reggae-tinged "And Some Money Too."

The only time Ryder falters is when she takes on a voice that's way too much like Alanis Morissette's in "Skin Crawl," but that's the lone exception to what's otherwise an impressive U.S. debut.
- Kevin O’Hare (Springfield Republican)

Serena Ryder is an original. She's only 22, and she hails from the farm town of Millbrook, Ontario. Her mother was a go-go dancer. That's an unusual combination, but wait until you hear her sing. Ryder has an outstanding range, sounding like Ani DiFranco one minute and Marianne Faithfull the next. Then there's the remarkable, gospel-inspired a cappella tune ''Sing Sing," in which she could be another member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Ryder is a romantic for whom the glass is definitely half-full, not half-empty, as she shows in the New Orleans-flavored ''Every Single Day," featuring the lines, ''Love has never lost me . . . It fills your tank, it turns your crank, it mends your knees, it turns your keys." That kind of lively phrasing is her signature, framed by her chameleon-like vocals and smart arrangements that often marry folk guitar to R&B organ. She can be tough, too. Witness the kiss-off tune ''Skin Crawl," where she tells an ex-lover that "'my bones may be naked now, but at least you're not passed out on my floor." And while she writes nine of the 10 songs, she concludes with a stirring cover of Etta James's ''At Last," sung with the dynamism of another James disciple, Susan Tedeschi. Ryder is still growing, but she has an impressive fearlessness. Given the right breaks, she could become a major force.

- Boston Globe (Steve Morse)

http://www.serenaryder.com/press/20031001serenaellemag.jpg

Like listening to the teenaged Aretha Franklin, it's impossible not to be physically shaken when this 20-year-old from Peterborough, Ont., sings.."

October 2003 - Elle Magazine - October 2003

Folk-blues phenom Serena Ryder keeps it casual in the wake of her big breaks.
Serena Ryder may know a thing or two about singing the blues, but the first thing that strikes you is her infectious laugh -- it bubbles forth freely and easily between bouts of engaging chatter.

The 21-year-old singer/songwriter has every reason to be upbeat -- she's just released the well-received Unlikely Emergency on like-minded pal Hawksley Workman's Isadora Records imprint, spent the summer touring the folk-festival circuit and has just found the perfect place to live: the town she grew up in.

In fact, she's just spent the past week in Peterborough and is blissfully unaware of Toronto's recent hostage-taking drama (see editorial page 6) as she meets up with friends for dinner at Tortilla Flats on Queen West. But it isn't crime on the streets or pesky reporters interrupting her down-time that has Ryder fleeing the environs of the big city -- she's on the road so much as it is that she's just looking for a quiet place to lay her head on the rare occasion that she is home.

"It wasn't about Toronto -- I love Toronto," she says. "[Peterborough]'s just a place that when I go home, I'll actually feel like I'm coming home and resting. I sleep really well in Peterborough -- there's just something about the smells and the sounds and the people there around me. I feel really comfortable and warm there."

Warm and familiar -- much like Ryder's husky voice and intimate songs. Often compared to Tracy Chapman and Aretha Franklin, the young songstress channels the sincerity of the former and the feistiness of the latter though her three-octave range and powerful songwriting.

It was hearing her sing live on CBC Radio while in an airport limo on the way back to Toronto from Paris that prompted Workman to call the station to track Ryder down.

"He got in touch with me and invited me out for dinner. I had heard his name before, but never heard his stuff," she says. "He's like a soul brother from many years ago. It was kind of that instant connection where you meet someone and it's, 'Hey, I know you! Nice to see you again!' That's how it felt, and we've been working together ever since."

Workman signed Ryder to his label, and the two recorded Unlikely Emergency (all 10 songs were penned by Ryder, save the closing track, an intense a capella take on Etta James' classic "At Last") last summer at his schoolhouse studio in Huntsville, live off the floor with bassist Derrick Brady and Todd Lumley on organ.

"It was three days in the studio, which is just fucking amazing for an album -- usually it takes forever and ever, right? We just jammed, and it only took two or three takes max for any of the songs," Ryder says.

"The whole recording experience was based solely on inspiration and being in the moment. I walked in there and Hawksley had set up flowers for me on the table, and brought in my favourite incense to make the whole place smell wonderful, and put an ashtray down beside me because I'm a smoking fiend. We had a little bottle of tequila, and every day that we went in the studio, we'd have a couple shots, like 'OK, start the day!' It was phenomenal -- just how effortless it was, and how much fun it was."

While Workman continues to be Ryder's biggest champion (the day we spoke, he was on his way to MuchMoreMusic to hand-deliver a copy of Ryder's first video), he's not the only star in her orbit. This spring, she supported Steve Earle during an Australian tour, has played with Texas legend Jimmy LaFave and just this week opened for Irish megastars The Corrs at the Air Canada Centre.

Ryder recognizes that few artists get the opportunities she's had, especially at her age, and she isn't taking any of it for granted.

"Lately, I've been feeling so inspired and I've made a conscious effort to actually realize how disgustingly lucky I am right now," she says. "I find that a lot of people, when they're feeling on top of the world, they forget about feeling really shitty and alone and out of place. So I try to remind myself about that, and not get lost in the hustle of it all. So many people would love to be where I'm at; not to sound big-headed, but I feel blessed right now and I really appreciate where I'm at -- it feels really good." - EYE

If in the mid-90s you'd been a music fan in the small hamlet of Millbrook, Ontario (just south of Peterborough), you might've witnessed a wildly implausible character ripping it up at open mic nights.

At the height of the grunge explosion, you could walk into a bar and be treated to a mini-Robert Smith doppelganger – replete with wild black hair, white makeup and loads of lipstick – cranking out, er, hurtin' country tunes on an acoustic guitar.

You can see why, at 13, Serena Ryder was a little too much for Millbrook.

Now, not quite a decade later, Ryder's ditched the goth get-up and a bit of the twang, but her career's taking off. She's played her hooky jazz- and roots-inflected rock for fans from Nashville to Australia, including a stint on Fred Eaglesmith's cross-Canada Roots On The Rails tour.

Her powerful pipes, evoking Tracy Chapman and Janis Joplin in equal measure, have impressed the likes of Steve Earle, who invited her to tour with him Down Under, and Hawksley Workman, who produced her recent Unlikely Emergency album, the first release on his indie label, Isadora.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the image of an adolescent goth kid playing country music.

"It stemmed from my obsession with vampires," laughs Ryder over a coffee-and-beer brunch on a downtown patio. "I saw The Lost Boys when I was five and fell in love, and watched Interview With The Vampire about 80 times when I was a preteen.

"I've never had any problems embracing a darker side, cuz I don't think anything's really bad or evil. I mean, you need a balance, but at that time I definitely wasn't into the lightness."

But she'd been raised singing Buddy Holly and Linda Ronstadt songs and immersed herself in her parents' record collection, which ranged from Culture Club and Julio Iglesias to Arlo Guthrie and John Prine.

When her dad bought her a guitar at age 13, Ryder fused those influences into a heady, rootsy blend, learned a handful of chords and started setting her manic scribblings to music.

Unlikely Emergency reflects the singer's eclectic roots, ranging from naked a cappella spirituals (album opener Sing Sing feels like a contemporary spin on those old Alan Lomax field recordings) to glossier alt-pop anthems. But Ryder's voice is what stands out on the disc. There's a cocksure flamboyance in her delivery that makes you understand why Workman, a similarly larger-than-life personality, was attracted to her.

Her reverence for the bare-bones aesthetic of roots music and the diversity of her tunes fit right in with the mandate of the Toronto City Roots Song Celebration festival, which takes over the Distillery District this weekend. Along with Bob Wiseman, Priya Thomas and Ashley MacIsaac, Ryder performs on a bill that might surprise people who write off folkish fests as stodgy and old-guard.

Says Jennifer Claveau, who organized the fest with Howard Gladstone, "Our tag line is, 'A mosaic of music, a celebration of spirit.' We wanted to reflect the multicultural aspect. When we discovered how few exposure opportunities independent songwriters have in any genre, we homed in on that niche. Our focus became the songs, which is reflected in calling the event a song celebration."

While the usual suspects are well represented (legendary folkie Sylvia Tyson, who some say was the inspiration for Catherine O'Hara's character in A Mighty Wind, headlines one night, while Canuck indie roots icon Fred Eaglesmith headlines another), there's also the Independent Artists' workshop stage, with talent curated by folks like SOCAN's Howard Druckman and sleeve art designer Michael "A Man Called" Wrycraft to attract those who wouldn't touch Winterfolk with a 10-foot pole. - NOW - September 2004