Ryland Moranz

Ryland Moranz is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter from Lethbridge, Alberta, originally from Fort Macleod. He studied music at the University of Lethbridge, where he was awarded the Sakamoto Research Prize and Chinook Research Award for his research on analog/digital mixing practices and perception. His concise and lyrically driven songwriting is deep beyond his years with an emphasis on storytelling and an increasing awareness that life is always bigger than you think it is. Sometimes politically satirical and often offset with fun loving humour, Ryland's wit and social conscience shine through in the well crafted vernacular of a songwriter that has found what they believe in. Ryland filters the spirits and genius of literary giants like Kurt Vonnegut and Ernest Hemingway through the compositional templates determined by Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, or Blaze Foley. Accompanying himself with acoustic guitar, tenor guitar, Harmonica, and banjo, his multi instrumental approach provides the perfect foil to the words he puts to paper. His debut album Hello New Old World was released in 2016, and his sophomore release XO, 1945 in January 2021 was nominated for contemporary folk album of the year in 2022 by the Canadian Folk Music Association. His third full-length album Better/Worse was released in 2024 and was recorded in Barnhouse Studios in Qualicum, BC. Ryland spends considerable time traversing the highways and byways of Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Ryland is a Deering Banjos artist and plays a Deering Eagle II resonator banjo. Performance highlights include the 2023 Calgary Folk Music Festival, Americanafest in Nashville, Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Scotland, Canmore Folk Fest, and Folk Alliance International in Kansas City.

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