THE CENTRAL STANDARDS: Ryan Patrick Imming (RPI)

Ryan Patrick Imming will be making his Memphis debut with us this Saturday night at the Full Moon Club. We're pleased to have Ryan sharing the bill with us, not only because he's a very talented songwriter and musician, but more importantly, because he's been a great friend of ours for more than a decade. Ted and I met Ryan at the University of Missouri. He's originally from the Kansas City area and still lives there, though he spends much of his time on the road in a minivan, playing college towns throughout Missouri, Kansas and the midwest. Here's a shot of the three of us playing on-stage togther (for the first and only time, I believe) in April 1996 at Reggae Sunsplash in Columbia.

Of course, Ryan and I played many shows together throughout 1995-96 in the band Bronwen Rae. We had a standing Monday night gig at TP's Bar & Grill. Incidentally, Ted's band at the time, the fabulous Pintos 'n Cheese, played there on Tuesday nights. Bronwen Rae was made up of Ryan on guitar and vocals, me on lead vocals, Milton Hopkins on keyboards (which doubled as bass!) and Mike Dohrmann on drums. Here's a shot of Ryan and I sharing a microphone at TP's in 1996. This picture's a little bit creepy, I know. It kinda looks like I'm biting Ryan's cheek.

Those were great times (cheek-biting and all). Bronwen was both Ryan's and my first gigging band. While we wrote three or four original songs, we were primarily a cover band. We learned a lot together, and playing with Ryan inspired me to get a guitar that summer and start writing songs on my own. We split into two bands that next fall (timmy likes to fish and 10shy), but Ryan and I remained good friends and occasionally played shows together. Timmy did a good amount of touring, which helped Ryan to sharpen his skills and fueled his passion for playing live music. After timmy disbanded, Ryan took a marketing/promotions job at a radio station in K.C., while working to put together a new band under his initials (RPI).

Eventually, though, Ryan discovered that he needed to puruse the dream on his own. He quit his day job and hit the road as a solo artist. Today, he's a one-man band! Ryan uses live looping (e.g. Keller Williams and others) to create a sweet one-man show complete with rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, percussion, lead vocals, backing vocals, harmonica, etc. Nothing is pre-recorded--it's all done on the spot, in front of the audience. This is compelling stuff, folks, and Ryan does it well. He's loose and fun on stage and does a great job of getting the audience involved in what he's doing. I know you'll enjoy his show. And, as is the case for all independent musicians who are trying to make it in this business, he works tirelessly in pursuit of his dream. Ryan is his own booker, promoter, driver, roadie, producer, engineer, etc. Here's Ryan in an early "press" photo (ca. fall 1995) in the basement of the fraternity house (e.g. Bronwen's rehearsal space).