In a world where most days we wake up with news about various dooms and glooms, wars, atrocities and what have you, it is refreshing and uplifting to find, from time to time, some stories about resurgence, resilience and desire to reconnect with what matters the most in our lives.
One of those stories concerns a worldwide much loved and respected American Blues/Rock guitarists and singer/songwriters, Ryan McGarvey who, for quite some time, had not released a studio album (his last one was the 2018 one called Heavy Hearted, one of the best in McGarvey's career to date) and not toured live for a number for years too.
With an almost 20 years career span that has seen McGarvey sharing a stage with some of the hottest names in the Blues/Rock industry, from Eric Clapton to Buddy Guy or from B.B. King to ZZ Top, there were concerns lately on whether McGarvey would have released any more music, due to personal health issues, coupled with family losses that had deeply impacted this prodigious artist's life.
Rather fortunately, though, Ryan McGarvey's resilience on wanting to get back to do what he loves and inspires him the most, which is playing and making new music, gave him the necessary strength and that emotional platform needed to alliw the American artist to focus on writing new material, something that McGarvey started recording in August 2025 and has finally found the light of the day, through the release of the Guitar Maestro's new album, called, rather aptly, Up From The Ashes.
The album in itself is a new rebirth for McGarvey, not only on a personal level, but also on a sonic one. Since ever recognised as a highly talented Blues/Rock Prodigy, McGarvey has been working hard on shapeshifting his trademark sound in slightly different directions, as this new album well documents, in a way that allowed McGarvey to put the right musical emphasis on his new songs in a more diverse way, depending by the context of each song.
Up From The Ashes contains 10 brand new songs and a Led Zeppelin cover, When The Levee Breaks, all of them digging deep, especially lyrically, into what daily life has been for this accomplished Albuquerque-based artist for the last few years.
One thing that emerges from the album's get-go, is this sense of urgency about being finally able to unleash new music and to convey to McGarvey's many fans the important message "Hey guys, I have been through a lot, but I am finally back!"
And what a remarkably comeback this is for Ryan McGarvey; in a lyrical rollercoaster where losses, anxieties, loneliness, anger and newfound belief find places, McGarvey's sound moves from Hard Rock to Blues/Rock effortlessly and powerfully, through some of the best guitar work ever recorded by the American artist so far in his career, matching (and sometimes even overtaking) the guitar playing excellence that McGarvey reached on past records, like The Road Chosen (2014) and Heavy Hearted (2018).
So many highlights to pick up from, throughout the whole of Up From The Ashes; from the album opener Back To Life, an exquisitely crafted hard/Rock opener, to Gone Come Morning, an excellently written Blues/Rock song about a quarrel between two lovers, where the gritty and deep vocals by McGarvey excel as some of the finest expressed on the album, or from All I've Got, another masterful statement in singing and songwriting to Filthy Lies, a tune with some really incendiary guitar work, Ryan McGarvey always, at every stage of the record, wears his heart on his sleeves, exuding total and sometimes disarmingly lyrical honesty and confirming once again, if ever such confirmation was needed, of his breathtaking talent both as a Guitar Maestro and as a singer.
Welcome back on so many levels to one of the most talented American Blues/Rock artists of the last couple of decade. Ryan McGarvey has risen from the ashes and is back for good. Most importantly, luckily for us, Ryan McGarvey is here to stay, this time, for many years to come.
Up From The Ashes is out now and it is available to be purchased via Ryan McGarvey's Official Website
