Joe Rian (Ryan) was adopted as an infant and raised in Rock Falls Illinois. Sings tavern songs, beer soaked and road worn.

Young Joe flunked out of college, moved out of the Midwest and scraped by like most 20 year olds working multiple -minimum wage jobs. The main gig was sweating away at gold and silver refinery on the west side of Phoenix AZ. Other jobs included telemarketing, working concrete, putting up and then chasing hot air balloons, selling buying club memberships, moving appliances and a very short stint collecting outstanding debts for characters you might find on a once popular TV series.

This was 1989 Arizona. That’s when he won an American Stratocaster on a radio contest signed by Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Then, pure chance found him at the last ever SRV concert. Weirder yet is that he ended up working at Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Summers would find him busking the streets of Chicago…where the real action was. Mid 90’s blues revival indeed was certainly a thing Heavy Blues… Street Blues really. That was never the only thing. Joe is certainly not a Bluesman, but a songwriter that likes to stir the sounds of Roots, Country and Folk styles into a nice pot of soup. Songs best consumed in your local tavern with a dirty floor.