For over a decade Ryan Curtis has been constantly working in various genres of roots music, blues, soul, vintage sounding rock n’ roll, but his latest —Rust Belt Broken Heart will be his debut solo album. Ryan’s songs are usually about life’s harder learned lessons, featuring picaresque heroes whom he gives a very personal feel. Rust Belt Broken Heart dives deep into the different styles of country and western while telling tales from his youth in the midwest from Michigan to Illinois. The gravelly voice of the Michigan born, Boise based singer has been praised on KEXP and No Depression. He co-fronted Curtis/Sutton & The Scavengers, whose 2017 album Whiskey Rain put them on the playlist of keen country and roots music listeners. Ryan also fronts The Weary Times, whose gritty soul sound has made them a constant fixture at venues and festivals in the Northwest.
In the winter of 2020 Ryan Curtis went to Enterprise, Oregon’s OK Theater alone to record an EP’s worth of songs. The setting –a century old theater on the edge of civilization, with Bart Budwig as engineer, and an intuitive house rhythm section featuring Cooper Trail on drums and Nevada Sowle on bass proved fruitful. Curtis tracked his EP worth of songs in one day. That night, Curtis noticed that the four songs he randomly picked for the EP had a common theme, a connection to the Midwest. With two days left to record he pulled more songs fitting that theme from his own, vast, songwriting canon, and in the remaining days recorded an album’s worth of songs. He returned to Boise with the demos, and brought in his bandmates for overdubs at Luxtone Studio, with a focus on clear, but vintage instrumentation.
Check out the music video for “All Alone”
Before the first track is over Curtis and company are peeling the paint off everything precious with pedal steel riffs and Curtis’ voice, a rough implement that cuts a swathe like a combine harvester and demands your attention. The title track touches on many of the themes the album visits: the difference between being lonely and being alone in the expansive American midwest, hard work, heavy drinking, and reaping what you’ve sown.
Curtis and crew immediately turn to the foundation of their sound –honky-tonk– for their next track. There is a barrelhouse piano in the background of “The Hideout”, about the dive bar where you go to hit rock bottom. The song, about a bar for drinking, not fun, features guest vocals from David Henry, and swaying lap steel from Dave Manion.
His sixty grit voice shouldn’t fool you, Curtis has become an extremely sensitive songwriter and story-teller. Case in point: “Pour Another Glass,” a four on the floor western delicately weaving acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and accordion that tells the story of a couple weathering the trials of time with questionable decisions, from a couple different points of view. Curtis is shockingly pragmatic with some elder advice on “She Said” singing “you don’t always have to like her, you’ll see it right from the start / you don’t always have to like her, but you better love her with all of your heart,” over Dave Manion’s delicate dobro fills.
Curtis’ has a no-nonsense attitude, and a work ethic that winnows travails into fun, captured best on “Beautiful Day” when Ryan Sings “…and I know just what they’ll say, I’m some fool, for lettin’ you gettin away, but they don’t know you like I do, they don’t know what you put me through,” before fiddle reels nostalgic among skittering snare.
The summation of all Ryan Curtis’ efforts : the gritty swagger of Curtis/Sutton & The Scavengers, the soulful songs of The Weary Times, and his solo work come together on “350 Miles”, on which Daniel Blumenfeld plays propulsive piano and organ riffs that swirl into a memories of Northeast Michigan.
About Rust Belt Broken Heart, and his songwriting journey, from Ryan Curtis:
“As I write this, the oldest song on Rust Belt Broken Heart is around 12 years old. I was in my late 20’s, living in Chicago, when I wrote “A Beautiful Day”. I certainly had no idea back then, that I would eventually record it and release it on an album over a decade later. I picked the songs for this record because of a common thread sewn into each of them. The story, characters, or origins all center around both the beautiful and downtrodden landscapes of The Great Lakes Region. This is where I grew up, and lived, before moving out west nine years ago. Like my actual years on this earth, the setting for each of the songs are split between a small town and the city, but at their core is the overall connection back home to the Midwest, a place surely embedded into my DNA. This record is dedicated to all my friends and family back in The Rust Belt. You made me who I am today, and I’ll always hold you in my heart. -RC”
Rust Belt Broken Heart is more than the sum of its parts. It’s an ode to the solitude and beauty –and the lessons to be learned from those– that the midwest provides.
Rust Belt Broken Heart will be available on July 30th on vinyl and digital, on American Standard Time Records. Ryan Curtis will be playing several live shows later this year including Sawtooth Valley Gathering, Summer’s End Fest, and Treefort Music Fest.