Daily Inspiration: Meet Ryan Millard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Millard.

Ryan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I (Ryan Millard) have a broad professional background in musical performance. From musical theater productions and touring tribute and cover groups and also original singer-songwriting material of my own.

I specialize in emulating a variety of guitar styles and songwriting. Musical education started at the early age of 5 and continued through primary education and shortly after, I began professionally playing in the scene.

I studied with northern Colorado guitar virtuoso and music producer; Dave Beegle. I continue to work and create music with Dave on material written and orchestrated by myself and with other artists who do the same.

I have played with many other artists which include Neyla Pekarek, another singer/songwriter from the Denver area who created a musical called “Rattlesnake” which debuted at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Neyla was previously an original member of The Lumineers.

Musical theatre was a big part of my career performing both on stage and in orchestras. Some shows include “Rock of Ages,” “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Always, Patsy Cline,” “Rent,” The Who’s “Tommy” and many more throughout the past 11 years.

I continue to make new music and have released an expanding collection of songs which are available on streaming platforms online (Spotify, Apple Music YouTube, etc.) I am currently recording and writing more music.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an artist always comes with its own unique challenges, but throughout the past few years, there has been some significant ones which are the COVID-19 pandemic and the constant change of the music business due to changes in technology like streaming and social media. I have always had a strong passion for live performance so a lot of what I do is performing in venues in Colorado and across the United States. This was affected greatly by the pandemic so during that time, I worked more remotely and in the studio.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My specialty is a session musician thats for-hire for live performance and recording and also as an original singer/songwriter. I have played a variety of music styles and my approach is to always capture the style and essence of each one. That ranges from 80s rock to classic country, to blues, new wave, alternative, etc. This element has put me in demand in various places in the scene like musical theatre and tribute bands. Also, if original music is preferred, I have a significant repertoire of music that I wrote that I can play solo and/or in a band.

I am most proud of how far I have come as a singer/songwriter. When I first started out, I just played guitar and figured that was my role but finding a dependable and serious band was challenging so I started to take on more and more on my own. The first new thing I took on back then was singing and I began to both sing and play guitar. I was a guitar player first and I am proud of where I have gone with that but I am also especially proud about my vocals since becoming a more serious singer was at one point unexpected.

I think what sets me apart from others is my sound and style which is unique and has been developed over time producing original music.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I am not too sure exactly about luck but what I will say is relationships are everything in the music industry. I feel lucky to know a lot of the great people I do that have helped me become who I am and continue to do so.

When I first picked up a guitar a classmate told me about a great guitar teacher in the area and I then went on to become his student and that developed into me becoming an artist and now we work as a team where he is my producer for the songs I write. That is Deve Beegle which I have previously mentioned in my story.

Knowing him also got me in contact with various different people in the music scene which opened a lot of doors for work.

Part of luck in the music industry is doing as much as I can when I can. Oftentimes there are offers for gigs that fall on the same day and same time or they overlap where I can’t do both. Sometimes this can make it hard to fill out a schedule since I might have to pick and choose which gigs to take.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://electricdaydream.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanmillardmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryanmillardmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChQY22Oxyj8MWlSjSqOi6CA/featured