Sherry Ryan

Sherry Ryan is playing a house concert in downtown Halifax on Saturday, September 26. It's a solo date, and the format is exactly what it sounds like: a small room in the city rather than a club or a theatre. Doors open at 7:00 PM, and she takes the stage at 7:30.

Ryan is a singer-songwriter from St. John's, Newfoundland, and one of Atlantic Canada's best-loved artists. She's known for a rich vocal style that carries through her songwriting. Her fifth album, Shout for More, blends folk-pop with country and Irish-Newfoundland roots, and critics have called her "St. John's answer to Lucinda Williams" and compared her to John Prine. That puts her in a particular tradition of songwriting: clear stories, a strong sense of place, and a voice that doesn't hide behind the production.

Her 2018 album Wreckhouse produced the single "Stop the Trains," a song that's since become part of the Newfoundland canon. It tells of her father's 1950s railway encounter with the infamous Wreckhouse winds, and it's a good example of how she pulls from her own family history to find her songs. Coming from St. John's, that Newfoundland connection is a constant thread in her work, and it's something you'll hear in the folk and country leanings of her set.

Because this is a house concert, tickets are available and information and reservations are handled by email. Doors at 7:00 PM, music at 7:30 PM, downtown Halifax, Saturday, September 26.