Ryan Bingham Live at Twist & Shout 2/25/11

When one of my employees came in and said “There’s a bunch of cars in the lot with Wyoming license plates” I knew something was up. Usually when we have an in-store everybody shows up at the last minute. For this up-and-coming country star though, people were here at least an hour before show time. By the time the unassuming Mr. Bingham strolled on stage and looked kind of bemused by the size of the crowd there were close to 300 people packing the vinyl room. Ryan did not disappoint. He played about a half hour of his world-weary country blues. I really didn’t know what to expect, but by the time it was over I realized this guy was the real deal - in a Townes Van Zandt kinda way. He has real presence, although absolutely no pretensions whatsoever. His songwriting and laconic delivery shine as the star of the show. He was tremendously nice to the many people who stayed around to get stuff autographed. Unfortunately for us, all the fans seemed to own all three of his excellent albums already - so sales were a bit peckish, but when an artist plays with this much heart and soul and his fans come out in such force, we would be foolish to complain.
-Paul