Ryan Ruiz is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter blending indie Americana with the exploratory spirit of a jam band. Based in Alabama, Ryan writes music that feels just as at home sitting around a campfire with friends as it does on a long, solitary drive.

Drawing inspiration from artists like the Grateful Dead, Jim Croce, Phish, Lotus, and New Riders of the Purple Sage, his sound lives at the crossroads of folk rock, outlaw country, indie pop, and synth-driven textures. There’s a spiritual backbone to it all, with each song serving as a vehicle for existential questions and each performance providing chance to stretch the edges of the moment.

His latest release, Soundtrack for a Riot, marks a shift from abstract existential questioning toward something more grounded and action-oriented–an engagement with abolitionist ideas through story, place, and lived experience. Across the record, the focus moves from asking what things mean to asking what it takes to leave them behind, and what it costs to stay.

At its core, Ryan’s music is about connection–between genres, between people, between the seen and unseen.