My name is Ryan McAllister. My career in music began years ago when I started playing music with my older brothers in our church worship band. When I graduated high school, I started a band of my own, Dakona. We began to get some attention from record labels and ended up signing a multimillion-dollar deal with Madonna’s Maverick Records. We toured North America extensively, performing along side dozens of well known artists ranging from Sam Roberts to Willie Nelson, and playing at venues from The Grand Ole Opry to the Bowery Ballroom. After a massive reshuffling at Maverick, we lost our record deal and returned home after nearly two years on the road. I started recording indie bands at Five Acres, my professional recording studio in the barn outside my home in a sleepy corner of the Fraser Valley in BC. I’ve taught myself the art of recording and producing, and have written a whole lot of music along the way.
I grew up listening to Christian folk music. Larry Norman, Mark Heard & Randy Stonehill were on constant rotation on our record player. Their lyrics affected me a lot growing up. There was something very authentic in the way they merged their faith with their art that I have always been drawn to. There is something remarkably freeing in abandoning subtlety and making an all out, foot stomping, folk/gospel record. Artistically, it is by far the most challenging and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. The scriptures are so rich with beautiful stories and imagery. Even the greatest non-believing artists in history have borrowed from its pages. To be able to put a handful of these stories to song is an honour.
I’ve spent the first half of 2014 writing, producing and recording The Way Home, my gospel EP, and the response to it has been humbling and encouraging. I’ve joined The City Harmonic on their Western Canadian tour, toured the Maritimes with Brian Doerksen, opened for Tim Neufeld, and lead worship at dozens of churches in BC and Alberta. I’ll be playing some Alberta shows with Michael W. Smith in August and am currently booking a Western Canadian tour for the fall.
