The Flyin' Ryan Brothers is an American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band that formed in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 1995. It comprises two brothers, Jimmy and Johnny, who between them contribute

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s, bass,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and many other instruments.

History

Jimmy and Johnny began playing guitar in the late-1960s, at the ages of 14 and 12 respectively. Influenced by their parents—mother Virginia was a pianist, father Edward was a vocalist—they received no formal music training and had joined bands by 1971. After hearing

band

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included ''Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), ''Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and '' ...

(notable for featuring two

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ists) on the radio in 1973, the brothers formed a similar band with local musicians by the name of Westfall. They progressed from playing local clubs to having their first

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

session and recording their first two tracks, "Everything I Could Ask For" and "Sunshine Daydream", in a short space of time, developing their double lead style along the way. Other bands they played in through the 1970s include Axis, Nutcracker and Freeze, opening for such famous acts as

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

, Survivor,

Head East Head East is an American rock band, originally from East Central Illinois. The band was formed by vocalist John Schlitt, guitarist Danny Piper, keyboardist Roger Boyd, bassist Larry Boyd, and drummer Steve Huston. They met and formed the ba ...

and

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. During the 1980s, as the music scene was changing to focus on

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

, the brothers began to work separately as

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s, solo artists and with other bands. It was during this time that Jimmy recorded his solo album ''Finally'' and Johnny began building his own studio, known as The Garage, where he also began recording his own music. After some years the brothers reunited, and in 1996 released their debut album, '' Sibling Revelry'', which featured guest appearances from guitarists

Michael Angelo Batio Michael Angelo Batio (), also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam metal band Nitro (b ...

and Tommy Dziallo. The Brothers' second album, '' Colorama'', was released in 1999, which featured more guest musicians (in addition to Batio and Dziallo), namely vocalists Jim "Mudpuppy" Wiley, Nick Cortese and Johnny Mrozek. The band's official website was created in February 2000, a process which Johnny values highly, claiming "The internet saved us ... without it, we could have never hoped for more than a regional awareness of our music ... we've established contacts and expanded our fan base across the entire planet." ''

Legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

'' was released in 2002, followed by ''

Blue Marble ''The Blue Marble'' is an image of Earth taken on December 7, 1972, from a distance of around from the planet's surface. Taken by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft on its way to the Moon, it is one of the most reproduced images in history. ...

'' and '' Totality'' in 2005 and 2008 respectively. '' Under the Influence, their last album, was released in 2012. In addition to these releases, Jimmy has released a number of solo albums. He released Finally in 1989 (reissued in 1999), Truth Squad – Superkiller in 2003, 21st Century Riffology in 2017, Astral Café in 2021 and The Healing Guitar in 2022.

Discography

*'' Sibling Revelry'' (1996) *'' Colorama'' (1999) *''

'' (2002) *'' The Chaos Sampler'' (2003) *''

'' (2005) *'' Totality'' (2008) *''Under the Influence'' (2011) Jimmy Ryan Solo *''Finally'' (1999) *''Truth Squad – Superkiller'' (2003) *''21st Century Riffology'' (2017) *''Astral Café'' (2021) *''The Healing Guitar'' (2022)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flyin' Ryan Brothers Musical groups established in 1995 Progressive rock musical groups from Illinois Streamwood, Illinois People from Cook County, Illinois Sibling musical duos