Ryan Davis, Old Pup, God's Country

media release: Arts + Literature Laboratory welcomes avant-folk musician Ryan Davis on Monday, April 7, 2025 at 7:00pm. Opening act: Milwaukee's Old Pup. Tickets $15 general admission or $12 student/ALL Member in advance online. Advance tickets available online at Brown Paper Tickets. General admission at the door $18 for everyone

After more than 15 years of releasing music on labels like Feeding Tube, Load Records, Astral Editions, Bruit Direct Disques, Petty Bunco, All Gone and others (including, if not primarily, his very own Sophomore Lounge imprint) as/alongside such outfits as State Champion, Tropical Trash, Equipment Pointed Ankh, Roadhouse, et al., Dancing on the Edge - a seven-song, 53-minute basement folk opus, self-released at the end of 2023 and reissued last year by Tough Love in the UK/EU - is the first collection of material produced under Kentuckiana-based visual artist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Ryan Davis’ birth name.

The tunes on the album range from bare-boned, achingly crooned avant-folk tales to jovial, collaborative excursions into long-form experimental country-tinged rock modes. Continuing in the tradition of the TVZs, Terry Allens, Souled Americans and DC Bermans before him, this sprawling yet focused 2XLP reimagines the exceedingly dated archetypes of modern day indie troubadour music and the inherent trappings therein. Davis’ solo debut is a dense collection of Americana-Noir that navigates a familiar yet alternate reality, one of enchanted mundanity and uniquely Mid-Southern introspection. Simultaneously antisocial and outwardly inviting, free of cynicism yet slightly steeped in paranoia, Dancing on the Edge is as delicately choreographed and emotionally connective as it is, at times, absurd.

Davis' recent live engagements range from hauntingly stripped-down solo affairs to more left-field duo sets (often employing his partner Jenny Rose with a grab-bag of tapes/electronics/musical miscellany) and, with increasing frequency (as was the case for their month-or-more of shows with MJ Lenderman & The Wind at the tail end of 2024), rollicking full-band ensemble performances featuring members of Equipment Pointed Ankh, Styrofoam Winos, Wild Flag & more.

An as-of-yet unannounced follow-up full length is expected to be released later this year.

Old Pup is a warmly haunted folk outfit led by Milwaukee-based pedal steel player/songwriter, Will Hansen, who writes lyrically vivid (at-times experimental) country-tinged songs. Sophomore album, Spider Towns, releases independently on February 28 & features intimate, ethereal recordings captured in living rooms, warehouse hallways, & wide-open fields spanning Milwaukee, New Orleans, & New Mexico. A mighty cast of friends & collaborators, including core members Ben Boehm, Ellie Jackson, Drue DeVente, Nate Kinsman & Johanna Rose seamlessly enter & exit the songs, adding touches of personality & texture throughout. Hansen’s lyrical dexterity is at the forefront of this latest collection, seamlessly weaving the everyday with the interstellar. In the words of songwriter Chris Acker, “Old Pup is Rosetta-stoned.”