(V-13 Interview) Track-by-Track: Walk Into Kathryn Ryan’s Hauntingly Honest Self-Titled Debut LP

Kathryn Ryan shares a behind-the-scenes peek into each piece of her nine-track debut album in this exclusive track-by-track rundown.

Kathryn Ryan

With a voice as unshakable as it is vulnerable, Wisconsin-born, Colorado-based singer-songwriter Kathryn Ryan releases her self-titled debut LP. Equal parts vulnerable and bold, Kathryn Ryan crafts a genre-defying journey through heartbreak, vengeance, and grace, delivered with deep empathy and a sly wink, especially when it comes to forgiveness.

1. Rooted in AmericanKathryn Ryana, alt-country, and indie-folk, her sound is enriched by classical flourishes and a subtle pop sensibility that never feels overdone. With a voice that disarms and lyrics that reveal sharp emotional insight, Ryan offers listeners moments of catharsis, clarity, and even wry humour. She doesn’t just sing about heartbreak, she scores it with cello, channels it through pedal steel, and softens it with grace.

With echoes of Brandi Carlile, Emmylou Harris, and Fiona Apple, Kathryn’s sound is grounded in storytelling and soul. Her roots in rural western Wisconsin, combined with her classical training as a cellist, create a rich musical backdrop that’s all her own, both familiar and refreshingly new. The cello, which Ryan performs herself, features prominently throughout the album, providing a haunting undercurrent to many of the songs.

Kathryn joins us today for an exclusive Track-by-Track rundown, where she shares a behind-the-scenes peek into each piece of the 9-track album.

1. “Thursday”

“A twangy tune about how falling in love feels like my favourite day of the week (which, surprise! is Thursday). The fiddle that John Utphall laid down brings this song to life and just makes me want to dance. The chorus is made up of the first dates that my partner and I had as we were getting to know one another and began to love each other.”

2. “Jesus Forgives”

“This is a comedic country song about struggling (or really, refusing) to forgive someone who has done the narrator wrong. I had the opportunity to work with a local filmmaker, SJ Campbell, to create a music video telling a story from the funeral home to the grave. As you approach the end of the song, you’ll know the chorus by heart and can join in with the gospel choir made up of friends I met through open mic, some wonderful musicians, Irie Ulrich and Emily V. The moral of the story is that Jesus may forgive you, but I sure don’t.”

3. “Nobody’s Fault But My Own”

“Jerod Kaszynski created a beautiful piano introduction to this song to set the scene. In this song, the narrator is wrestling with who to blame for her heartbreak; is it the partner for ending the relationship, or is the blame on her for knowing the relationship would never work and pursuing it anyway? This is the first song I ever wrote and finished, and I’m glad it got to be a part of the final album.”

4. “FLORIDA MAN”

“This song transports listeners to a porch in a swamp in Florida to hear about the tales of this particular Florida Man who came all the way to Wisconsin to cause problems. There is also a nod to the ‘Florida Man’ meme regarding newspaper headlines. Truly, how did so many men from Florida end up in Wisconsin, and why did the narrator fall for more than one of them?”

5. “Winter in Wisconsin”

“‘Winter in Wisconsin’ is, on its best day, a beautiful winter wonderland. But it can also be cold, miserable, and dangerous. This is an amusing song that describes a cold lover as worse than winter in Wisconsin (which is pretty bad, coming from someone born and raised in Wisconsin). The cello that starts off the song reminds the listener of grey, dreary days of late January, but picks up the tempo to stay warm.”

6. “Coffee & Cologne”

“One morning, after my partner left, I rounded a corner in my home and smelled the coffee we had just been drinking together and a lingering waft of his cologne. I love both coffee and my partner, and the song spilled out right then and there. It is a love song that feels like a slow morning with sunshine streaming through the windows and the birds singing outside.”

7. “Crazy”

“This is a song for anyone who has ever been called ‘crazy.’ My goal in creating this song was for the listener to feel like they themselves are hearing voices and maybe losing their mind as the narrator is driven crazy by their partner’s gaslighting. I’m pretty sure I sing the word ‘crazy’ over 50 times in this song, so if you weren’t crazy before, you might be soon.”

8. “Michelangelo”

“Michelangelo’s art is world-renowned for his attention to detail and ability to make marble statues appear living. Unfortunately for him, he never got to meet the subject of this song, who is more beautiful than any of Michelangelo’s subjects or works. Heavy on a driving cello, this song makes me tap my foot and groove along.”

9. “STAIN”

“Again, Jerod’s piano composition transports the listener into another world, piano whirling around the listener’s head. A poem at its core, this song’s haunting melody and words explore how everyone leaves a mark on your life in some form, but the subject of this song left an ugly stain.”

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