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FYI

Ryan Langdon - 'Leave Me Right'

This is a taut, action-packed story-telling song debut that opens with blazing certainty and carries through to the last lick.

Ryan Langdon - 'Leave Me Right'

By David Farrell

Ryan Langdon – ‘Leave Me Right’ (Slaight Music). The Niagara Falls hat singer’s father played college football for the U of Tennessee and it left him exposed him to a lot of southern rock and country music that explains the blazing guitar riffs and Nashville-influenced vocal twang on this debut single.


It’s a story-telling song about a busted relationship with an unmistakable hook that hits at the 38-second mark, and a run time of 3:45 that doesn’t spare a second canoodling or dillydallying in its wake. In short, this is a taut, action-packed debut that opens with blazing certainty and carries through to the last lick.

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We’ve seen Langdon perform and he’s the real deal in a genre all too often typified by bursting bustiers, soft-pawed Bel Air cowboys and songbooks coyly tailored to capture achy-breaky hearts. Give him a barstool and an acoustic guitar and he can capture and hold a room with his commanding voice, natural charisma, brimming confidence and a presence that tells you he is anything but a product spun from some AI algorithm.

No word yet on when an EP is to be expected. “Parkside” Mike Renaud is stick-handling.

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David Clayton-Thomas
Courtesy Photo

David Clayton-Thomas

FYI

Obituaries: Canadian Artists and Industry Figures Remember David Clayton-Thomas and Clive Davis

Last week, the music world lost two genuine legends. Here are tributes to them both from Canadian stars and industry notables.

David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett), the Toronto vocalist and songwriter who earned global success and multiple Grammys as frontman of pioneering jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears, died on June 24, at age 84.

An obit issued by publicist Eric Alper on his passing called Clayton-Thomas ''One of the most recognizable voices of his generation" while noting that he sold more than 40 million records and "helped shape the very sound of jazz-rock.''

He joined Blood, Sweat & Tears as its vocalist in 1968, prior to the release of its self-titled international hit second album. Blood, Sweat & Tears sold ten million copies worldwide, topped the Billboard 200 for seven weeks, and remained on the chart for 109 weeks.

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