BIO
SHORT STORY LONG...
It's been said that Ryan Bair was destined to be a drummer, or that it was hereditary. Ryan doesn’t recall listening to his father drumming with the church praise band in utero, nor does he remember picking up a pair of drumsticks for the first time. His two older brothers were also drummers in the local school band and without dropping a beat, Ryan began his journey behind a set of drums before he can recount. He began taking private drum lessons in the fourth grade and a year later, proudly joined the Dover band program himself. There he learned from the highly regarded percussion instructor, Joan Wenzel. During his time in high school, Ryan spent four years marching quads with the Dover High School Marching Tornadoes and also performed concert percussion with the Symphonic Band and Symphonic Orchestra. He also spent four years playing drum set with the Dover High School Jazz Band, where he was awarded the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award at the conclusion of his senior year. Also during his high school tenure, Ryan was leading a rock group called "Hard Drive" and taking private lessons from a local professional drummer, Bobby Stocker. "Hard Drive" was quite successful for a young group and Ryan tenaciously managed to book them paying jobs at local bars, restaurants, and festivals all before the age of 18. Upon graduating high school in 2007, Ryan attended the “Summer Shot” program at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. After a great deal of thought, Ryan chose to forgo music school and to instead spend as much time possible studying and taking lessons privately. He continued his studies in Cleveland, Ohio with Ray Porello Jr. who was in the house band at Caesars Palace and Sammy Davis Jr.'s drummer in the 1970's. Ryan continued performing throughout Ohio with various groups like Electric Mud and Waterband, which performed upwards of 150 shows a year. Scraping by at making a living in Ohio, he saved every dollar he could and moved to Nashville with high hopes in late 2011. After 4 months, he found himself broke with no music work in site and literally cashed in his life long coin collection to pay for gas to make the defeated drive home to Ohio. Several long months later, after nearly giving up on his dreams of being a professional musician, he discovered an ad on craigslist that would forever change his life! In 2012, Ryan discovered and eagerly accepted an opportunity to travel and play music six nights a week in 5 star hotels throughout Asia and the Middle East. He then performed six days a week with 7-piece party bands and later became the bandleader of his own 3-piece ensemble, under el-live productions. With zero sick days and without ever missing a show or rehearsal in nearly 6 years, Ryan performed close to 1,730 shows and countless rehearsals across China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates. With Nashville in his sights all along, Ryan returned from Asia in 2018 and finally tackled the beast that is Music City, USA. Since 2020, Ryan has been a member of "John Stone and the Trailer Park All-Stars" and can be found performing with them and with other various groups at the notable Kid Rock's Honky Tonk on lower broadway in Nashville, TN.
