Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Wayne first came to recognition as a founding member and songwriter in the critically acclaimed, award-winning band, The Warped 45s.

In early 2022, after several years away from touring and recording, Ryan suffered two strokes. As part of the healing process, he was drawn back to the music world and began the final production and mixing of a series of self-produced songs with Grammy Award-winning producer and mixing engineer, Malcolm Burn (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith, Daniel Lanois). The record, Crow Amongst the Sparrows, was released in September 2023 to critical acclaim. 

Ryan’s new single, “Grand Illusions,” featuring Felicity Williams of Bahamas, is the third release from his yet to be titled new album. This dreamy and psychedelic release melds winding and ethereal guitar and vocal harmonies.

With “Grand Illusions,” Ryan seeks to convey the emotional push and pull between a couple whose story he discovered in a typewritten letter nestled between the pages of a used book of Rilke poem

The letter, written in the 1950s, details a father and husband’s concerns about his wife leaving the family to donate her time and inheritance to the communist party in New York City. The song attempts to tell that story by stitching together facts and inferences from the letter. – Ryan Wayne