The fingerstyle guitar maven, songwriter and powerfully emotional performer blends echoes of traditional Mississippi, Mali, and India into compelling songs that speak from - and to -the heart.

Ryan Lee Crosby’s captures the timeless power of music from the Mississippi Delta, refracted by influences of Hindustani slide guitar and Crosby’s own unique approach to the style. Songs resonate with a sound and spirit forged from his life as a traveling musician and his studies with masters of the Delta and Indian traditions. Produced by Fat Possum Records’ Bruce Watson at his Delta-Sonic Sound studio in Memphis, Winter Hill Blues is available via Bandcamp and streaming platforms. 

“Of all the world’s musical traditions, the one that speaks to me most directly is the Bentonia style of Delta blues,” Crosby relates. “Something I love about the blues is its timeless ability to express the entire range of the human experience: it’s brightest joys, deepest sorrows and everything in between. By listening to the blues, we can learn how to have compassion for ourselves and others. Its lessons are endless.” 

Crosby’s earliest influences were Iggy Pop, John Lee Hooker, the Velvet Underground, and the Ramones, and he began playing guitar in bands when he was 14, after having the instrument for only a week. “The spirit of throwing yourself into whatever speaks to you has always been at the heart of how I engage in music and meaning,” he says. Crosby moved to Boston in the mid-’90s, where he founded and fronted the Joy Division-inspired rock band Cancer to the Stars. But by the early 2000s, the sound and sensibility of deep blues began to permeate his musical character, until it took over. Since then, he has released nine LPs, singles, and cassettes, and undertaken a series of European and U.S. tours. 

“For me, Winter Hill Blues is the culmination of all those experiences and influences,” Crosby says. “I hear blues, Indian classical music, and Malian guitar as being interconnected through the common traits of a centered harmony, with an emphasis on melody, supported by repetition and rhythm, while singing the truth of one’s experience within a spare, beautiful framework that reflects an openness of mind and heart.” 

COST: $15. Visit https://www.fourcornersarts.org/concerts-events to purchase tickets.