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Ryan Hartt interview
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Ryan Hartt joins me on episode 146.
Ryan is a harmonica player, vocalist and songwriter from New England.
After completing musical studies, he headed to Los Angeles in the late 1990s to immerse himself in the blues scene, learning from West Coast swing heavyweights, including sitting in with Rod Piazza.
He returned to the East Coast in 2000 to form his long-running band Ryan Hartt and the Blue Hearts, releasing three albums along the way. Ryan has now put out his first solo record, Be About It!, showcasing plenty of expressive harmonica along with his songwriting and vocals.
Links:
Ryan’s website: https://www.ryanhartt.com/
Bandcamp: https://ryanhartt.bandcamp.com/
Videos:
https://www.ryanhartt.com/video/
Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com
Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB
Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ
Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
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Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com
Chapters
1. Ryan Hartt interview (00:00:00)
2. Ryan is from Connecticut in the US, where he plays regularly around southern New England, and used to play in New York more often (00:01:32)
3. Even New York’s music scene is getting smaller (00:02:17)
4. Ryan is a harmonica, player, vocalist and songwriter (00:02:38)
5. The Blues Brothers album ‘A Briefcase Full of Blues’ was an inspiration to get Ryan started on playing the harmonica (00:02:47)
6. Bought first harmonica age 12 or 13 (00:03:30)
7. Neil also loved the album A Briefcase Full of Blues and how Ryan likes to get to the source of the original songs (00:03:35)
8. The first harmonica Ryan played was a Mel Bay one which came with an instructional book, before he bought his first Hohner Marine Band (00:05:00)
9. Bought any harmonica albums he could find in the store (00:06:16)
10. Also played clarinet and saxophone at school, but those instruments didn’t play much of a part in learning the harmonica (00:06:58)
11. Learnt the harmonica by ear and also buying some of the tutorial books around at that time, including the Jon Gindick one (00:08:20)
12. Didn’t rate the Tony Glover ‘Blues Harp’ book as he says it was full of mistakes (00:09:00)
13. The school bands in the US are a good breeding ground for musicians there (00:09:24)
14. In the 1930s a lot of US schools had Harmonica bands (00:09:53)
15. Played in front of people aged 13 or 14 where the bug bit Ryan for performing live (00:10:11)
16. Joined first proper band age 16 and joined first blues band age 19 where he played in clubs underage (00:11:05)
17. Ryan’s day job is a history teacher, but he tries to keep his harmonica life separate from that (00:12:12)
18. Did a degree in Music and Sound Recording and doubled with Music Business (00:13:18)
19. Has been able to put some of learnings from the Music Business qualification, although things have changed a lot since he did that course (00:14:36)
20. Moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s attracted by the blues scene there, and saw how the music industry was decimated by job losses there (00:15:38)
21. Sat in with Rod Piazza a few times when out west (00:16:37)
22. Other musicians Ryan saw in Los Angeles included Rick Holmstrom and Junior Watson (00:17:53)
23. Learnt from observing the harp players on the west coast, rather than taking lessons or direct advice (00:18:15)
24. Ryan plays a lot of great blues chromatic in his recordings, starting playing the chromatic in his teens before he moved to the west coast (00:18:34)
25. Mainly plays blues chromatic, appreciating the ability to learn one pattern and switch chromatics to play in different keys (00:20:29)
26. Occasionally plays styles on chromatic and loves Stevie Wonder and Toots Thielemans (00:21:05)
27. Moved back to the East coast in the year 2000, forming his long term band Ryan Hartt and The Blue Hearts (00:21:21)
28. Ryan Hartt and The Blue Hearts has been one of the top blues bands in the New England area for much of that time (00:23:10)
29. The band mainly plays blues but also some soul, rock, ska and even proto-rock (00:23:27)
30. Ryan is the primary singer in the band (00:24:00)
31. Has always sung because the harmonica players he listened too were also singers, with Little Walter’s My Babe the first song Ryan sang (00:24:39)
32. Became a songwriter because wanted to say something original and not just replay the old songs (00:25:54)
33. Recorded four demo tracks in 1998, in Los Angeles at the same studio as used by William Clarke (00:27:29)
34. Released three albums with The Blue Hearts on his own ‘Far-Tone’ label (00:29:03)
35. Empty Wallet was the first album released with The Blue Hearts in 2003 (00:29:42)
36. Second album with The Blues Hearts was Yeah Man in 2005, making the top eight of the Blues Foundation’s ‘Best Self-produced CD Contest’ and latest album also currently in a competition (00:30:59)
37. The Sonny Boy Nighthawk song was played on a Steve Baker Special harmonica (00:31:35)
38. Junior Watson played on four tracks on the Yeah Man album (00:32:20)
39. Rick Holmstrom produced the first two Blues Hearts albums (00:32:27)
40. Call My Name was the third Ryan Hartt and The Blues Hearts album released in 2012 (00:33:18)
41. Released first solo album in 2025, Be About It!, which Ryan produced between himself and the bass player (00:35:00)
42. Be About It! has plenty of harmonica on it (00:36:19)
43. Nothing Sweet As You is a melodic song played in first position on a chromatic, although Ryan initially thought he was playing it in third position (00:37:06)
44. All Night Long is a jump saxophone inspired song which includes an overdub so can hear two harmonicas (00:38:39)
45. Breaking Even is Ryan’s favourite song for the lyrics he wrote on the Be About It! album (00:40:00)
46. That’s Right You’re Wrong has another overdub, with the same riff played in second position and then in first position (00:41:01)
47. Does play some overblows sometimes, but not used much (00:42:32)
48. You Belong To Me and the Hawaiian War Chant are two jazz songs played on diatonic, inspired by other harmonica players doing the same, such as Gary Primach and Jerry Portnoy (00:43:42)
49. The Be About It! Album was released in October 2025 and Ryan has been busy promoting the album and hopes to go over to Europe to play (00:46:25)
50. Ten minute question (00:47:41)
51. Harmonicas of choice are Hohner Special 20, Suzuki Manji, Suzuki chromatics in different keys and a 16 hole (00:49:07)
52. Mainly plays third position on chromatic, but also some first position (00:50:05)
53. Does some basic set-up himself but doesn’t use custom harps (00:50:36)
54. Uses some of the Lee Oskar natural minor tuned diatonics, including on the song ska-influenced song Kaboom (00:51:28)
55. Likes to use some fifth position (00:52:22)
56. Embouchre: mostly tongue blocking, but mainly bends using puckering (00:53:13)
57. Mics: currently uses a JT30 shell with a CR / CM element from a Green Bullet, also owned an ElectroVoice PE mic as played by Charlie Musselwhite, and played JT39 crystal mics (00:54:08)
58. Amps uses a Fender Tweed Deluxe copy for smaller amp and Sonny Junior for larger amp (00:54:58)
59. Uses a Boss DD3 delay pedal and a Lone Wolf Delay pedal (00:55:54)
60. Future plans are mainly around promoting the new album, including some gigs lined-up in the Connecticut area (00:57:03)
146 episodes
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