2026 – Bear Ryan
Release Date : Feb. 24, 2026
By Phillip
Smith; Mar.
6, 2026
I have a soft-spot in my
inner-being for music originating down at the crossroads in Clarksdale,
Mississippi, and the new album Low and Slow from Bear Ryan &
the Delta Snakes has totally won me over. Her music hits me like an outlaw cocktail of hill-country
blues splashed with dashes of rock, and country. Bear refers to her music as “low-fence
rock-n-roll”. Recorded live-to-tape at Matt
Patton’s (Drive By Truckers) Dial Back Sound recording studio
in Water Valley, Mississippi, this eight track album of all original songs
cuts right to the bone. Bear’s
talent for writing runs deep, reminding me of greats such as Lucinda
Williams, and Todd Snider. With Bear on cigar-box guitar and lead
vocals, the Delta Snakes are comprised of guitarist Ryan Robertson
and bassist/keyboardist Baxter Arender, with harp master Charlie
Musselwhite appearing on two tracks, and vocalist A.J. Haynes on one. Drummers Sam Van Winkle, Ricky Burkhead,
and BE appear across different tracks.
I’m instantly pulled in from the git-go with a riff reminiscent of classic Creedence Clearwater Revival as Bear sings “Woman”. With a brutal honesty Bear confronts the misogynistic viewpoints of what it means to be a woman. I really dig “I am the Weather” with its riveting and hypnotic rhythm fronting a tale of a nineteen-year-old, mean-as-she-can-be woman with an affinity for red wine and codeine. Robertson puts a smile on my face as he occasionally dips his performance into a pool of psychedelia. I absolutely love “Snake Handler’s Daughter” and the way Bear masterfully collides the polarized worlds of Appalachia with India. The sounds of sitar provided by Arender add the perfect touch. The setup in “Bad Old Man” is a truly bad-ass song of revenge. Some people are so despicable, they could easily go missing without recourse. Bear on cigar box, joined with Robertson’s infectious riff and the sound of Musselwhite on harmonica makes for a mesmerizing and intoxicating listen. The record concludes with a hard-scrabble look at the poorest state of the union with “Mississippi Mornings”. The blues rings so true and so real as Bear sings of the cards that are “dealt in the buckle of the bible-belt”.
Although Bear Ryan & the Delta Snakes’ Low and Slow appears to be a gumbo of genres at first, it truly is blues at its heart, and it’s the real deal. It’s one of those records where every song is a gem.
For more information about Bear
Ryan, visit her website at https://www.bearryanmusic.com
Find Bear Ryan’s music on Bandcamp