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• Ryan Groff

Genre: Indie

Last Played: 11-14-2009 5:50 pm

Ryan Groff, of local favorite Elsinore, didn't start playing guitar or singing until he was 17 but he has sure come a long way since then. Three years later, he had written and recorded his first album. At the ripe young age of 20, Ryan, then a student at Eastern, made the hour long drive from Charleston to Champaign every Friday to play at campus favorite, White Horse. For these shows, Ryan is forever indebted to former Lorenzo Goetz frontman, Larry Gates, who he considers a “big brother.” Other local musicians that he considers favorites are fellow LMA nominees, Headlights and Shipwreck. On the national scene, Groff counts WPGU regulars like Andrew Bird and The Shins as influences. In a recent record review for his new full-length solo effort, People in the Midwest, Buzz writer Caitlin Cremer wrote, “To describe Ryan Groff's music is to squeeze the life out of it. Analyzing it is too cut and dry, for his music is lush and vividly alive in his storytelling. His music is expressive and rich with lucid lyrics, accompanied by a slightly folk approach with the sound of his acoustic guitar. While his lyrics have a lot to say, his voice is reminiscent of Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley.” Groff continually tours and will be playing in Urbana on March 5th at the Canopy Club.