Jimmy Ryan, Musician-Composer-Producer-Author-Episode #245

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

Jimmy Ryan has been Carly Simon’s guitarist since the 1970s. He’s an American artist, composer, producer, and author with a career that has spanned six decades. Beginning at seventeen, he and his college band, The Critters, had their first top forty hit, “Younger Girl,” which was followed by three charting albums and two more top forty hits, “Mr. Dieingly Sad” and “Don’t Let The Rain Fall Down on Me.”

In 1970, Jimmy’s friend, Carly Simon, called him to put a band together for her. She was rising fast on the US and British top 40 charts with “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” as well as her first album “Carly Simon,” on which Jimmy played guitar. Jimmy went on to perform with Carly on most of her future albums and continues to work off and on with her to this day.

He's the guitar soloist on many of Carly’s hits, the most memorable being “You’re So Vain,” and the Academy Award winning song of the year, “Let the River Run,” from the movie, Working Girl.

Aside from Carly Simon, Jimmy’s also recorded with numerous superstars including no less than: Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Luther Vandross, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, John Entwistle, Elton John & Kiki Dee, The Doors, Rod Stewart, and many more, earning him six gold records and one platinum record.

As a studio musician Jimmy has recorded alongside legendary session players, like: Jim Gordon, Claus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins, Will Lee, Steve Gadd, Lowell George, Robbie Robertson, Paul Shaffer, David Sanborn and many more.

Along the way, he found time to perform in the original Broadway production of Hair. And he was a principal actor and musician in the Broadway production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes.”

Jimmy has scored music for TV, creating themes and music for NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC, Lifetime, USA, and PBS. He’s also composed, arranged, and produced music for over 500 radio and TV commercials for clients like: Doritos, McDonalds, IBM, Ford, Nikon, Pizza Hut, Budweiser, Chevy, Coke, Diet Coke, and more.

In April 2019, he and his touring band, The Hit Men, were honored with the first ever Road Warrior Award from the Nashville Musician’s Hall of Fame.

In 2022, Jimmy published his memoir, Behind: Autobiography of a Musical Shapeshifter. It’s a fascinating look at the life of a musician working at the highest levels of the music industry, especially the life of a working rock musician.

And please be sure to stick around at the end of the show for a real treat. Jimmy has generously loaned us an unreleased song that he wrote and produced, Slow Burn.