After ten years off, singer/songwriter Ryan Ramsdale of Winnipeg is excited to share some new Christian folk music once again.
When Ramsdale started playing music in a band many years ago, he wasn't a Christian.
"I wanted to make a career in the music industry. It was a very self-serving approach," says Ramsdale. "I wanted to be known, famous, and all the destructive stuff as well. I pursued it with a lot of energy."
Then he found God and he shares that becoming a born-again Christian changed his life and his desire for music.
"You sing for a completely different purpose and there's more understanding too. Like, why do I have these gifts? Why do I have a voice? It fit that missing piece of the puzzle."
Ramsdale released Christian music under his name in 2007 and 2011 titled We Hanged Our Harps Upon the Willows and The Eastern Sky. He is also a worship leader at a church in the Osbourne Village.
"After 2011, focusing on career growth, the kids were getting older, we moved cities and then moved back. All that stuff, well, recording music just got pushed to the back. I've always been involved in worship at church so I've never stepped away from singing music and instrumentation."
Ramsdale says the collection of songs on this new album, A Poem Hidden in Weakness, is about finishing well. It will be released on July 1.
"It represents a part of my faith that I haven't written songs about before. About how you feel when your faith is stretched really thin, that you think a pin dropping might shatter the entire thing. This album contains songs that are more expressions of pain, a lot of questioning, but it has a sweetness to it as well."
His new single, out today, is called 'The Last Missing Piece.'