While still a relative newcomer to Providence, RI, Ryan Fitzsimmons was nominated for Best Folk Act in the Providence Phoenix Best Music Poll for 2004. Ryan is simply the kind of musician who impresses immediately. His acoustic world runs the emotional gambit. The lyrics of Ryan's songs range from gentle, poetic details to the in-your-face realism of a bar fight, and his guitar ranges just as far, from starry night to thunderclap. After his appearance at the 2008 Newport Folk Festival, Aquarium Drunkard said: "His rhythmic folk songs are more of the hand-banging variety, his delivery marked with dark traces like the end of the night, and he plays with captivating confidence."