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About · Ryan Edwards

About Ryan Edwards

From Shepherd's Bush to the beach — a folk-soul singer-songwriter of 25+ years, now teaching the craft he's spent a lifetime living.

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The short version

A song-writer's life, distilled.

I'm Ryan Edwards — a folk-soul singer-songwriter from Waikanae Beach on the Kāpiti Coast. For 25+ years I've been writing, recording and performing songs: the warm, honest, beautifully crafted kind that owe as much to soul as to folk.

It's been a long road — from big rooms under bright lights to studios on three continents, and finally home to the beach, where I now teach the craft one-to-one. This page is the fuller story of where the music came from, and why I think living it makes me a better teacher of it.

If you'd rather just talk, that's easy too — book a first lesson and we'll have a relaxed conversation about where you'd like to start.

A younger Ryan Edwards in a white shirt singing at a microphone during his London years

The journey

From London stages to the Kāpiti Coast

I chased music to London and got to live the dream of playing the rooms you grow up hearing about — Shepherd's Bush Empire and the London Astoria 2 among them. From there the songs took me into the studio in Dublin, London and New Orleans, recording with players who'd forgotten more about feel than most of us ever learn.

Back home, I was featured live in session on RNZ National's "In Session", and released the album Innocent & Wise. Somewhere along the way I co-founded Whirlwind, a men's mental-health charity — because the honesty I chase in songs matters just as much off the stage.

The sound owes a debt to the artists I grew up on: Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Sam Cooke and Crowded House — soul, folk and songcraft that never shows off, but always means it.

The highlights

Twenty-five years, in brief

  • London stages

    Played Shepherd's Bush Empire and the London Astoria 2 — big rooms, big nights, a long way from the beach.

  • Recorded internationally

    Tracked records in Dublin, London and New Orleans, alongside players steeped in soul, folk and feel.

  • RNZ National "In Session"

    Featured live in session on RNZ National — honest songcraft, performed and broadcast nationwide.

  • Whirlwind charity

    Co-founded the Whirlwind men's mental-health charity — the same honesty I chase in a song, off the stage.

  • 25+ years writing

    A working singer-songwriter for more than two decades — the album Innocent & Wise among the releases.

  • Home on the coast

    Now based at Waikanae Beach, teaching singing, guitar and songwriting across the Kāpiti Coast and online.

Moody close-up of Ryan Edwards playing electric guitar under dramatic side light

Why this matters for your lessons

I teach the craft I actually live

Plenty of teachers can show you shapes and scales. What I bring is the thing you can't get from a book: 25+ years of actually writing, recording and performing — so when we work on singing, guitar or songwriting, you're learning how it's really done, not just the theory of it.

There's no ego in it. Just honest craft, taught like an evening with a friend who happens to be very good at this. We start exactly where you are and build from there — and your first lesson is a relaxed conversation as much as a lesson, so we can see if we're a good fit before anything else.

Most of all, I want you to learn to mean it — to make a room go quiet, whether that's a single song on the guitar, a voice that finally sounds like yours, or a piece you wrote and finished yourself.

Ways to learn with Ryan

Pick a place to start

Lessons Singing Lessons

Find your real voice — breath, tone, phrasing and the confidence to perform.

 Lessons Guitar Lessons

Play the song, not just the chords — acoustic guitar that serves the music.

 Lessons Songwriting Lessons

Turn your life into songs — lyrics, melody, structure and finishing what you start.

 In person Music Lessons · Kāpiti Coast

Singing, guitar and songwriting, face to face at Waikanae Beach and across the coast.

Book

Let's make something honest.

Tell me a little about you and what you'd love to learn — I'll be in touch personally within a couple of days. First lesson, no pressure.

Book a lesson Email Ryan

Prefer to reach out directly? Email info@ryanedwardsmusic.co.nz