BLUE UMBRELLA Releases Debut Album RECKLESSLY YOURS After 30 Years
Ryan Meili, a family doctor and former Saskatchewan NDP leader, fronts the long-gestating project.
Saskatoon folk rock band BLUE UMBRELLA has released its debut album, RECKLESSLY YOURS, now available on streaming platforms and vinyl. The group is fronted by singer-songwriter Ryan Meili, who is also known nationally as a family doctor, public health advocate and former leader of the Saskatchewan NDP. The record combines 70s folk rock textures with the rawer sound of 90s prairie bar bands.
The album's story stretches back three decades, to when Meili first started writing songs and playing shows in his twenties. Medicine, a growing family and a career in public life kept a full album out of reach for years, until Meili turned 49 and decided the time had finally come. Drawing on skills honed building political campaigns, he brought together a rotating cast of longtime friends and accomplished musicians, organizing rehearsals and recording sessions the same way he once organized a nomination race: patiently, deliberately, and with a clear goal in mind.
That process produced 'Ignorance,' the album's first single, released in May of this year. A reflective, plainspoken meditation on innocence and self-forgiveness, the track has drawn comparisons to early Tragically Hip and REM from listeners, a connection Meili has said was never intentional but one he is more than happy to embrace. The recording features Meili on guitar and vocals alongside Tyson McShane on bass, Luke Ryalls on guitar, Sam Corbett on drums, Burke Barlow on pedal steel and Barrett Ross on organ.
The second single, 'Tropical Storm,' released in June, shifts into more vivid, image-driven territory, using weather and vegetation as metaphors for growth that only comes through upheaval. The track's warm, rhythmic groove is carried by the same core lineup, with Ellen Froese adding vocals to round out the arrangement, giving the song a lush, full band sound that mirrors its themes of pressure building toward release.
The album's third single, 'Laid Back,' is out now and finds Meili at his most self-deprecating, turning a wry, rapid fire character sketch into one of the record's most purely enjoyable moments. Recorded with McShane, Ryalls, Froese and Barlow, alongside drummer Charles Lemire, the track captures the loose, confident chemistry that developed once the full band found its footing.
That chemistry comes from real experience. Corbett spent twenty years touring the world as drummer for the Sheepdogs before stepping behind the board to produce RECKLESSLY YOURS, following earlier production work on Ellen Froese's 'For Each Flower Growing' and his own acclaimed record, 'NUTANA.' McShane has built an international career fronting indie stalwarts Slow Down Molasses, while Ryalls previously led Saskatoon's The Fjords and released his own solo album, 'The City.' Barlow, formerly of Deep Dark Woods, rounds out the lineup on pedal steel. The album also features a feature spot from rising songwriter Lachlan Neville and a non-political guest cello performance from Saskatchewan MLA Meara Conway, with Barrett Ross engineering and mixing the entire record at Rec Hall Studios in Saskatoon and mastering handled by João Carvalho.
Alongside ten original songs, RECKLESSLY YOURS includes two deep cut Canadian covers, the Tragically Hip's 'We'll Go Too' and Leonard Cohen's 'Old Revolution,' a nod to the tradition the band draws from most directly. The album's title and band name both trace back to Meili's own history, with Blue Umbrella borrowed from a 1975 John Prine song and the phrase 'Recklessly Yours' a nod to chances taken and adventures lived. The album cover plays with that recklessness, using the found poetry of fortune cookie papers to evoke a playful approach to the mysteries of life's many possible paths. The record has already earned feature segments on Global News, CTV Morning and CBC BlueSky and coveted booking at this year's Saskatoon Jazz Festival.
The album caps a project three decades in the making, dating back to when Meili began writing songs and performing in his twenties. Medicine, family life and a career in public office delayed the effort until Meili turned 49 and assembled a rotating group of longtime friends and musicians to record it.
