Ryan “Skinny” Dyck, went old school to record his new record with Evan Uschenko.
 Dyck, who plays steel guitar with several local bands as well as Winnipeg musician Sean Burns, recorded his new record “ Get to Know Lonesome” in his living room at the end of March, just as Covid panic was taking off.
“ I sang and played guitar and steel guitar. Evan did everything else and did all  the rhythm,” he said.
 Dyck has always embraced a raw classic country ”60s sound, and feels he captured that feel by recording the record on cassette tape with an old Tascam eight track recorder.
“I like what my steel guitar sounds like with the tape compression,” he continued.
“ It feels more real. I always liked vintage ’60s and’70s country. You don’t have the digital crassness,” he said, adding every thing was done in one or two takes.
“It’s more onerous to go back and do overdubs, but it can be done. So we tried to get everything in the first couple of takes,” he said.
The 10 tracks resulted from his work with a local songwriting group, who challenged themselves to write a song a month.
“ Most of the songs came from that. You have to come up with a song or some semblance of a song every month. It keeps you working on the craft,” he said.
 “ Get to Know Lonesome” was released on Bandcamp on July 3 and will be coming out on vinyl.
He noted the lyrics came from personal experience.
“ I write dusty, lonesome material. I write from personal experience but I try not to be too literal.  like t leave room for interpretation,” he said adding most of the songs are around two minutes long.
 He enjoyed working with Evan Uschenko, who comes from a more punk and psychedelic background.
“ But he has really well rounded musical tastes. He has great instincts,” he said, adding he has played with him before, but hasn’t recorded with him.
“ I’m happy with it. There’s less pressure recording in your living room than in a studio. And Tim Hortons’s was never far away,” he chuckled.
 There are no plans to tour in support of the record.
“You can’t really do anything now,” he said, adding he is just happy to get the music out there.
The CD cover is a picture of  him  when he was a kid at the Writing on Stone Park.
“I may recreate the bathing suit pic of there is a demand for it,” he laughed.
“ Get to know Lonesome” is available at https://skinnydyck.bandcamp.com/