Meet local music artist James Ryle ...............................................

What do Rosalie House, Fitzy’s on Church, The Toowoomba City Golf Club and some Weddings have in common? The wonderful musician, James Ryle, as their entertainment of course.

The 21-year-old artist is really down to earth and cares about his audience rather than views on Spotify and can play for five hours at a time just for the enjoyment of the listeners.

The young musician loves the art and has been passionate about music for as long as he can remember.

“In grade three I started playing the viola, and did that for about eight years,” James told Style, admitting he probably can’t play the viola anymore.

“After that I started getting into guitar and singing and kept doing that ever since,” he says.

He began a bachelor’s degree in music for a few years before putting that on hold to ‘enhance the craft.’

A short while turned into a year and has continued on since which has allowed James really make a name for himself, and do what he really loves which is as simple as strumming a guitar and singing.

It takes years of dedicating and of course a bit of talent to be noticed and find work as a musician, but through dedication and hard work James has made a name for himself in the region.

Although you’ll mostly hear James jamming out a cover of Bruce Springsteen to Dean Lewis, you might catch him sneaking in an original of his own.

Whilst he doesn’t upload his original pieces to the internet in any way, James’ gets his songs out live and through his gigs, which is particularly special when the crowd claps.

Performing predominantly live for venues and events, the challenge of no response can be sometimes heartbreaking and demotivating for a musician.

“You can have a gig and get nothing back from the audience whatsoever and it makes you think you’ve done horribly,” he says, noting that for long session of up to five hours, lack of response will make the job seem a bit insignificant.

“And then you can then get told afterwards (from the venue) we got heaps of compliments and that it was lovely,” James says.

“You just you just learn to appreciate it, but it takes like one person to clap after a song and then everyone will join in, and then it becomes a culture.”

With the restriction slowly easing, and a light at the end of the tunnel for live music to resume, it shouldn’t be too long before you catch a glimpse of James playing one of your favourites around town.