Ryan States

Ryan States was born in Chicago and grew up in Flossmoor. He has since lived in Dallas, Montana and New York City. Ryan has toured seven years with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. He is on the road eleven months each year. 

He has performed over 3000 shows in the Ringling Brothers band for millions of fans in sold out arenas from LA’s Staples Center to Chicago's United Center and Houston's Reliant Stadium. Recordings of his playing have been heard on the Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox and Friends, national parade broadcasts, DVDs, and commercials. 

He performs for 60,000 to 120,000 circus fans each week as the keyboard player at the circus. He also does sound effects and performs live with a sampler.

Ryan has traveled throughout the country performing for people like Christy Brinkley, William Shatner, Michael Douglas, Bruce Vilanch, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Sister Hazel, Victor Wooten, Courtney Cox Arquette, Ben Affleck, Richard Gere and Dave Letterman. Also he has met Stevie Wonder, Bootsy Collins and Kiss drummer Peter Criss.

Ryan grew up in a house that was full of music. Everyone played a musical instrument. He was the youngest of eleven children. 

His brothers were mobile deejays in the '70's and '80's. At age 13 he began working as a roadie. In addition to hauling sound equipment he ran the board while his brother mc’d on stage. By age 15 he was booking his own gigs and wedding receptions. After moving to Dallas Texas as a teenager, Ryan deejayed corporate events, school dances, private parties, and modeling pageants. 

When he is not playing for elephants, donkeys (and celebrities) he is working in the studio at the train. Ryan is an experienced piano accompanist. He does keyboard programming and beat making. You'll find him in the recording studio working as an artist, engineering, and producing. He collaborates with other musicians both in person and long-distance on the internet. Ryan mixed most of the songs on Strange Town and recently did some mixing for Nashville-based group Xavier And Ophelia. 

Ryan was three years into a music degree at the University of North Texas when he originally ran off and joined the circus. He was studying Piano with Dr. Jack Roberts, Head of the piano department. He has gigged in everything from cover bands (Eclectic, Frontline, Grok) to river boat bands such as Vince Vance & the Valients where Ryan worked as a sub. He is a self-taught electric bassist.

In February 2001, he designed the sound for Our Endeavors Theater Company’s production of, “I, Patty Diphusa, International Sex Symbol.” He composed ten songs ranging from menacing techno, to adult film-styled music, to comical MGM-like orchestral moments.

In 1997 he played keyboards on a jazz tour in Ireland with the Brookhaven College Vocal Jazz Group. The group performed compositions and vocal arrangements that he created on-the-fly at the request of the bandleader. In 1993 Ryan composed original music for the Windjet commercial on TV for Hydrodynamics, Inc. He has performed in over twenty musicals including “The Wiz,” “Fame,” and “Godspell.” He was the music conductor for Marcus High School’s performance of “Man of La Mancha.”

In 2001 Ryan was the music director, piano accompanist and vocal coach for the Dallas Jewish Community Center’s children's production of “Into the Woods. He has literally recorded hundreds of songs for theater companies and singers in need of instrumental versions of their songs. Ryan has three years of experience teaching private and group piano lessons, primarily at the Academy of Fine Arts in Highland Village Texas.