Ryan Delahoussaye

Ryan Paul Delahoussaye (born January 14, 1976 in Houston, TX, USA) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and co-founding member of the American rock band Blue October. Delahoussaye is a classically trained violinist. He attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he met and became close friends with Justin Furstenfeld and was a big fan of Furstenfeld's band The Last Wish.^[1] Justin and Ryan started jamming together during lunch break and soon started playing gigs together after the Last Wish broke up.

Blue October became successful due in no small part to the prominence of violin in the band's music. The violin, which takes over as the lead instrument in many of the songs, distinguishes the group's sound from that of most other contemporary rock bands. Delahoussaye’s pizzicato technique of plucking the strings of the electric violin are integral to Blue October’s unique sound on songs such as Ugly Side, Clumsy Card House, and Balance Beam. Of Delahoussaye's playing style Justin Furstenfeld said:

Ryan does wicked things with the violin. He plays reverbs, delays and wahs on it. It's another instrument, it's not a violin anymore. It's like another guitar. It gives us the Blue in Blue October. Without him it would be much less moody, and I love moody.^[2]

In August 2015 Ryan released his first solo recording, a six-track EP entitled Tufstrings. The recording debuted at number thirteen on Billboard's Top Classical Crossover Albums chart.

See also

• American fiddle
• Rock violin

Notes