(April 3, 2025) Longtime SoulTracks favorite Ryan Shaw was inspired and compelled to write his new song “Rising Up.” The inspiration and compulsion came from the same place – the state of our world, “Rising Up” is an inspirational call to action,” Shaw notes. “The song and the upcoming album feel so timely to me. In the face of political, social and economic unrest, music is and always will be the one thing that unites and encourages us to overlook our differences and embrace much needed change in our community.”
“Rising Up” fuses folk, gospel and soul and those genres sound natural when coming from Shaw’s power and emotive voice that has a sound that belies his years, “Rising Up” is healing balm to those who have been pressed down and persecuted by the forces of oppression – whether those forces are external and systemic or internal and personal. It’s a song that carries the timeless message that each individual is never alone, and it is the fact that there is a we behind the one that is empowering.
Shaw’s legendary collaborators assist him in bringing that message home. “Rising Up” sports a horn section that gives the song that classic Stax sound. The brass work comes courtesy Average White Band saxophonists Cliff Lyons and Fred Vigdor. Check out the World Premiere of Ryan Shaw’s inspirational anthem “Rising Up” here.
By Howard Dukes
