View this email in your browser Dear Friends,



Happy (belated) New Year to you! It's 2020! I like how that sounds. May this new year be crystal clear and absolutely beautiful! Though it's just a date on a calendar, every new year feels like a gift, a chance to start over. Like computers, sometimes we just need a good old fashioned restart.



For most of the year, I try to keep my head down, chipping away at songs, however, one of my very favorite practices at the end of each year is to zoom out and try to see a more whole picture of all that happened, personally and musically, through a lens of gratitude. This email is the Sleeping At Last version of that zoom out. So, THANK YOU. Because of you and your incredibly kind support, here's all of the stuff I got to make in 2019... My entire 25-song Atlas: II project was completed! Whew! These songs were inspired by involuntary human development - what we're born with: Life, Senses, Emotions, Intelligence and our personality, Enneagram! What an absolute joyful struggle it was to write each of these songs. I'm so grateful and proud that they are all out in the wild now! And I can't wait to share details about Atlas: III in 2020! And of course, as part of Atlas: II, my Enneagram songs were completed. Writing these nine songs was the most challenging and rewarding work I've ever done. "Nine" (Listen) "Eight" (Listen) ... Here's a GIF of the wonderful Elicia Edijanto's GORGEOUS artwork for all nine of the Enneagram songs... (please note the moon phases changing with each painting and animating across the backdrop!) With the release of each new song, I had a ton of fun recording episodes of The Sleeping At Last Podcast!! It means so much to me to get to explain and detail my writing process and share all that goes into each song. Thank you for listening! SO excited to continue recording new episodes in the new year, including an Enneagram overview/final thoughts episode - coming soon. And new songs and "how it was made" episodes for much of my music and more - hope you'll subscribe!! I made more music for my ongoing "Astronomy" series - music inspired by astronomical events!! Serving as a score/soundtrack of sorts to these observable events and discoveries in the great big beautiful universe around us. I can't get enough of Space. Many more new "Astronomy" songs are coming in 2020! Can't wait to share! Oh and "Astronomy, Vol. 1" will be released as a beautiful vinyl set in 2020 as well! "April 10, 2019: Powehi - Image of a Black Hole" (Spotify) "February 13, 2019: Opportunity - Mission Complete" (Spotify) Astronomy songs here via this handy Check out all of mysongs here via this handy Spotify playlist Covers! I had the privilege of recording several covers in 2019 for TV shows and more! (Pssst.. all of these, plus a couple unreleased covers will be released in 2020 as "Covers, Vol. 3"!) " Love Is All Around " Originally by The Troggs ( Listen ) " Where Does The Good Go " Originally by Tegan & Sara ( Listen ) "Can't Smile Without You" Originally by Barry Manilow (Listen) "Breathe Again" Originally by Sara Bareilles (Listen) "When It Don't Come Easy" Originally by Patty Griffin (Listen) As part of my annual Christmas cover song tradition, I chose to record 2 new Christmas covers this year ... "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" Originally by Bing Crosby from White Christmas (Listen) " Christmas Time Is Here" Originally from A Charlie Brown Christmas ( Listen ) I also had the honor of my music being featured in all sorts of TV shows, Ads, Films and Podcasts... A bunch of my music got to be a part of Grey's Anatomy on ABC! ... a song on American Idol on ABC! ... a song in the film Five Feet Apart from CBS Films and Lionsgate ... "Saturn" in the trailer for TOKIEN from Fox Searchlight films ... on LEGACIES on the CW! ... "Lullaby" was featured in a sweet Pampers TV ad in the UK! ... on the TV show Britain's Got Talent in the UK! ... some songs on the TV show Love Island in the US on CBS and in the UK on iTV2 ... in a TV ad for the wonderful organization, Operation Smile ... a softdrink TV ad for Tymbark in Poland ... my music for financial company, Securian aired during the Emmys and throughout the year! ... on the Germany version of the TV show The Bachelor, Der Bachelor ... Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea skated to "Turning Page" as part of the '19 US Figure Skating Championships on NBC ... "Her Joy Was Complete" continued to air on a beautiful promo for Lifetime TV ... I got to be a guest on one of my all time favorite podcasts ever, Pete Holmes' "Your Made It Weird" AND my song "Light" was featured in one of truly the greatest podcasts ever, Invisibilia on NPR! 38 million views on YouTube! (omg, thank you guys!!) Somehow my official music video for "Saturn" hit overviews on YouTube! (omg, thank you guys!!) I also had the privilege of being a guest on these incredible Podcasts: Love Does, That Sounds Fun, Unspoken, Rhythms for Life, The Goodcast, Makers and Mystics, Atwood Magazine and more. My music got to be on The Liturgists, Typology and more.



AND I got to play my songs live at some of the most incredible events ever: For inmates at San Quentin Prison in CA, a beautiful charity event at Seattle's Benaroya Hall (checking off a bucket-list item: play with a full Symphony Orchestra!!), IEA Enneagram Global Summit and an event for the organization, Preemptive Love. Heaps of new Merch was made available in 2019 too... Including Atlas: II on Vinyl, totally re-designed Atlas: I sets and shirts, Storyboards 10th Anniversary edition Vinyl, "Turning Page" 7", 4th pressing of SPACE with new colors, Enneagram Special Edition Vinyl and CD, Lyric Shirts, Giving Key Necklaces and Art Prints! (Shop Merch!) I think that's about it. On a personal level, it was also a year of heart break- grieving the loss of two dear friends, Alexander Collins and Busbee, my sweet dog, Wilco, a death in the family and another family member had a life-threatening health issue (thankfully making a recovery!) - all of which happened shortly after completing my final Enneagram song, "Nine", which pried my heart wide open on its own and these difficult losses certainly kept it opened up, for better or worse. All in all, there was so much good in 2019 too, and for all of it, I am grateful.



Here's to a beautiful new 2020!



Warmly,

Ryan - Sleeping At Last 1. TV/FIlm (between GoT, MCU, Star Wars and the decade, 2019 was a year of epic conclusions.) 2. Impossible Whopper (2019 birthed this beautiful plant-based but still unhealthy option!) 3. Disney+ (with the launch of this service, baby yoda entered our lives! ) 4. Babu Frik (how it is possible to receive not one but two of the cutest creatures in the star wars universe in a single year? I don't know, but thank you Disney.)