Ryan, Nancy - You Know, I Know b/w I Won't Ask

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	You Know, I Know	03:37

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	I Won't Ask	03:17

Photos

Videos

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Information/Write-up

Nancy Ryan: Country Songbird, Television Staple, and Horseback Heroine

Nancy Ryan stands as a true original in the Canadian country music landscape—a gifted singer, songwriter, and performer whose long, multifaceted career spans decades of musical innovation, television appearances, and equestrian excellence.

Born on March 13, 1947, in Toronto, Ontario, Nancy’s early life was marked by resilience. At just 10 years old, her family home was destroyed by fire, prompting a move first to Sturgeon Falls, then later to Timmins, where her love for music continued to flourish. That same year—1957—she made her first recording: not a country tune, but a Mozart sonata in C Major on piano. It would be one of many genres she explored before finding her true calling in country music.

By the time she was a teenager, Nancy was performing regularly on Northern Hoedown, a country music TV show broadcast out of Sudbury for 26 episodes between 1958 and 1959. It marked her television debut and helped launch a career that would blend songwriting, performing, and studio work on both sides of the border.

In 1964, Nancy travelled to Nashville to record at the legendary Bradley’s Barn and Fireside Studios, working under producer Louis Innis. Initially cutting demo tracks for Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, she soon found herself in demand as a backing vocalist. She later subbed for Janie Fricke as part of the Sound 70’s Singers, lending her voice to various recordings and live performances.

Nancy’s own recording career picked up in earnest in the early 1970s when she partnered with Canadian country music icon Gary Buck. With Buck producing, she recorded three songs by Dallas Harms—“I Can’t Stand to See a Grown Man Cry,” “If There’s a Better Way to Tell Me,” and “I Woke Up Crying in My Sleep”—as well as her own composition, “Polar Bear Special,” for Arpeggio Records.

In 1978, she released her debut album Rouge on Westmount Music, its title a nod to her love of the colour red. The album showcased her songwriting talents with six original compositions and included one of the earliest known recordings by a Canadian female artist of a Gordon Lightfoot tune—his haunting ballad “Cherokee Bend.”

Nancy’s discography grew to include the 1980 single “Run Terry Run,” a heartfelt tribute to Terry Fox released in support of the Canadian Cancer Society. She also recorded for Shannon Records in Nashville under producer Bud Logan, contributing tracks to the label’s Country Western Shannon Style compilation alongside artists like Wilma Burgess, George Kent, and Harlan Sanders.

Throughout her career, Nancy remained a staple on the Ontario country circuit, performing as both a solo act and fronting groups such as Musical Ride, The Fender Trio, Ramblers Three, The Country Bandits, Ruffian, and Sundown, the latter of which included Wade Champion, Al Gain, and Bob Swaggers.

Television became another major platform for Nancy. She was a featured guest on programs such as Country Hoedown, Country Time (CBC Halifax), The Tommy Hunter Show, Family Brown Country, and The Jimmy Phair Show. She appeared six times on Nashville Swing and was a full-time performer across 26 episodes of The Ray Griff Goodtime Country Show, recorded at Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto and broadcast from CJOH-TV in Ottawa. Alongside fellow vocalists Dottie Randall and Andy Greatrix, Nancy formed The Good Time Singers, contributing background vocals for a host of artists including Marg Osburne, Dick Nolan, Smiley Bates, Tommy Ambrose, and many acts on the Condor Records label.

One of her standout lead vocal performances was a duet with Margaret Good on Rick Fielding’s 1981 track “If It’s Just the Whiskey Talkin’.” The Good Time Singers also backed artists live during performances for the Opry North concert series at Toronto’s Minkler Auditorium.

In 1982, Nancy shifted creative gears with The Kangazoo Club, a children’s television series filmed on location at African Lion Safari, Marineland, and the Toronto Zoo. Nancy wrote 54 original songs for the 26-episode run, which went on to air in over 70 countries, including on Canada’s Global Y-Channel.

Beyond music, horses have been Nancy Ryan’s lifelong passion. She got her first pony at age 5 and went on to become an award-winning show rider in both Western and English styles, competing in dressage, show jumping, cross-country, and stadium jumping. In the 1980s, she owned and operated the North Virginia Acres equestrian centre in Sutton, Ontario, and later became involved in thoroughbred horse racing at Woodbine and Fort Erie racetracks.

Never one to shy away from new challenges, Nancy returned to school in the 1990s, earning a BA in Psychology from Queen’s University, then completing her training to become a Registered Nurse, working in hospitals for 15 years.

Today, Nancy Ryan resides in Belleville, Ontario, “retired” in name only. She continues to make music with her group A Wing and a Prayer, and remains an enduring presence in Canada’s country music community.

In a fitting nod to her regal presence in Canadian country, she was featured in the early 1980s as the “Queen of Spades” in a promotional deck of playing cards featuring national country music stars—a symbol of her charisma, class, and unmistakable talent.
-Robert Williston

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