It took a near-death breakdown across the country to help Ryan Paul find his voice. The Minneapolis native entered the music scene in 1999 as Jeremy Ylvisaker’s (Andrew Bird/Alpha Consumer) guitar tech and began playing guitar and touring with a smattering of Twin Cities art-rock bands. By 2004, however, Paul lost himself in a haze of drug and alcohol addiction and eventually disappeared out east. It took nearly four years for Ryan to hit rock bottom and finally return home, with help of his family, to start his life and musical career over, sober and invigorated with direction and focus. Gathering a band of veteran Minneapolis musicians, including Paul’s father on guitar and mandolin, and acclaimed drummer Steve Goold, Paul formed Ryan Paul & THE ARDENT in 2008. Originally intended as a one-time project, the band emerged as a vehicle for Ryan’s sincere songwriting - a genre-bending brand of Americana rooted in Paul’s personal struggles and story.

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- In June of 2009, Ryan Paul & THE ARDENT released their first full-length record titled La Vita Nuova.
- In June 2010, just a year later, the band released a digital EP Cute Souvenirs. Recorded in just one ten-hour session, Cute Souvenirs exhibits an impressive development in craftsmanship, as well as a much darker character that has garnered comparisons to such divergent influences as The Cure, Clem Snide, and The Smiths. 
- Since 2008, the band has established themselves in the Midwest, playing out constantly, as well as sharing bills with larger acts like Rock Plaza Central, Kid Dakota, Sam Roberts and Backyard Tire Fire. Ryan Paul has shared stages with legends like Al Kooper.