Ryan Harlin is a songwriter, producer, and music educator whose compositions have been featured in popular gaming franchises like League of Legends, Dancing With the Stars Home Edition, Riot Games’ Valorant, and whose work has been profiled in Rolling Stone, Smithsonian Magazine, Create Digital Music, and Music Radar.

Ryan holds a degree in music technology from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, where he was awarded the prestigious Phillip Holt Prize by Sir Paul McCartney. He has since collaborated with artists as diverse as dance music legend Paul Van Dyk and banjo icon Kermit the Frog, and in his role as senior creative executive for Reason Studios Ryan has earned tens of millions of views on YouTube—and praise from chart topping producers like Ian Kirkpatrick, Toro Y Moi, Key Wane, and Ali Payami—with his instructional videos about the essence of songwriting.

More than anything, Ryan enjoys helping others in their quest to make their own music, which is what led him to serve as a teaching assistant at the Walker Creek Music Camp since 2018, and which is where he recently led his own first full course curriculum as camp instructor in November 2023.

Ryan’s banjo style is a blend of old time technique and modern folk, with bluegrass, roots, and even pop influences. Notable banjo players like Tom Collins, Joe Newberry, Mark Schatz, and Steve Baughman have cited Ryan’s accuracy, tone, and musicality as his greatest strengths, and Ryan is excited to impart these same fundamentals to new students at the California Bluegrass Association’s Summer Music Camp.