BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
BEACON, N.Y. — Annalyse McCoy is a recording artist and producer from Martin County. She is currently working on an EP with her folk duo Annalyse & Ryan, along with producing audiobooks and live music.
McCoy has always enjoyed singing and performing. She got her start singing at a talent fair at the Martin County Senior Citizens Center.
“I first sang on a public stage when I was 7 or 8,” McCoy said. “I sang a Bonnie Raitt song.”
McCoy saw tremendous response and support from her family and community.
After getting a taste of the spotlight, McCoy began acting and singing in Jenny Wiley’s summer theater program.
“The elementary school teachers took me around to perform to their classrooms to practice for my audition,” said McCoy.
“I did [Jenny Wiley] every summer from like 8 years old until I graduated high school.”
During this time, McCoy also sang country and rock songs at county fairs, festivals, and singing exhibitions around the area.
After graduating from Sheldon Clark in 2002, McCoy attended Northern Kentucky University, where she received a BFA in Musical Theater. During her time at NKU, McCoy performed at regional theaters around the country.
McCoy graduated from NKU in 2006 and moved to New York City to pursue musical theater.
“Theater communities are so tightly knit,” said McCoy. “When you move somewhere, when you meet one person, you meet like 25.”
Immediately after arriving in New York, through a new acquaintance who had attended Elon University with him, McCoy was introduced to fellow singer and actor Ryan Dunn, who McCoy would eventually marry.
Dunn, originally from the New Jersey shore, had also completed a degree in musical theater and moved to New York to pursue theater.
Within months McCoy and Dunn were dating, and within a year, they were performing live music together.
Along with another friend and fellow musician from the theater community, Rob Marnell, McCoy and Dunn formed 2/3 Goat, an Americana/folk-rock trio named after the fact that two of its members were Capricorns.
The band grew into a six-piece with McCoy and Dunn always at the helm singing and writing the band’s songs.
By 2011, playing music and performing in the theater began to conflict. Music performances were canceled if McCoy or Dunn got a major role as both endeavors were very time-consuming individually.
Around the release of 2/3 Goat’s controversial and acclaimed song “Stream of Conscience,” which spoke out against mountaintop removal coal mining, the pair decided to focus on music and recording more full-time.
In 2013, McCoy and Dunn were married in the upstairs courtroom of the Historic Martin County Courthouse.
After the 2016 release of the band’s critically-acclaimed album “Let It Rise,” McCoy and Dunn began shifting toward a more acoustic sound, performing as duo Annalyse & Ryan.
Like so many artists, Annalyse & Ryan were forced to cancel all shows at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Once all our gigs were canceled for the foreseeable future, Ryan and I started livestreaming from our home, garnering more and more support each week,” said McCoy. “It became a series called Monday Night Live.”
In September 2020, Annalyse & Ryan teamed up with a cultural center in Beacon, N.Y., to produce a multi-camera livestream concert series called Valley Hour. The center’s event schedule had also been eliminated by the COVID-19 shutdown.
“We produced and hosted. We performed a few of our own songs and were joined by two Hudson Valley-based musical guests each episode, bringing their songs and stories,” said McCoy.
“This was a unique opportunity that allowed us to keep playing, creating and developing, while it also helped us to support and get to really know our greater community of incredible artists who are based here.”
McCoy expressed gratitude to the donors and supporters of the Valley Hour who helped revive the devastated artistic community.
“We were able to put about $20,000 into the pockets of artists with the Valley Hour.”
In June 2021, McCoy and Dunn began producing a series of outdoor live concerts called “Summer Night Soundtracks,” where around 16 artists perform songs from a single movie soundtrack per evening.
“It’s a continuation of our love of bringing the music community together and supporting artists,” said McCoy.
Over the last few years, McCoy has added a long list of audiobook narrations to her résumé. From her home recording studio, McCoy also produces many of these audiobook projects.
McCoy and Dunn are currently hard at work in the studio.
“We plan to release a mini-EP in spring or summer of 2023 from the work we’re doing now in the studio. We plan to tour in support of that mini-EP.”
Fans of Annalyse & Ryan are familiar with a minimalistic string band or acoustic guitar accompanying the duo’s duet vocals.
“These tracks will be more in the rock vein with a full band sound,” said McCoy.
Follow Annalyse & Ryan on social media and check out their website https://www.annalyseandryan.com/ to keep up to date with their latest releases and tour dates. Check out McCoy’s personal website https://www.annalysemccoy.com/ for all the places you can hear her.