Submitted photo
The Ryan Carter Trio performs to a full house.

LEWISTOWN — Typically, people listen to music and drink enough coffee to satisfy their caffeine craving.

Then again, Ryan Carter is a special talent. The Mount Union native works in the coffee industry and plays with his band – the Ryan Carter Trio – just enough to quench his musical thirst for performing.

“We all have day jobs, so we don’t travel a lot as we’ve gotten older,” said Carter, who formed the group in 2017.

That translates into three or four shows each month. Two of them are usually played Shy Bear Brewing, 35 Meadownbrook Ln., Lewistown, which is owned by Ufema.

RC3 takes the stage at Shy Bear on the second Thursday and last Sunday of each month. Their next performance is at Shy Bear at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11.

Ryan Carter Trio, of RC3, as they are also called, features Carter on lead vocals and guitar, John Xanthopoulos on keyboard and vocals and Jason Ufema on drums and backup vocals. All three men live in Lewistown.

Despite the trio being relatively new, the three have known each other for some time. “John and I started out doing some duo stuff,” Carter recalled. “Jason started playing the cajỏn (pronounced ka’xon, which is a box-shaped percussion instrument that’s played by slapping the front or rear faces with hands, fingers or sticks.)

“We’ve grown from a quiet acoustic trio into more of a band thing,” he added. “We have an MTV Unplugged kind of vibe.”

Carter was doing solo gigs before he and “Johnny X,” as Xanthopoulos is affectionately nicknamed, crossed paths in 2000. “We’ve both played in a bunch of other bands in the area, and I’ve been in another band with John,” Carter said. “I recorded something in his studio, and that’s when I met him.”

Carter had been making a living with the band, Lucky You, traveling up and down the East Coast from Vermont to Florida.

They re-connected when Johnny X needed a guitar player for a project he was working on. “He called me and that’s how it started up,” Carter added. “We’ve been trucking along ever since.”

Carter said the band doesn’t really have a niche. “We’ll cover anything,” he explained, referring to their song list which spans about 180 to 200 songs. “We’ll rotate those in and out.”

The band is also big on fulfilling requests, which can sometimes fill half a show. “Which keeps people engaged, and we can keep them involved,” he added. “It’s different every night depending on the vibe of the crowd. If you don’t have what people want, they might not stay long.”

RC3 covers hits by The Beatles and Keith Urban to Alice in Chains and Kenny Rogers. They’ll also throw in a little Ed Sheeran and even a little 1980s hair metal, too.

Carter also believes the band has an advantage because Johnny X has a recording studio and state-of-art equipment from his advertising business. “John is a sound guy, so he pays attention to all those little details. It really helps. If you don’t have the right equipment, your music doesn’t come across the way it should.”

That equipment also kept the band relevant during the pandemic when venues were closed. The band produced a series of videos to several popular songs, including “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, “Boys of Summer” by Don Henley and “Somebody You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi.

“During the pandemic, we obviously couldn’t play, so we did live streams to continue to perform,” Carter said. “We’d record the audio ourselves then send it to John. He would mix some things, and that’s how those videos were done during the pandemic.

“It was a way for us to put something out there for people to see and listen to,” he added.

Through it all, they never take themselves too seriously as in they always like to keep things light. “The only thing we truly take seriously is the music,” Carter said.

Carter also works for Ufema at Rich Coast Coffee as an inventory manager. “I was commuting to Harrisburg, so I asked him if he had any openings at Rich Coast. He said he did, and I cut my commute from 115 minutes to five minutes.”

Carter admits that the dynamic is unique. “He’s my boss through the week, and I’m his boss on weekends,” he said jokingly.

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