Ryan Badger

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Former BJMF Multi-Year Finalist

Ryan Badger is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the primary songwriter, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for indie-rock/synth-pop band, mtn air.

Ryan has performed at Bitter Jester in three separate seasons with two different bands. He was the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist of 2018 & 2019 BJMF Finalist, Quick & Painless and then led mtn air through the Preliminary Rounds in 2022.

He has been lucky enough to grace the good people of Navy Pier (at the Bitter Jester Best Of Showcase) with his synthesized nonsense each of those three years as a performer as well

Over the past eight years, Ryan has performed around the Midwest from major venues to college basements (you should have seen the look on those college kid’s faces when mtn air whipped out the synthpop at a punk show!). 

Over the years he has been privileged to work on music across multiple genres, from punk rock, to synth pop, to jazz and classical. Through everything, he has come to appreciate how emotion and feeling is expressed through every style of music.

Outside of performing, Ryan graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2023 with a degree in Journalism and Political Science. And if that doesn’t sound like the career trajectory of a hardcore BJMF musician - just you wait, there’s more!

He now works full time as a flight instructor, teaching the people of Milwaukee how to fly small airplanes with career ambitions of becoming a commercial airline pilot within the next year.

Ryan is excited to finally come back to Bitter Jester and not have to stress about performing. He’s looking forward to giving back to the festival that absolutely made his summers for three years.

He is particularly excited to engage with the next generation of musicians coming through the festival and hear the musical stories everyone is dying to tell!