Lamont Parent Profile: Ryan Busse
When I first spoke on the phone with Ryan Busse to schedule an interview with him, he asked me—with characteristic humility—to loop in his campaign manager. “I don’t mean to sound more important than I am,” he said with a chuckle. Ryan is running for governor of Montana, and when we met over Zoom a couple weeks later, he had just finished his 137th event of the campaign. Since September 2023, he and his team have driven about 74,000 miles, traveling to every corner of Montana.
Ryan is the father of Lander Busse, a second-year vocal jazz major at Lamont. Lander’s younger brother, Badge, is 16 and still at home. I asked Ryan what it’s like having one son off to college and another one not too far behind: “As any parent will tell you, it’s all the things all the time. It’s exciting, it’s frightening, it’s joyful, and it’s sad. I’m so super proud of the kids, and also sort of sad that Lander’s not here pounding on the piano until 1:30 in the morning, singing classic rock songs in our living room. It’s a tough day to drop your kid off at college for the first time. But we’re so proud of him.”
Ryan grew up in a musical family, taking up jazz trombone and playing it all the way through college. He and his wife, Sarah, knew that Lander had a special talent for music at a young age. “I remember him at age 3 or 4 watching the original Superman movie, with the score by John Williams, and then walking over to this little keyboard that we had bought for him. And within a few minutes he had played the whole theme just from ear. From then on we knew, this kid’s got something special.”
Lander benefitted from a strong music program in his high school; Montana’s constitution states that all kids must have equal access to public education, and Ryan believes that this absolutely must include the arts and music. One of the reasons he’s running for governor is because of what he sees as mismanagement and privatization by the current governor, Greg Gianforte, with many public high school music and arts programs being dismantled.
“I think that’s wrong,” he said. “One of the things that equalizes people in Montana is access to public education, and with that under threat, I just felt like it was time for me to stand up and fight for the place that we all love.”
When it came time to start looking at colleges, the Busses knew that Lander would be pursuing music. And as someone from Montana, Lander wanted to get out and experience the world without straying too far from the mountains. Upon visiting the DU campus, the family was impressed by its physical beauty as well as the personal attention that Lamont students receive.
“Towards the end of his freshman year, Lander changed his focus from classical vocal performance to jazz voice and production,” said Ryan. “The folks who helped us navigate that were so top notch. We just love the place.”
The Busses have been out to visit Lander a handful of times already, including to see Lamont Opera Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last spring. Living out of state, they are very grateful that they can watch the livestreams of performances. Ryan has filled many hours of time on the road between campaign events with watching Lander’s performances on YouTube.
So with just over a month to go until election day, how is Ryan feeling?
“We feel good. We’re running against an incumbent, and it’s tough to beat an incumbent. But this is a really important election for Montana. The issue of choice and women’s reproductive freedom is a big deal. Our access to public lands is a big deal. The privatization of public schools and its effect on the arts and music is a big deal. It’s a tough task, but we’re in a good place.”
Learn more about Ryan Busse at busseformontana.com.
