Nine-Year Old ‘Crazy Train’ Guitarist’s Identity Revealed!

Remember the video of the nine-year old kid tearing up Ozzy Osbourne‘s ‘Crazy Train’ on guitar from last week? Well, we’ve learned a lot about him since then. His name is Ryan Watson, he’s 10 years old now and one of the many talented young musicians lucky enough to be enrolled in the Frederick Rock School in Maryland.

Ryan plays guitar and sings in a band called Unavailable, alongside Dennis McAfee (also 10) on guitar, drummer Kevin Kiley (13) and the band’s elder statesmen, 15-year old Dylan Howes. They perform covers and originals, and do so very well as you can see from the new video below.

We spoke to Scott Marceron, who runs the school, about Watson and his fellow young rockers. “He’s just phenomenal, man, his life is playing guitar, that’s all he does all day long. He started with the school about a year and a half ago.”

He says the kids chose their own band name, and that Watson taught himself how to play but had never played in a band format before joining the school: “We pair them together, according to age and ability, and what we do is give them three songs to learn over 12 weeks, then they perform a show at a real club. If they get through (learn) their songs quick, we encourage them to write their own, which those guys do, and we help them along the way.”

Marceron’s been doing this for two years now. He himself has been playing rock music since age 12, worked as a professional musician or in other aspects of the industry much of his life, and was inspired to start the school by a visit to a similar operation in Philadelphia. “I was blown away by it, I decided this was what my area needs. We have 135 students, 28 bands, it’s open enrollment, we’re open year-round. It’s like an after-school rock and roll community center. We have a pool table, a big lounge, they’re able to come to a safe place and be around like-minded kids.”

Sounds pretty darn cool, right? If you’re in the Baltimore area and / or would like to learn more about the Frederick Rock School, you can visit their official website.

Watch Unavailable Perform ‘Duece’ by Kiss