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When
Bryan’s parents divorced at age 8 his mom quickly moved them
to Marietta, Oklahoma, to be near her favorite aunt and
uncle who just happened to own a honky tonk. Bryan
remembers life being lived out just like the songs of the
times, and it made a lasting impression on him. “I saw
things most kids shouldn’t see. Both of my parents were
living pretty wild lives, but I also remember those times
being unique. The music was brutally honest. I learned how
to two step, shoot pool, and started playing the guitar by
the time I was nine. I couldn’t live without music and it
was probably the music that pulled me through the hard
times.”
Realizing that Oklahoma wasn’t the right place to be,
Bryan’s mom moved them to Levelland, Texas, which he
considers his hometown. Needing to support her family, his
mom became a welder in the early 80’s during the oil boom in
the hot West Texas heat. It was in church one day when
someone heard him sing and said, “You need to use that
voice!” That was it. It was in that moment that he
realized he had something no one could take away. Bryan
would sit in his room and listen to music over and over
until he had perfected it note for note. That’s how sacred
music was to him. Music was to be respected and protected.
Always an adventurer, Bryan joined the U.S. Army after
graduating high school and moved to California. He was
stationed at Ft. Ord in Monterey. “I had to get out and see
what was out there in the world!”
It
was in California that Bryan discovered what it meant to be
a Texan. “People out there embraced me like I had never
been embraced before. I thought I was just from another
small town in Texas, and I was, but looking back, I found
out who I really am while living in California. It was an
awakening for myself and for my folks and friends back in
Texas.”
Bryan
fell in love with the Bakersfield sound and found some
pickers who understood what he was wanting out of music and
who could play country music the way he wanted to play it.
Mixing a little bit of Texas with a little bit of
Bakersfield would keep ‘em dancing all night. His first gig
was in a nostalgic little honky tonk on the outskirts of the
Silicon Valley. Ironically, a waitress from New Braunfels
managed it. “It was a train wreck at first, but we ironed
out the wrinkles and had a regular gig for two years.” One
of Bryan’s most memorable times in California was the
rebuilding of the largest country club in San Jose, The
Saddle Rack. He was asked to be one of four bands to open
up the club in April of 2003.
Going
as far as he felt he could go with music in California,
Bryan had been contemplating a move to Austin, Texas, for a
few years. During the summer of 2003, he got a call from a
steel guitar player that had just moved to the Bay Area from
Austin. He was looking for some work. “He played his first
gig with us and when we took our first break he and his wife
came up to me and said, ‘You’ve got to go to Austin.’ Fate
had found its way to my door again. That was all I
needed.” It took one year for Bryan to get things in order
and to make the move to Austin with his wife, Nicole. He is
currently working on his first CD and is immersing himself
in the Austin music scene. He credits Waylon Jennings,
Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp
as his singer/songwriter influences. “If one neglects to
speak of the mire that they have gone through and only
speaks of the sun that is shining on them now, then that
person has missed what life is really about, and what music
is really about. All songwriters and singers alike,
including myself, want to sing about the good, but we
remember the darkness that led us to better places and those
stories must be told as well. Music is about truth in
life. The real truth. Fictional or Non- Fictional.”
Bryan
has carried one and only one poem in his mind since he read
it in English class as an adolescent. It is Robert Frost’s
“The Road Not Taken” and it ends like this. . .Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I. . .I took the one less traveled
by, and that has made all the difference.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
“He sure knows how to tell
a story. Great song writer.”
David Dickinson-Hamstein
Publishing-Austin, TX
“I called Bryan immediately in Austin when I got his demo
and said, ‘You’ve got something here. Your sound is what
Nashville is looking for.’ ”
Julie Stevens-KRTY 95.3
Country Radio-San Jose, CA
“I don’t know what it is about you, but your sound is
unique.”
Andy Buchannan-Manager, Saddle
Rack Country Club-Fremont, CA
“Great sound. Great songs. The music industry is
looking for the whole package and he’s got it. This guy is
going to make it.”
Don Caldwell-Producer/Owner,
Cactus Theater-Lubbock, TX
“Outstanding sound.”
Gentry Sparling-Talent
Connection,LLC-Austin, TX
To
email Bryan :
bryan@bryanbrazier.com |
