He's no stranger to a bar room brawl or the
bottom of a shot glass... multiple ones, actually. He was weaned on
Willie, Cash, Jones, Haggard, Jennings, and Hank Sr.-all outlaws. Coe's
another hero and judging solely by tattoos, they could be kin. You'd cross
the street if you saw him in a dark alley. Ain't no one, no how, gonna
lipo, rhino, or change this boy or his music-so it's a safe bet no major
label interest is in this offering, despite the fact that he's exactly the
kind of kick in the teeth act the country music biz needs: real,
unrelenting, unforgiving, unapologetic.
Enter Jesse Bryant-outlaw,
redneck, one of a kind. This coal miner's son grew up in rural Logan Co,
West Virginia, joining his dad in the mines by age fifteen. It is this
hard working, rough-shed man of a few words that has used music as his
refuge from long days and less than humble surroundings. Any free time he
had in his early teens was spent weaving poetry into songs and playing
bass in his father's gospel band. The Gospel never leaves you. It's
present in all the country music I write today. There's not enough of that
in music now," Jesse laments. Jesse's songwriting has always been a raw
reflection of his life. The songs are anthems of the workingman, a down
home country boy who does what's necessary to get by.
The storytelling is only a
portion of Bryant's art though. "I play bass, rhythm guitar, and drums-all
self-taught. I still can't read sheet music though. That's how you did it
back home, listened to the tape and then, played it," Jesse quips. That
southern sensibility in Bryant's music is complemented by the coarse
renegade that came just as naturally. Listening to formative outlaws and
idols, Bryant developed his mantra on music "Basic, and honest is always
best." With that, Bryant played every dance hall and hole in the wall that
wouldn't kick him out. I've definitely played behind chicken wire
before," Jesse says. From chicken wires to Pig Pickins" (what Jesse calls
festivals); Bryant did everything he could to get by in Logan Co, as his
life became a string of honky tonks and sad songs.
In 1987, jobs got scarce and
Jesse packed up for North Carolina where he still resides today. I find
inspiration in the rural, rolling hills in North Carolina. I got the
mountains on one side of me and the ocean on the other," Bryant ruminates.
Now, as a husband and father of two young daughters, Jesse's life has
changed, but not dramatically, he insists: "I don't think it's settled me
down at all though. Honky tonk has been my life since the beginning and
that's never going to change."
Many describe Bryant as the
Last Real Outlaw, straddling the line between Waylon Jennings and David
Allen Coe; the latter of which he has opened for a time or two. With
years of musical experience and the skills to back up the bank Bryant
hopes to do comparisons proud as he prepares his sophomore album. With
song titles like Outlaw on the Run and Poor Man Blues, Jesse is sure
to drive the common man to the record store.
