BBR Music Group’s RED BOW Records recording artist Chase Bryant is climbing up the charts with his new single “Little Bit of You“, and the man with the musical family history took a little bit of time to share a little bit of himself with NashvilleGab readers.
Perhaps Bryant was somewhat ricocheted into country music, considering his uncles are from a popular 1990s group called Ricochet. However, before he was a Nashville-based act, he was living in Los Angeles and traveling the country with some of rock’s biggest names.
I was on the road with guys like The Doobie Brothers, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, War, Journey, Eddie Money. All these big, you know, rock guys of the seventies and eighties. Toured with them and some of the ones from the sixties as well, like the UK. Did that for awhile. No, I wasn’t a rock act, I was a country act, but I was kind of out there doing my thing with them. And turned around one day, it was on my eighteenth birthday, I was in Sonoma, California and realized that was not what I wanted to do. I had to be in Nashville, picked up my bags, sold every piece of musical gear I owned, except for my one guitar, moved to Nashville, been here for six years, got signed by Barbara Orbison, which my grandfather played for Roy Orbison in the early days, and then my uncles were in a band called Ricochet that had a big hit in 1996 called “Daddy’s Money.” So I moved out to Nashville, got the publishing deal, started playing a little bit around town. Was producing, writing, trying to figure out who I was as an artist. Somehow or another, Benny Brown showed up at a show at The High Watt and signed to me to Broken Bow within weeks.
Having toured with so many acts outside his genre, Bryant found that his tour mates and those he listened to at leisure, such as Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, and Bryan Adams, melodically influenced his personal sound.
It’s really kind of inclined by that old rock ‘n’ roll stuff, but then also the country lyrics to me were the things that spoke to me, so that’s where I always found home at.
Bryant has also found a home in country music by writing his own lyrics based on his personal story and sharing experiences with fans. Such is true about his currently climbing single, “Little Bit of You.” The song was written about an ex-girlfriend in Northern California and strived to relay the need to get to somebody who isn’t nearby and letting him or her know you would do anything to be with them.
I think it’s a real experience. I think a lot of my songs come from there.
The corresponding music video, which is yielding abundant success on television countdowns, echoed Bryant’s desire to keep his music real and raw. Bryant explained that there were no bells and whistles or hair and makeup, in order to spotlight the more simple side of him that fans can see during his live show.
As a whole, Bryant prides himself on keeping his catalog of music personal and relatable, promising that if new fans download his EP, that is what they will find. He also hinted that his full-length album, due out in Fall 2016, will be from the same vein.
I think that’s just what it is. It’s one of those things people can connect to and live vicariously through.
On the quest to find ongoing country music success through that music, Bryant keeps wise words from Tim McGraw in his back pocket to remind him of what it takes to make a life in this town.
McGraw gave me probably the best piece of advice I ever had, and that was there’s a million people more talented than him and I. It was the ones that work the hardest that get the job. You know what I mean? So, I live through that every day. That was a pretty big eye-opener for me when he said that, so, yeah, I couldn’t be more thankful for that piece of advice. Really helpful.
With musical success running through his family tree, Bryant has also been advised by his grandfather and uncles, who simply reminded him to always be who he is.
Somehow or another, be the kid I’ve always been and make the number one thing be music.
To that end, no matter the success Bryant achieves in his career, he will never give up the dream of playing music within four walls, the only difference is that, now, “it’s become a dream come true.”
Follow Chase Bryant on Facebook, Twitter, and on his website for updates regarding his music and live shows, and watch his “Little Bit of You” video below.
