Tyler Dow Bryant (born February 24, 1991) is an American guitarist from

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

. He is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist of the rock band Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown.

Early and personal life

Bryant got his first guitar at the age of 6. When he was 11, he sold the dirtbike his parents had given to him for Christmas and bought his first electric guitar, a red Epiphone Les Paul from Hollybond's Music Store in Paris, Texas. While still in elementary school, he met Roosevelt Twitty, a blues musician who became Bryant's guitar teacher and mentor. Together Bryant and Twitty formed the Blues Buddies, playing shows around Texas. This was the age that Bryant started writing songs. At 15, Bryant put together his first band, which performed local shows in and around his hometown. In 2006, he was presented with the Robert Johnson Gibson New Generation Award for aspiring young guitar players. In 2007, Bryant won

Ernie Ball Ernie Ball (born Roland Sherwood Ball; August 30, 1930 – September 9, 2004) was an American entrepreneur and musician who developed guitar-related products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and entrepreneur, building an inter ...

's first "Play Crossroads Competition", which got him a spot performing at the

Crossroads Guitar Festival The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variet ...

in Chicago. As Bryant's career continued, he began to take influence from blues-based rock acts, such as

The Black Crowes The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes ten studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer Geo ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

, and

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1976. The band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer ...

. Bryant moved to

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

at age 17 to pursue a career in songwriting, and in the process he met drummer Caleb Crosby and bass player Calvin Webster. Crosby and Webster joined Bryant's band, named Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, which now also includes bass guitarist Diego Navaira and guitarist Graham Whitford (the latter being the son of

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

Brad Whitford Bradley Ernest Whitford (born February 23, 1952)Putterford, Mark (1991) ''The Fall and Rise of Aerosmith'', Omnibus Press, Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'' (2nd edn.), MOJO Books, , p. 11-13 is an American musician who ...

). On October 6, 2019, Bryant married Rebecca Lovell of

Larkin Poe Larkin Poe is an American roots rock band led by sisters Rebecca Lovell and Megan Lovell. The band originated in north Georgia and is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for their strong southern harmonies, heavy electric guitar riffs, and stee ...

. In March 2025, they announced they were expecting their first child, a boy.

Career

In 2008, Bryant signed with John Huie at

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

as his booking agent. Bryant has toured with and opened shows for artists including

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

Smash Mouth Smash Mouth is an American Rock music, rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994 and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). Harwell's ...

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon), or simply REO, was an American Rock music, rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial suc ...

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Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

and

The Cadillac Three The Cadillac Three, originally known as The Cadillac Black, is an American rock band consisting of Jaren Johnston (lead vocals, guitar), Kelby Ray (lap steel guitar, bass guitar, vocals), and Neil Mason (drums, vocals). All three members were ...

. Guitarist Vince Gill has said about Bryant, "To be 18 and play like this kid is the rarest of the rare. Hands down a future guitar god." In 2009, Bryant performed at the Grammy Foundation's 11th Annual Music Preservation Event: "Music in Focus" at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles. In 2009, he was featured, along with musicians including

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

and

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

, in the film '' Rock Prophecies''. Bryant's song "Who I Am" is featured as downloadable content for ''

Guitar Hero 5 ''Guitar Hero 5'' is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment and the ninth overall installment in the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released internationally in ...

''. He performed at the 2011

Austin City Limits Music Festival Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, on two consecutive three-day weekends and is inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series ''Austin City Limits''. The festival is pro ...

. In 2011, Bryant formed Dead Cool Dropouts with Lisa Origliasso of

the Veronicas The Veronicas are an Australian pop music, pop duo from Brisbane. The group was formed in 2004 by identical twin sisters Lisa Origliasso, Lisa and Jessica Origliasso. In 2005, the Veronicas released their debut studio album, titled ''The Secr ...

. He later contributed to the latter band's 2014 self-titled album. He contributed to "Sanctified", " If You Love Someone" and "More Like Me". Bryant has recorded with record producers

Kevin Shirley Kevin Shirley, also known as The Caveman, is a South African music producer, engineer, audio mixer, and musician. He has produced music for many artists, including Silverchair, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, and C ...

, Jed Leiber and Roger Alan Nichols. In March 2011, Bryant released his first EP, called ''My Radio'', which was later followed by another EP, ''From the Sandcastle''. Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown released their debut album ''Wild Child'' on January 22, 2013. Their song "Loaded Dice & Buried Money" was available for streaming on October 13, 2015, and an EP titled ''The Wayside'' was announced with a release date of November 13, 2015. The present members of the group include Bryant (lead vocals, guitar), Graham Whitford (guitar, backing vocals) and Caleb Crosby (drums). He released ''Truth and Lies'', his third album, in 2019. his third album. Later works include Pressure (2020), Shake The Roots (2022), Live From ‘79 (2023), and Electrified (2024). Bryant won the

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Contemporary Blues Performance and in 1989 was awarded to a song rather than to an album. The award was ...

at the

2022 Grammy Awards The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 3, 2022. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, ...

for his work on ''Blood Harmony'' by Larkin Poe. He won again the following year for producing the album “Mileage” by Ruthie Foster.

Equipment

Bryant is known for using a pink

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

nicknamed "Pinky One", which was stolen and therefore replaced with a similar "Pinky 2". The stolen guitar was found and returned after five and a half years. Bryant's limited edition

Fender Custom Shop The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within its headquarters complex in Corona, California, Corona, Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces spe ...

signature model is based on Pinky 2. He also has a signature amp from Supro.

References

External links

Tyler Bryant's website

Link to film ''Rock Prophecies''

Fender Guitar Profile of Tyler Bryant

Article from NashvilleScene.com titled Bringing Guitar Back Tyler Bryant

Profile from Texas Music Times

Premier Guitar article 16-Year Old to Take Stage at Crossroads Festival

Interview with Tyler Bryant on TheWaster.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, Tyler 1991 births Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists People from Honey Grove, Texas 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians