Nashville-based band Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown headlines Saturday night of the Lowertown Arts & Music Festival in Paducah. Tyler Bryant speaks to Tracy Ross ahead of the performance.
"We love rock and roll," Bryant begins. "We love country and blues as well, and we have those influences, but I would say we're most definitely an American rock and roll band. We pride ourselves on that. So many people have had so much time in the last couple years where they were either out of work or sitting at home for long periods of time, and for us, it's really exciting to get to bring the energy and get out and get with people and put on an energetic rock show."
While the band was not immune to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on regularly performing musicians, Bryant said the band never stopped creating."We just started making records," he says. "We've been working on brand new music, but the thing that I missed was the people, the people in front of the stage. It's really great to be getting back to that. Kind of like running into an old friend that you haven't seen in a while, but your friendship never really missed a beat."
"Our approach as a band has always been to play each show like it's our last one and leave it all on the stage," Bryant continues. "We want to walk off stage with nothing left in the tank. We spent our whole career cultivating a grassroots following. They can count on us to deliver that each show. That's something we really pride ourselves on and strive to keep that hunger and that sort of relentless spirit."
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown will be releasing a new record by the end of the year. "We'll start releasing singles here pretty soon," Bryant says."At this point, we just started our own record label, and we did a distribution deal with a company called The Orchard. We're taking it into our own hands and continuing this grassroots, do-it-yourself type of thing. I think, right now, artists have more tools than they ever have."
"That's what's cool about being a musician in 2022," Bryant continues. "There are so many different ways to reach your audience and reach your fans. And they want to support you. They want to feed the machine that is the artist, and I think that the more we've trusted in that, the better off we've become."
Bryant invites the public to "come hear some no-frills, rock and roll band. We're heavily steeped in the blues and southern rock. We enjoy carrying on those traditions, and we look forward to leaving it all on the stage in Paducah."
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown performs on Saturday, May 14th, at 8:30 pm. For more information on Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, visit the band's website or Facebook page.
For more information on the Lowertown Arts & Music Festival, visit the Yeiser Art Center's website.
Hear the full interview here:
