Welcome to my website. After 30 years of people urging me to write a book about the seven years I spent in prison, I finally did. It's a new memoir titled "The Rabbit In Me".
It was in prison that I made the decision to be a musician. To make a commitment to follow my passion. After my release, within a couple of years I had a band and have been making music ever since.
Through the years, with many bands and records and countless shows, music has been the key to my happiness in life.
While incarcerated, I had the time and patience to find my purpose. To discover my true self and experience self-enlightenment. Fortunately, I was able to turn what was designed to be a liability into an asset.
Not only do I have the new book, I also have a new album from my Nashville band, "The Feels", and a new solo EP called "Country Clubbing".
There is also a new video to "Fire", the first single off the band's record.
I have also newly published the libretto (book and lyrics) to a musical I wrote when I lived in New York City for ten years.
Lastly, I'm making available a children's book I illustrated that my mother wrote. I illustrated it from a prison cell.
Everything is available on this site, just click on the links. My band's new album can be downloaded or streamed on 250+ digital platforms. Like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, iTunes, etc...
There are also links to free "SoundCloud" downloads of these two new albums, as well as past bands where you can listen and download all those songs for free, too.
And past music videos and whatever else you hear or see.
I welcome all reviews and if you have a message for me, just leave it below and I will be happy to reply in kind.
Click below to purchase a copy of my memoir 'The Rabbit In Me' in hardcover, paperback, or kindle editions
Click below to purchase the debut album from my Nashville band, THE FEELS. When you arrive at the website click the 'rotate case' button in the top left corner to preview artwork.
Click to below to purchase the vinyl edition of THE FEELS debut album. Check out the virtual record player while you're there!
Click below to purchase my solo EP. Country Clubbing
Click below to purchase a copy of the children's book my mother wrote and I illustrated
Click below to purchase a copy of the libretto (book & lyrics) of Permanent Record - The Musical
LISTEN & DOWNLOAD
https://soundcloud.com/bart-bryars-805377963
THE FEELS
The Feels is our current Nashville band. We have made one complete album, "There's Somebody In There", and released that in July, 2022, along with my memoir, solo EP, etc...
I recorded the vocals, and mixed and produced the album at my home studio in downtown Nashville with assistance from Marcos Conde in Varginha, Brazil. Singer Jen Bryars also co-produced the vocals. The players on this album are drummer Dann Sheridan, keyboardist Marc Allen, bassist Roger Patenaude, Jen Bryars on vocals, and myself on guitars. The primary writers are Marc, Jen, and myself, though everyone contributes substantially, making this band a true team effort. We are back in the studio in 2023 conducting sessions for another full-length album.
This band evokes elements of blues, jazz, rock, funk, soul, and r&b. The songs on the album are about current social issues and relationship difficulties.
We occasionally perform at local dive bars in and around Nashville.
The Feels are:
Jen Bryars on vocals
Bart Bryars on guitar
Marc Allen on keyboards
Dann Sherrill on drums
LISTEN & DOWNLOAD
https://soundcloud.com/bartbryarssoloep
It's been a long musical journey for me. Along the journey, I've played and written many genres and styles of music.
I've always naturally loved music, like everyone in the world does, but the one thing that really drew me into music was lyric play. Cleverness with a phrase.
When I heard "A Boy Named Sue" on the jukebox at the Tiny-Diney on Halls Mill Road when I was 8 years old, it was over.
I went straight to Roger Miller, Ray Stevens, Mac Davis, and ultimately into the funky-funness of Jerry Reed.
Then, I pivoted into Dylan, Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Charlie Daniels, John Prine, David Allan Coe, and Sting. All very literate and lyric masters.
The first songs I wrote, when I was 13 or 14 years old, were comical romps about frogs and mosquitoes and smoking weed. I mean, after all it was the 70s.
Writing lyrics is fun and challenging to me. I'm really drawn to words and rhymes and the matching of syllables with notes and rhythms.
When we moved to Nashville, I thought, "Man, I gotta write some country songs. I can't be in Nashville and not represent".
This 5-song EP is culled from that batch. It's not really full-on "country", but it is "Nashville inspired". I wrote all these on acoustic guitar, just like I did in my teenage years. I played bass, guitar, and sang lead on all of them. Jen sang some backup for me.
As it turns out, this style of music has been bubbling just under my skin all these years. My Alabama gulf-coast roots. As such, they practically wrote themselves.
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-798432604
SUGAR BEAT
Sugar Beat was the last band we had in NYC. It was formed with drummer Eric Grajo, bassist Kevin Jacoby (KJ), keyboardist Pablo Alvarez, singer Jen Bryars, and me on guitar. We performed at all the usual small venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn, like The Bitter End, Rockwood Music
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-798432604
SUGAR BEAT
Sugar Beat was the last band we had in NYC. It was formed with drummer Eric Grajo, bassist Kevin Jacoby (KJ), keyboardist Pablo Alvarez, singer Jen Bryars, and me on guitar. We performed at all the usual small venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn, like The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, Bowery Electric, and others. We made an EP in the East Village at Mercy Sound Studios. I wrote all the Sugar Beat songs and Jen helped write some of the vocals. We were a funk band that mixed elements of blues, jazz, and rock into the mix. When we moved away, we spent a few years sending files back and forth as I produced a full-length "remote" album. Just as we were about to record the last sessions, the vocals, Covid hit and derailed the sessions. Consequently, only one song from that album is completed; Alabama. However, three cuts have been recently resurrected and we are in the process of cutting the vocals and producing them, and they will be linked here in the near future. Sugar Beat is: Jen Bryars on vocals Bart Bryars on guitar KJ Jacoby on bass Pablo Alvarez on keyboards Eric Grajo on drums
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-540828520
SUNDAY NIGHT SOCIAL
Sunday Night Social is the first band we formed when we moved to New York City. It was a rock band and we played our own songs and made one album, at the famed Quad Studios in Times Square, and a couple of one-off singles. Myself and Jen wrote all the songs. We also made a vid
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-540828520
SUNDAY NIGHT SOCIAL
Sunday Night Social is the first band we formed when we moved to New York City. It was a rock band and we played our own songs and made one album, at the famed Quad Studios in Times Square, and a couple of one-off singles. Myself and Jen wrote all the songs. We also made a video, shot on top of a building in Brooklyn. We played all the great clubs in the city, including Kenny's Castaways, Arlene's Grocery, Sullivan Hall, Delancey Room, and others. Sunday Night Social is: Jen Bryars on vocals Bart Bryars on guitar Adam Morse on bass Vinny Ambrose on drums
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-540666663
READ MY LIPS
Read My Lips was an 80s southeastern college-greek/nightclub circuit band. We played only note-for-note covers of all the classic 80s hits. We played several hundred shows and we were a touring full-production live showband. Most shows were at college frat-houses or college venues. I
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-540666663
READ MY LIPS
Read My Lips was an 80s southeastern college-greek/nightclub circuit band. We played only note-for-note covers of all the classic 80s hits. We played several hundred shows and we were a touring full-production live showband. Most shows were at college frat-houses or college venues. It was a very lucrative endeavor.
During one summer, Jen and I took a small break to make an EP in Macon, Georgia, at our good friend Aaron Abbott's Garage Studio. I pulled some original master tapes from my first album, 1995's Dogs And Cats, and re-tooled them with my hip-hop friend and producer Ant Hardy, and Jen re-cut, produced and re-wrote some new vocals.
Read My Lips is:
Jen Bryars on vocals
Bart Bryars on guitar
Jon Abel on drums
Pat Garrity on bass
Venus Asai on keyboards
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-476166567
TRAGIC KINGDOM
Tragic Kingdom was a No Doubt tribute band we briefly gigged before moving to New York City. We played some local festivals and college town venues and we again made an EP in Macon, Georgia, at Aaron's studio. Jen sang all the vocals, and I played all the guitars and the bass on th
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-476166567
TRAGIC KINGDOM
Tragic Kingdom was a No Doubt tribute band we briefly gigged before moving to New York City. We played some local festivals and college town venues and we again made an EP in Macon, Georgia, at Aaron's studio. Jen sang all the vocals, and I played all the guitars and the bass on the recordings. Tragic Kingdom is (on this recording): Jen Bryars on vocals Bart Bryars on guitar and bass Rodney Beaubouf on drums
LISTEN
https://soundcloud.com/user-810126229
JOEY (The Musical)
Joey is the second musical I wrote while living in New York City. I wrote all the music and played all the instruments on these songs. Jen does all vocals. The musical is based on several stereotypical characters that we encountered in our every day life in the city. Jericho JAP (Jewish American Princess) from Long Island, Gina Guidetti from Staten Island, Chancellor Of Wall Street (hedgefund type), etc...Jen and I also made a video for the opening song, called New York City. JOEY (The Musical) is: Jen Bryars on vocals Bart Bryars on all instruments