Now Spinning Music Magazine - Artist Interviews and Music Reviews · Phil Aston

Danny Bryant Interview - Sober, Reborn, Unstoppable

·37 min·1 clip

Getting ill, I got very ill and ended up in hospital, with liver damage, was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

Nothing Left Behind arrives like a clean break, but not a tidy one. Phil Aston talks to Danny Bryant like someone who has lived with the record, not skimmed it for interview notes. He hears vulnerability, uplift, and a real step up in the songs. Bryant does not dodge the reset idea either. He says it feels like a new start, and Aston even picks up on the different presence in the album pictures. Then the conversation gets into the good stuff. Redemption turns from a song title into a studio story about timing, trust, and a guitar that happened to be in the room. In Germany, the studio had a 59 Les Paul reissue, and the guy there let Bryant take it back to the hotel. Bryant changed the strings himself. Near the end of the session, he, producer Mark, and engineer Martin realized the Redemption solo still needed doing. The airport was close. Time was not on their side. So they plugged the Les Paul into an old Jennings amp, turned it up, and kept the first take. Aston's reaction is plain: wow. It works because the story matches what the solo sounds like, feeling caught before anybody could polish the life out of it. The gear matters here, but only because it gets you closer to the moment. Three Times As Hard changes the temperature. Aston hears ZZ Top in the shuffle, digs into the soloing, and can already picture the band stretching it out live. Bryant says it opens the shows. By the end, Nothing Left Behind does not feel like a routine album stop. It feels like Bryant walking back in with something to prove, and the playing to back it up.

As heard by us

A warm look at Danny Bryant's new chapter, held together by the one-take 'Redemption' solo story.

Phil Aston treats Danny Bryant's new album as a reset, and the conversation follows that lead with a calm, open feel. The strongest part is the way the praise is grounded: the songs come across as vulnerable and lifting at once, the record feels like a new chapter, and the…

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Why you'd press play

You want a new-start story with a one-take solo that actually stayed.

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