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18 The Nashville Musician October-December 2006
One of Nashville’s first-call pickers has solo album
Guitarist Bryan Sutton pays his homage to heroes
By WALT TROTT
Session musician Bryan Sutton runs on
his own adrenalin.
This high-octane picker, who in the studio
has backed such high-profile performers
as Dolly Parton, Trace Adkins and The
Dixie Chicks, occasionally tours with the
likes of Earl Scruggs, Hot Rize and Béla
Fleck, and still finds time to release yet a
third solo album “Not Too Far From the
Tree” on Sugar Hill.
“I had to come to the realization that as
comfortable as it is to stay in Nashville and
do sessions, I have to go entertain and play
music for my sanity and to continue to grow
as a player.”
Sutton, reigning 2006 Academy of
Country Music instrumentalist of the year,
has also just been honored with multiple
IBMA award nominations: Guitarist of the
Year; Instrumental Album of the Year for
“Not Too Far . . . ,” which includes a best
producer nod; and for Best Recorded Event,
thanks to bringing together his music heroes,
such as dad Jerry Sutton, Doc Watson,
Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs and
Scruggs. Bryan was IBMA guitarist of the
year in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Despite the acoustic guitar recognition,
Sutton is also a pro on fiddle, banjo, mandolin
and electric guitar His skill playing
at high-speed got him dubbed “Bionic
Bryan,” but when he does so, it’s never at
the expense of clarity, tone or volume.
“I’m not sure where that nickname came
from, but I try to maintain the quality, no
matter how uptempo the tune,” he insists.
“I tell a lot of people, in workshops and
classes or whatever sort of teaching environment
I find myself in, that it’s mainly
about the clarity and tone before speed. Generally,
when you pick up speed, the volume
tends to go down, but I try to do just the
opposite . . .
“As far as the actual technique of
flatpicking goes in playing bluegrass guitar,
obviously a lot of that stuff is really fast,
but I would much rather hear somebody play
clear and clean at a slower tempo, than try
to play something fast and sloppy.”
A third generation player, James
Bryan Sutton was born Oct. 16, 1973 in
Asheville, N.C., a city steeped in musical
heritage, and raised in suburban Candler.
“Jerry, my dad, is a great rhythm guitarist,
but plays really good melodic banjo,
and is a good bass player, who reads music.
My grandfather Grover was an oldtime fiddler.
Later in life, he got into building and
fixing fiddles and trading fiddles back and
forth. Anything to do with fiddles on any
level, he was into. He played every day, and
was a big fan of Jimmie Rodgers and the
Delmore Brothers.
“Being around Asheville when he was
young, it was a hot spot for country music
back then. You have the old-time bluegrass
tradition there in the mountains. But
Asheville was also a standard stop on the
trail for the Carter Family and Rodgers and
that kind of sound in those days.”
Glen Duncan, equally adept on fiddle or violin.
Bryan Sutton helped headline the 7th annual American Music Festival at the Ryman, Sept. 22.
According to Bryan, WWMC-Asheville
was a powerful country station to listen to:
“Growing up there and not too far removed
from them time-wise, a lot of the same musicians
locally were still playing. I was of a
different generation, but I got to hear and
be around a lot of old-time musicians, who
were hallowed and revered there.”
Grampa Grover, who gifted 10-year-old
Bryan with an Ibanez guitar, had a brother
Hershel, who played harmonica. Bryan’s
mother Carol played piano, mainly as pastime,
while his older sister Leesa played
fiddle.
“And in my dad’s mother’s family there
were some grand uncles back in the 1800s,
of whom we have pictures with fiddles and
banjos, things like that. It was such a rich
area for music, kind of like Texas, where a
lot of not necessarily professional musicians,
but just active musicians on the scene,
never felt the need to leave there as far as
the enjoyment of playing was concerned.”
Bryan recalls that through his childhood,
his father and grandfather were in a group,
the Harmony Valley Stringband: “My earliest
memories were listening to them practicing,
through the late 1970s and early ’80s.
I would sit in my room with my little play
guitar and strum along with them.”
At 8, he started getting a chance to play
for real when dad began providing music
lessons on a Gibson L-00 that belonged to
his granddad.
“When we were kids, Leesa and I also
played in a family band with my dad and
another friend of ours. Leesa played all
through her elementary and high school
years, but didn’t have the same fire about it
that I did. She quit playing in college, and
since then doesn’t play anymore, though
she’s really involved behind-the-scenes on
a volunteer level handling planning and logistics
for things like festivals and events.
She actually has a job with the state in what
they call the Office of Tourism & Cultural
Heritage Development, some long title like
that . . . Good for her.”
“One thing about my mother, she made
lots of sacrifices, driving us all over the
place for lessons. I was taking guitar and
banjo lessons at one point from different
people on opposite sides of town. I studied
classical guitar and jazz. I always felt like
she and dad both were very supportive. I
think they thought Leesa and I had a talent
for music.”
Bryan also would “jam” at different
houses and places around Asheville: “It was
a great way to meet other musicians and to
learn about our area, and all the while I was
learning to play better. I liked that because
there was never any sort of pedagogue of you
learn this song, you learn the scale and you
apply certain theory . . . It was the basis of
my learning and ear training, I guess.”
In high school, Bryan even played in a
rock and roll band.
“It was a show choir backup band, with
probably 15 girls in the group, a singerdancer
ensemble thing, and we had two gui-
Bryan goes over a number with vocalist Dolly Parton.
tars, bass, drums and keyboards. I’d never
played anything much involved with pop
music and it was neat to have that opportunity.”
He still regards Eddie Van Halen as
a favorite guitarist.
During school days, pianist Anthony
Burger, one of the more renowned gospel
players (and late member of Local 257),
moved next door to the Suttons.
“He performed with The Kingsmen, a
Southern gospel quartet based out of the
Asheville area. As a senior in high school I
went to Anthony and told him I was interested
in getting into the music business. I
had a sense that being a sideman was what
I wanted. When I would see bands on MTV
or The Nashville Network I was more into
what the guys in the background were playing,
not the singer. I’d see the acoustic
player in Eric Clapton’s band or some guy
playing on the Grand Ole Opry, or different
bluegrass players, and knew that was
more what I wanted to do, as opposed to
being an artist or such.
“I also knew Anthony did a lot of session
work with Southern gospel groups,”
continues Sutton. “There was a studio that
not only did The Kingsmen’s records, but
had a stable of artists and different groups
that came in to do custom records. So they
were basically doing two or three records
a week there. I’d go over after school, hang
out and meet all the players.
“There were about six or seven
musicans who would get calls to do all
these records. Luckily, some of the best musicians
I ever heard were there including
Tony Creasman, a drummer who a lot of
guys here know about, and another named
David Johnson. Primarily on Asheville sessions
they used a drummer, bassist, pianist
- and David. David worked sessions in
Asheville, in East Tennessee, down towards
Charlotte, and around Greenville,
S.C., sort of in a 150-mile radius that was
his to work.