BRYCE COLE

With a vocal tenderness evocative both last night’s whiskey and the new day’s sunshine, and songwriting that pairs yesteryear’s soul with the swagger of nineties, Bryce Cole’s music balances contrarily between the genres that have defined his story.

From his erstwhile beginnings as Fort Worth choirboy, to his current incarnation as a soul dynamo and very much the new kid on the block in Nashville, the current chapter in Bryce’s journey began on a gray morning in September 2015 when he realized that if he didn’t take the next exit for Music City, the road ahead risked being one where singing and songwriting, his north and south ever since his childhood in Texas, would gradually grow more distant.

The decision to sacrifice a promising career as a basketball coach and commit to music full time sparked an episode of creative renewal for Bryce, which saw him take his songwriting into new and uncharted territory, discovering hidden depths and a wellspring of lyrical maturity. It didn’t take long for Nashville’s songwriting community to take notice, and before long he had caught the ears of experienced producers Jason Belcher (The Ember Days) and Evan Seiling (??), who began to work with Bryce on a promising 5 track EP.

The new record draws on a spectrum of influences, and while in some ways sits comfortably among the recent wave of soulful singer-songwriters like Amos Lee and Ray Lamontagne, Cole’s debut effort unmistakably pays tribute to his upbringing in the nineties, during what has been called the last great era of radio music.

Sparing no emotion when he plays, Bryce has honed a knack for alluding to the sadder tones in the human story, while managing to preserve a sense of beauty, hope and wonder at life, all of which is betrayed perhaps most clearly in his music through the bareness and vulnerability of his vocal.

With a plans on the horizon for regional tours and a full-length album in the pipeline, Bryce Cole balances cautious optimism about his new and uncertain path with singularly Texan quiet confidence and good humor. “I just knew I had to give this a shot,” he says, cracking a dry smile as he perches on downtown brick wall with a coffee and a notepad. “Music has always been my life… and well, sometimes you just trust that you can live out your dreams”.