If you love classic Southern country rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band, check out South Carolinian D.B. Bryant and his band.
It's just a three-man group, but the ultra-tight band has the massive sound of a larger combo.
"There is something about breaking it down to the rawness of a three-piece band," Mr. Bryant said in a telephone interview. "I've always loved the three-piece groups like Grand Funk Railroad, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. We work very hard to make our sound seem as full as possible."
They perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Mi Rancho, 3064 Washington Road.
You can also check them out on youtube.com by typing "D.B. Bryant" into the search window, or see the band's Web site, dbbryant.com.
The band's music ranges from a raucous take on the blues classic Stormy Monday to a softer sound on the ballad While I Was Gone . Other band members are Mr. Bryant's brother, Willie, on electric bass, and their friend "Paul" (real name Chris Higgins) on drums.
Mr. Bryant, whose birth name is John David Bryant, comes from Possum Hollow, S.C., north of Columbia near Winnsboro. He borrowed his stage name from his grandfather, David Benjamin Bryant.
He began playing guitar at age 7 and was playing in nightclubs in his teens.
"My dad was our manager when I was too young to get in the bars myself," Mr. Bryant said.
A career highlight for him was opening for Charlie Daniels at a festival in Charlotte, N.C.
"I've liked his music ever since I was a kid and got to see him at the coliseum in Columbia about 1977 or 1978," he said.
The D.B. Bryant Band has released a single of Mr. Daniel's Long Haired Country Boy .
No matter whose music he is playing, Mr. Bryant contends it is not what you play but how you play it.
"It's very hard to pigeonhole and categorize our band," he said. "We just released a new CD called Time is the Road that has rock songs which might scare a country music fan to death, but at the same time it's got an acoustic song, Lucky Man , that I think country fans will love."
In mid-June, the band embarks on a cross-country tour that will take it to Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Colorado.
"We wake up in Wal-Mart parking lots all over the United States," he said. "We live in an RV on the road, and we pull into Wal-Mart lots for the night because they stay open 24 hours and offer great security and whatever else we need."
Don Rhodes has written about country music for 38 years. He can be reached at (706) 823-3214 or don.rhodes@morris.com.
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