Brant Buckley found a new path in life after suffering a career-threatening injury on the tennis court: music, concentrating on his Blues. He’ll be doing a live streamed set on The Bunker on May 20th. This is a weekly live video streaming event featuring original singer-songwriters and bands from Chicago and the surrounding areas. Every Thursday at 8:30 p.m., the shows air. It’s 06:00 a.m. in the In an intimate, comfortable environment, a multicam presentation with studio quality audio is presented. The livestream can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6lrgJ0k20.
About the artist
Brant Buckley is a graduate of Berklee College of Music with a Bachelors of Music in Songwriting. He was born outside of Chicago (Hinsdale) and has lived in Costa Rica but spent most of his life in Philadelphia. East coast folk music and the coffeehouse scene inspired his early sound: James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Kenn Kweder, and Nick Drake. Last 2012, Buckley independently released his first album, My Life, which was featured in The Times of India (India’s CNN). He released Chicago Summer, a 3 song E.P. His song Shine had over 55,000 YouTube plays last 2015. April 1st 2021, he released his single Don’t Shoot Your Blues Away getting radio airplay on Uncle Buc Plays The Blues Show. Recently, he released his second full length album: Times Strange.
Brant met Bluesman Jesse Graves last 2013. Graves was Philadelphia’s leading bluesman during the 1970s and played with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Hound Dog Taylor, Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and Tom Waits. Jesse learned from Reverend Gary Davis and passed on the Blues and Native American Spirituality to Brant. In 2014, inspired by Jesse, Brant moved to Chicago to learn more about the Blues. Working as a tennis pro, Brant experienced the Blues for himself after having a career ending tennis injury. The pain taught him what Blues are all about.
Buckley’s Chicago Blues sound is haunting, melodic, and rhythmic. There are traces of Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Son House, and he draws heavily from his folk and spiritual heritage. He is a firm believer in the power of music. Brant is also a USPTA-certified tennis pro who has been practicing meditation (Kriya Yoga) and energetic healing for over ten years. Brant has written over 60 interviews and reviews for The American Blues Scene as a contributing author. To name a couple, he’s spoken with George Thorogood, Bobby Rush, John Hammond, John Primer, Dick Waterman, and Walter Trout.
About the song
As narrated by Brant, he relocated to Chicago as a USPTA certified teaching tennis professional. Tennis had been a huge part of his life since he was a kid. With his persistence, he landed a Pro position, teaching tennis, but unfortunately suffered an on the job right foot injury which abruptly ended his tennis days. Over a three-year period of pain, muscle weakness and dejection, he lost his money, job, and was forced to sell his precious car. He was miserable. From this dark time, he wrote the song, “Nerve Damage Blues.” The lyrics in the song talk about his four year battle with nerve pain, a lawsuit, and overcoming the injury. He had the Blues so bad he couldn’t even play the Blues and he didn’t want anything to do with anyone or anything. Looking back, the injury was an extreme blessing for him and it happened for a reason. Going through it taught him what the Blues are all about. He is thankful for the injury as it created his new musical sound. Real Blues are no joke and it’s like Son House said: “The Blues ain’t nothing but a low down shaking chill. If you ain’t had em I hope you never will.” To know more about Brant Buckley, make sure you follow him on his social media accounts:
Official Website: https://brantbuckley.com/bio
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brantbuckley/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrantBuckley
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2TYunq1O5wHHCJO3AxgfXt
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/brant-buckley/579442672
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/brant-buckley/nerve-damage-blues
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