Sadly, Memphis soul singer and songwriter Don Bryant has passed away at the age of 83. He'll be greatly missed.
Don Bryant 1942-2025
We want to let all of Don Bryant’s friends and fans from all over the world know that he passed away this morning at the age of 83. Don loved sharing his music and songs with all of you and it gave him such great joy to perform and record new music. He was so appreciative of everyone who was part of his musical journey and who supported him along the way.
Here's soul great Don Bryant performing "Something About You" at Wild Bill's who are hosting a Juke Joint Allstars live stream event Friday at 9:30 pm Eastern.
Don Bryant returns with The Bo-Keys and his old Hi Rhythm pals on You Make Me Feel. Listen to "Your Love Is To Blame" below.
Here's the scoop...
If you turn your ears a certain way, You Make Me Feel (out May 8 via Fat Possum) by soul great Don Bryant can be heard as a love letter to his wife of 50 years, Ann Peebles. That killer horn riff that kicks off the album? Think of it as a fanfare preceding the reading of a royal decree; or maybe it’s a funky version of a wedding march. Written by Bryant and producer Scott Bomar, “Your Love Is to Blame” has the chorus of a good blues song: "Nothing in my life is the same/Your love is to blame.” But here, “blame” gets a halo. “I tried to turn this one around,” Don says with a slight grin. Then he explains, “Your love is to blame because we are together!”
Produced by Scott Bomar (who recently scored Dolemite Is My Name) and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang (Elvis Presley, Al Green, John Prine), You Make Me Feel continues Don’s resurgence with newly written music and a revisit to Don’s celebrated back catalog, where he’s interpreting some of his songs for the first time. Musicians include members of Hi Rhythm — Howard Grimes, Archie “Hubbie” Turner and Charles Hodges, who played on his by Al Green and Ann Peebles — with members of St. Paul and the Broken Bones and The Bo-Keys.
“It feels good to have found my own voice,” says Don, who never stopped writing. “Music has always been a part of me, I’ve never given up on it, never let it go. If I’m walking around, I’m humming songs. Now, I’m trying to let it all out. What I had, what I got, and what I’m gonna get.”
Don is nearing the age of 80, and You Make Me Feel is his third solo album. His 1969 debut Precious Soul was produced by Willie Mitchel, who planned for Bryant to be Hi Records’ next star. Don instead took a supporting role and made a career as a Hi Records hit man, namely as the songwriter and background singer for Peebles, who topped the charts in 1974 with “I Can’t Stand the Rain.” Ann retired from music in 2012, and Don returned to the spotlight in 2017 with his second album, Don’t Give Up on Love.
“I fell in love with Ann when she first came in to Hi,” he reveals. “But there was so much going on with her—recording, travel, so many around her—it wasn’t my time. And I wasn’t in no hurry—I knew I wasn’t going nowhere! We got to know each other better and better and it opened up. It was a long drawn out situation, but for me it was love at first sight.”
One of the many standouts on Make You Feel is the reprise of “Don’t Turn Your Back on Me,” a single Don originally released in 1965. The new version is slowed down, and as anyone who has ever pleaded—for love, for life, for time—we know that the slow petition is more effective… but so much harder to carry out. Don recorded a new version of “99 Pounds” “to put some light on Ann,” he demurs, and there’s a punch to this new version that would make Willie Mitchell proud—classic soul with a 21st century power. And he doesn’t shy from the darker feelings; “Is It Over” sounds like it might date to 1973, when Otis Clay recorded Bryant’s song, “I Die a Little Each Day,” also featured on the album.
This is the first time Don released a version of his “Cracked Up Over You,” recorded enough times to be an R&B chestnut. (Jr. Parker gave it a fine workout.) Don released the B-side “I’ll Go Crazy” in 1968, and it it’s only song on here he didn’t write. He related to the hook: “If you love me any better, I'll go crazy.”
“My main thing is to tell a story,” reflects Don. “Taking an idea and making a full story out of it is a challenge to me. I go back to look at situations in my life, work the story in my head…If you can tap into things that people go through, then they want to listen.” Check out "Your Love Is To Blame" followed by a list of Don Bryant's upcoming tour dates.
Don Bryant on Tour Mar 13 - Memphis, TN - Hernado’s Hideaway Apr 22 - New York, NY - City Winery May 02 - Memphis, TN - Beale St Music Festival May 07 - Los Angeles, CA - Grammy Museum May 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Gold-Diggers May 13 - Sydney, Australia - Mary's Underground May 14 - Melbourne, Australia - Spotted Mallard May 16 - Gold Coast, Australia - Blues On Broadbeach Jun 27 - Austin, TX - Antone’s Jul 25 - Lowell, MA - Lowell Folk Festival
The Bo-Keys new album Heartaches By The Number is out on Electrophonic Records April 29th.
Here's the press release...
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Bo-Keys, a contemporary soul group that signifies both tradition and innovation, celebrates the release of a third studio album, Heartaches By The Number, on Electraphonic Records via Omnivore Recordings on April 29th. Heartaches By The Number is an exploration of the intersection of country, folk and soul, combining stunning originals with inspired interpretations of jukebox classics from Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Swamp Dogg, Charlie Rich, and Ray Price.
Recorded entirely on analog tape at Electraphonic Recording in Memphis, the set perfectly captures the classic country-meets-soul feeling birthed within the musical triangle of Memphis/Nashville/Muscle Shoals. The core group comprises legendary Al Green drummer Howard Grimes, keyboardist Archie “Hubbie” Turner, horn players Marc Franklin and Art Edmaiston of the Gregg Allman Band, bassist/producer Scott Bomar, saxophonist Kirk Smothers, organist Al Gamble, and guitarist Joe Restivo. On this country-soul journey, special guests including celebrated Hi Records artist Don Bryant, Hi Records and American Studios vocal group the Masqueraders, and roots singer-songwriter and guitarist John Paul Keith join The Bo-Keys in the studio. Front-and-center is Bo-Keys lead vocalist Percy Wiggins, who comes by the groove honestly—in the 1960s, he cut sides for RCA and ATCO alongside future Band of Gypsies musicians Billy Cox and Larry Lee at Bradley’s Barn, Nashville’s eminent recording studio.
Heartaches By The Number is a genre-bending release that sounds like the jukebox roster at a honky-tonk bar or Mississippi juke joint. Merle Haggard’s “The Longer You Wait” is reinterpreted with propulsive horns and a searing organ riff, while the band inserts grit and funk into their interpretation of the Swamp Dogg-penned “Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got),” first cut as a soul single by Freddie North before country hit-makers such as Johnny Paycheck, George Strait, and George Jones added twang and swagger to the iconic dive-bar lament.
Heartaches By The Number builds on The Bo-Keys’ past catalog and adds a new dimension to the group’s potential by metaphorically traveling beyond the Memphis city limits to explore an often-overlooked subgenre of music popularized by Arthur Alexander, Swamp Dogg, Solomon Burke, and Bettye LaVette. The release will also bring new audiences to The Bo-Keys—fans of Adele, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and the Alabama Shakes will find music that speaks to them on this album. Watch the Heartaches By The Number release trailer below.
Whether or not you recognize the name, you’ve seen or heard The Bo-Keys: That’s The Bo-Keys setting the mood in TV episodes of Scandal and Scorpion; on the big screen playing the original score for the Oscar-winning film Hustle & Flow and backing Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac in Soul Men; and performing on Cyndi Lauper’s Grammy-nominated Memphis Blues album. Since 1998, The Bo-Keys have kept the spirit of classic Memphis music alive while simultaneously penning a vital new chapter for the sound and style that are etched into the very fiber of American consciousness.
“Where many revivalists pale compared to the originals, The Bo-Keys would have fit right in next to legendary Memphis musical crews The Bar-Kays and Booker T. & The M.G.s,” raves the Associated Press, while The New Yorker notes that a recent Manhattan appearance was “one of last year’s tightest, funkiest, happiest shows.” Although the band hasn’t released a studio album since 2011’s Got To Get Back!, The Bo-Keys have stayed busy, performing on John Németh’s Blues Music Award-winning Memphis Grease album (for Best Soul Blues), and placing music in the film Grudge Match and on TV.
Heartaches By The Number was produced by Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated Scott Bomar, The Bo-Keys’ bassist (who also produced Memphis Grease). His other career highlights include working as assistant engineer on Al Green’s 2003 Grammy-nominated comeback I Can’t Stop and its follow-up, Everything’s OK; producing the Grammy-nominated Anthony Hamilton track “Soul Music”; and producing and engineering Lauper’s Memphis Blues, which topped the Billboard blues chart for 13 weeks. In 2005, Bomar composed the score for Hustle & Flow, followed by serving as executive music producer and composer on Black Snake Moan. He won an Emmy for Best Original Music for the documentary I Am A Man: From Memphis, A Lesson In Life and most recently scored the film Mississippi Grind, which features Ryan Reynolds and debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Heartaches By The Number (Electrophonic Records)
1.Heartaches By The Number feat. Don Bryant
2.Set Me Free
3.I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
4.The Longer You Wait
5.I Threw It All Away
6.Learned My Lesson In Love
7.Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got) feat. The Masqueraders
8.I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For
9.Wasted Days And Wasted Nights
10. Last Date
