About

Tyler Bryant

Tyler Bryant lives for music. Passionate about expressing himself and connecting with others through his songs and sounds, Tyler moved to Nashville from Honey Grove, TX when he was 17 to write songs and start a band. He has pushed the musical limits of guitar, vocals, and performance, and has captured the attention of the music scene with his spectacular talent and rare showmanship.

Tyler Bryant is a guitar prodigy who has shared the stage with Aerosmith, Heart, REO Speedwagon, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, BB King, Pat Benatar, The Arc Angels, Vince Gill and many others. At age 15, Tyler won the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation’s New Generation Award, which recognized him as one of the most promising new artists on the music scene. He has also performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago, and was signed by Creative Artists Agency on the spot, after his first showcase in Nashville.

Tyler recalls a musical turning point at age 11, when he walked into a music store in Paris, Texas and heard 63-year old bluesman, Roosevelt Twitty, on guitar. “He was playing a Lightning Hopkins song,” Tyler says. “He was just sitting in the corner of Holly Bond’s Music store, and was singing and playing with such emotion that something translated deeply, and I wanted to understand. I knew I wanted to play. Whenever you hear someone with that much soul, when they really believe what they are playing, it’s so inspiring.”

Tyler’s musical influences include the inspirations of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Black Crowes, and Jeff Beck.

Tyler, along with Beck, Santana, and Slash, is featured in the award winning film,
“Rock Prophecies,” which is directed by John Chester, and produced
by Tim Kaiser (Seinfeld and Will & Grace). “Rock Prophecies,” is now airing nationally on PBS and is available on DVD. Also, this past year, thousands of kid’s across the world have been playing Tyler’s song, “Who I Am,” since its release on Guitar Hero® 5.

Tyler has been busy recording and songwriting with some of Nashville’s best. He released his first EP, “My Radio” in March of 2011 and finished and released his most recent album, “From The Sandcastle,” in late September.  He is currently writing songs for his next album, which he and his band will record in January 2012 with Bob Rock.

Tyler recently announced a new band name, Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, as he wanted to recognize his band in everything he does. Tyler and the band embarked on their headlining tour this past summer and continued touring well into November.   The band only paused for the month of October, while Tyler opened for Jeff Beck on his Canadian and US Tour.  Tyler & the Shakedown are currently getting plans together for a big upcoming year, which will include tour dates all around North America and Europe.  With a fearless obsession for his art, Tyler Bryant is advancing his music without limits. 

“To be 18 and play like this kid is the rarest of the rare. Hands down a future guitar god.” –Vince Gill
 

Caleb Crosby – Drums / Percussion

A drummer since age 11, Caleb moved to Nashville in 2007 to study music at Belmont University. By 2008, he was performing with several artists and becoming versatile in the studio. While at Belmont, Caleb studied percussion under Todd London, Chester Thompson, and Zoro. In 2009, Caleb met Tyler and has played and toured with the band ever since. Caleb has earned endorsements from Gretsch drums, Paiste cymbals, and Vic Firth drumsticks. After graduating from Belmont in 2011 with a BA in music, Caleb chose to stay in Nashville where he continues to write, play and tour, primarily with Tyler Bryant.
 

Graham Whitford – Guitar

Graham Whitford is a 19-year-old self-taught guitarist whose entire life has always been about music. At an early age, Graham began playing the drums, but at age 11, he fell in love with the guitar. As Graham became preoccupied with everything guitar, he found that his heart was in the Blues and Classic Rock.

Graham has always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, Brad Whitford from Aerosmith. At age 15, Graham got a chance to perform onstage with Aerosmith in front 20,000 fans. This small taste of the ‘big time’ lit a fire in Graham and increased his determination to make it in the music industry. Graham has also shared the stage with the likes of Jonny Lang, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Robert Randolph, Living Colour, Billy Cox (The Band of Gypsies), Hubert Sumlin (Howlin’ Wolf), Chris Layton (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble) and more.

At age 17, Graham entered in Guitar Center’s King Of The Blues competition, and placed as one of the top 5 finalists out of 4000.

In 2009, Graham met Tyler Bryant through legendary Rock Photographer Robert Knight. After attending Berklee College of Music for a semester during the Fall of 2010, Graham decided to leave school and join the band. Graham currently resides in Nashville, where he is pursuing his career as a guitarist playing with Tyler.

Calvin Webster – Bass / BGVs

Calvin Webster inadvertently fell into a musical obsession at the age of twelve, when he picked up the dusty, no-name parlor guitar that had permanently occupied a small corner of his Kansas City home in an attempt to escape from the boredom of his ho-hum fifth-grade life. He hummed, strummed, and fretted about for about two years, until a friend introduced him to the bass guitar, at which point Calvin eagerly traded his strumming for slapping. Many riffs later, he found himself studying at Belmont School of Music. He met Tyler in May of 2009 and has been in the band ever since.