Briana Hardyman

Now take a deep splash into some icy water and bob for apples at this other crafted beauty of a music statement, this time firmly planted in the regional rhythm and blues of the deep South, with flattop guitars and Tennessee warmth. Good Souls is a heart and soul quartet crafting their warm driving guitar sound from the caches of Creedence Clearwater and their brethren, with a big hearted soul singer, Briana Hardyman, channeling the energy skyward. Start off with Rag Doll, a slow burner that lifts off with Brook Sutton’s deep, pungent electric bass rolling into the room. Sutton’s bass throughout this disc is a mean spirited backbreaker, warmly lit and always rolling deep. Rag Doll is a smoldering rocker, with Hardyman hitting great harmonies with guitarist Dave Isaacs on this melodic head-turner. Isaacs has a great feel for staccato, string benders in his guitar work, creatively strutting into new colors and minor/major chord reversals that surprise and sting. A great example is Isaac’s guitar work on the killer I Turn Cold, blasting his chords, sputters and twists of turns while Hardyman lays down the law with a searing vocal delivery. The excellent recording places you into this intimate soundstage with its creative musicianship and smoldering energy with nice warmth, surrounding air and vivid image dimensionality.

Hardyman has a beautiful deep, full of emotion delivery, and every tune that she leads is a spirited journey. Hardyman wears the emotional impact of each song on her sleeve, capturing the essence of each ballad or barnburner with a special ease and honesty. In Angel’s Wings, she smoothly rides alongside Rob Crawford’s deftly swinging snare and cymbal work that drives this lilting ballad. Hardyman communicates this 2 A.M. ballad with a natural and light delivery, with Isaac joining her for some uncanny vocal harmonies, as they dip and soar together over Isaac’s delicate acoustic guitar ruminations. St. Claire of Cedar Rapids is another potent rocker, fueled by Isaacs hitting the vocal spotlight himself with nice fluid punches, with Hardyman sitting casually behind him intertwining harmonies. Get out the dancing shoes for this one, the best of Southern kitchen rhythm guitar swing.

But watch out when Good Souls rolls out the slow burning Blues, especially with Hardyman greasing the wheels. Into Blue is a serious plunge, with each vocalist taking a passionate turn while Sutton’s deep bass rivets and Isaac pounds out some driving chords. Hardyman gives us a glimpse here of her honest Blues chops and she delivers magnificently on the brilliant catcher, Right To Be Wrong. She takes flight and never looks back with gorgeous, powerful sweeps of Blues vocal delivery, deep, gracious and wide. Her vocal honesty, from whispers to fervent pleas, absolutely nails this simple Blues statement about personal integrity and spiritual confidence, with the rest of the band pulsating along with her. Move over prize pumpkin, Good Souls positively soars-catch them if you can!
- Stereo Times/Nelson Brill

One Response to “Briana Lynn Hardyman; Passion, Determination, Power”
MEGA-Bites Internet Cafe and Lounge Says:
February 27th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Briana has performed here many times and we also are spellbound by her performances. We just love Briana and have invited her back to perform any time she likes. She will be playing here on 3/17/08 and again on 3/28/08. She is top of the line.

- Dream Row

When Briana Lynn Hardyman opened her mouth to show my family what happens when she sings, a spellbound silence fell over every member. The fact that such a level of passion and authority could come from the gentle young lady she appeared to be while talking thrilled all of us in an unexpected way; perhaps the fact that Hardyman’s voice amplified as well in our living room as the average artist’s does in a recording studio excited us because we were comforted that true talent still exists. Maybe we all felt sort of special in that privy-to- secret-information sort of way since were got the chance to hear a potential voice of the future before general society did. Though we may have been at a loss for explanation and could do nothing but applaud genuinely, Briana had just the right words to say about her impromptu mini-concert - “I’m so lucky, I get such a personal audience tonight.”


Briana Lynn Hardyman is a self-proclaimed product of many different styles of music; hints of Bonnie Raitt style versatility can be easily picked out of her songs, due to Briana’s open mind as concerns music. Artists such as Bonnie Raitt and Emylou Harris (both major influences of Briana’s) have been so influential because they don’t pigeon-hole themselves – they’re always fresh and interesting, and as Briana says, they “have allowed themselves to be instruments of incredible music and because they did it so well, they’ve inspired music for generations to come.” Realizing this, Briana is working to become an “instrument of music” herself – she spends time everyday writing down words that may turn into a song, and when it does turn into a song she finds somewhere to let it out. Wait a minute! I’m making it sound easy, and of course it’s never easy - there’s always obstacles, steps, fears, and doubts that have to be accomplished and pushed to the side. So, allow me to clear this up for you.

If you listen to a couple of her songs, it’s hard to believe that Briana would be shy about her voice. Even so, she had to overcome the common obstacle of stage fright before she even decided that she wanted to make music her career. Briana loved singing from as early as she can remember, telling us that her earliest memories of music was her mom singing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Coat of Many Colors” when she was just a little girl. “I guess when I really started to sing was in church when I was about 17,” she says is one of the major points in the timeline leading to her becoming a professional singer. “I was terribly afraid of being in front of people though I wanted to perform very much. I just had to get past my own inhibitions and self doubt.” So, she took the path of acting onstage in various roles for years until she was comfortable with being in front of people and sharing something as personal to her as her voice, making her a unique stage-fright recovery case. So, at this point, she had the guts and she had the intentions…then what?

“After a brief period in New York when I was really forced to grow up and look at life and the world around me on a broader scale, music and live musical performance became something I not only loved and wanted to do, but needed to do.” Once she was sure that singing was what she wanted to do with her life, she ended up here.

“I don’t know that I had really thought out what I expected Nashville to be before I came here,” Briana Lynn Hardyman said. Yes, that’s right, like the majority of the town now, she’s not a Nashville native, but she’s learning the ropes quickly. She arrived a little over a year ago, with the hope of so many others: to fulfill her dreams of others being able to hear and love her music. Of course, there was a certain level of unfamiliarity around the place, but people with passion-induced stubbornness like Hardyman learn how to deal with that: she’s gotten over that beginner’s hump that burns down the dreams of many would-be singers.

“I guess it doesn’t seem as big as I once thought it was or as inaccessible now that I know people, places, and my way around,” she says, confirming that the city is now included within the radius of her comfort zone. “Nashville is a beautiful place full of life, lessons, hard knocks, and magical experiences.” Ain’t that the truth.

As is common knowledge, trying to find the right path in the music industry is never easy for anybody (unless you have a famous relative, maybe), and Briana is no exception. “I think that there are a lot of unfortunate things that occur when trying to make it in a tough career path that are really nobody’s fault, just a matter of people with different goals, ideas, or knowledge,” she says of the music industry. This can come in many forms, which includes scams, and people with the fervor like Briana’s are prime targets for such deceit. “I’ve paid a significant amount of money for false services, which once again is partially my own fault for not obtaining the knowledge necessary to make a better decis - Dream Row

Response to Hardyman song "The Man He Used to Be" "A lovely story song of a heart that was broken and a heart that saw it. This song beautifully winds through a mountain path to heaven. " - IAC Artists

"wonderful new soulful singer from nashville , a mix of patty griffin / bonnie raitt ; get the chance to see this singer in nashville in coming weeks and in october on her debut uk tour" - IAC Artists

Hardyman is a very eclectic musician and writer. She favors Bonnie Raitt style vocals in some songs, and then sounds like a young Loretta Lynn in another. Her stage presence is awe striking. Hardyman’s use of the whole
stage keeps your attention throughout a Good Souls show. Her songwriting ability reminds
one of early Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and GillianWelch. - Americana Gazette