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Briana Hardyman gave up a chance to audition for American Idol to take a weekend trip to Nashville. It turned out to be a wise choice for the Wisconsin girl. There she met up with Dave Isaacs, a veteran singer and guitar slinger. Isaacs, a music veteran of Nashville and New York City, plays with incredible depth and feeling. He is the "soul" of the group with his blues and jazz oriented licks, and his smooth, clear voice cuts through the mix and the crowd noise to keep your attention on the Good Souls band. His songs are very pleasing to listen to; you can tell he has many influences and learned from them all.
Hardyman's stage presence is awe-striking. She is a very eclectic musician, favoring Bonnie Raitt-style vocals in some songs and sounding like a young Loretta Lynn in another. She's an incredible songwriter as well, reminding one of Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Gillian Welch.
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Good Souls CD, and it rocks.....they will be touring this summer, and you can find out more at www.goodsoulsmusic.com.
-Andy Zehli
- Americana Gazette
Discography
1998 Jackalope Junction: A Sense Of Direction
2001 Jackalope Junction: Just Drive
2003 Dave Isaacs: Prodigal Son
2004 Dave Isaacs: Flying
2006: Dave Isaacs: Old King Crow
2008: Good Souls: Good Souls
National radio play on all releases. Principal or only songwriter on all releases.
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Bio
A master musician. A vocalist of soul-baring intensity and power. Every great musical partnership creates an identity of its own that is greater than the individuals that comprise it, and in coming together as Good Souls the duo of Dave Isaacs and Briana Hardyman both embody and transcend this truth. In the tradition of great vocal pairings like Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham or the duo recordings of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, Hardyman and Isaacs’ voices blend effortlessly with a character and personality all their own.
Musical driving force Dave Isaacs is himself a walking testament to the power of disparate elements coalescing into a new whole. A classically-trained musician with a jazzer’s sense of improvisational daring, he was raised on the mountain sounds of his mother’s Appalachian roots and found his first inspirations as a guitarist in the driving blues-rock of Eric Clapton and the Allman Brothers. He has shared a stage with the legendary Les Paul and collaborated with acclaimed Southern folk poet and Americana artist Tom House (co-author of the closing track on Good Souls’ debut album, the wistful “When I Was Young”). His all-instrumental 2004 solo release Flying earned him national attention and accolades with features in Jazz Improv and 20th Century Guitar magazines, while his previous work fronting NYC-based country-rock band Jackalope Junction received nationwide radio play and praise for his adroit and sophisticated songwriting. A master teacher, he leads regular workshops for the Nashville Songwriters Association and is developing a comprehensive curriculum for performing songwriters to learn to better accompany themselves.
Briana Hardyman’s soft-spoken and easy manner offer little hint of the electric transformation that comes over her in live performance. Formally trained as a theatrical actress, she is a master of the dramatic gesture and a riveting presence onstage. Her singing is alternately tender and defiant, with a compelling vulnerability tempered by the wisdom of hard-won experience and the sorrow of loss. Her songwriting is steeped in the classic country that formed the soundtrack to her childhood on a Wisconsin dairy farm, but molded by the sophisticated folk of Patty Griffin and the vibrant blues and soul of Bonnie Raitt. Her debut recording Only A Dream was produced by folk veteran Tret Fure, whose mentoring and influence are apparent in the maturity and depth of Hardyman’s lyrics.
Since the chance meeting in a Nashville bar that brought Isaacs and Hardyman together, Good Souls has rapidly evolved into an established band with gigs throughout the mid-South.
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