Jimmy Bryant

Jimmy Bryant

Jimmy Bryant was born march 5 1925 in Moultrie Georgia.  Jimmy picked up the fiddle at age 5 and played on the street for money as a child with his father.  At age 18 he was drafted into the army for ww2.  He sent to Europe and was assigned to the third army under general Patton's command.  Jimmy was wounded and reassigned to special services and entertained the troops with his music, he backed up Bob Hope for a few shows during this time.  After the war Bryant moved to Los Angeles California and eventually got hired to play guitar on the TV and radio show Hometown Jamboree.  Here Bryant met a Steel guitar player named Speedy West and they would become famous for recording instrumental albums together and doing sessions for Capitol records with artists such as Tennessee Ernie Ford and Tex Williams.

 

The night Rider 

Promotional photo of Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. Note that Bryant has the ashtray cover on his telecaster.

Yodeling Guitar

Jimmy is usually thought of as a Fender Telecaster Player but he also played a Stratocaster on many of his recordings

Bryant and West on Hometown Jamboree in the 1950s

Jimmy & Speedy Trading fours on Tennessee Ernie ford's Shotgun Boogie

 on Stratosphere Boogie Bryant used a Stratosphere Twin guitar.  It is a double neck guitar with a twelve string neck and a six string neck.  Most twelve string guitars have the strings tuned in octaves buy Bryant tuned his in harmonies to each other so he was able to play harmony with himself without multi tracking in the studio or playing along to a recording live.

Bryant with Stratosphere Twin Twelve.

another pic this one differs because it has a vibrato bar where Bryant's dose not.

Back Veiw

West coast guitar player and luthier figured out Bryant's tuning and approximate string gauge to play Stratosphere Boogie correctly.

Bryant with Fender Jazzmaster

An older Bryant in the 1970s

Bryant wrote the song Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line witch Waylon Jennings had a hit with in 1968

a life long smoker Bryant was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1978 he died on September 22 1980 at age 55 he is buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Colquitt Georgia