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NIPPERTOWN
Buggy Jive Thrives in Opening Slot for Macy Gray
“Musically… local songwriter Buggy Jive stole the night with his originals that captivated us with his thoughtful lyrics and complex, layered sounds.”
BOB BOILEN, NPR MUSIC.
NPR Music Picks ‘Top Shelf’ Tiny Desk Contest Entries
“I picked [Buggy Jive’s “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” music video] not only because he’s a talented human being but also because there’s lots of references to [Tiny Desk Contest]. Maybe this is the year you might want to quit your day job. I dearly love this.”
SOUND OPINIONS.
Sound Opinions Picks ‘Buried Treasures’
JIM DEROGATIS: “I was curious about Dr. Buggy Jive. You know what I kept flashing on when I was listening to it, Greg? If Bill Withers was alive and well and recording with a little bit of EDM hip-hop consciousness in 2022, I think it would sound a lot like that track we just heard.”
GREG KOT: “Yeah the intimacy you know of the recording really got to me and that’s a good comparison. Yeah, the honesty, the intimacy, and a sound that is completely of the moment.”
PAUL GRONDAHL, DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE WRITERS INSTITUTE. June 2020.
Paul Grondahl, Opalka Endowed Director of the New York State Writers Institute, interviews soul rock singer-songwriter Buggy Jive
A graduate of Niskayuna High School and Middlebury College, where he majored in literature, Bryan works in an actual office -- in non-quarantine times -- in online communications, and spends a good amount of time in his home studio. He describes himself as "equal parts Zeppelin and D’Angelo and Prince and Joni in sound and sensibility, his lyrics often mine the literature of the past to make sense of the present – from Ellison to Morrison to Eliot to Didion."
Bryan was our guest, along with Michael Eck and Tainia Asili, for an “Art of Songwriting” discussion held at UAlbany’s Page Hall on April 26, 2019. The late Greg Haymes, music writer for the Times Union and founder of the Nippertown arts/music site, praised Bryan, saying he "writes smart, and he writes from the heart, balancing intellect, passion, and politics.”
KIRSTEN FERGUSON, DAILY GAZETTE. April 2023.