With his towering height and powerful voice, Bryan Mayer, is making a BIG impact on the Country music scene. A North Carolina native, the 6’8” singer/songwriter began his journey in music when he was 13. The son of a US Marine Corps Colonel and a Navy nurse, while stationed in Quantico, VA, Bryan was tapped by his middle school music teacher to play the upright bass in the school band for his already impressive height of 6’1” in the 7th grade. Although Bryan enjoyed playing the bass, the lure of the front man aspect and realizing he could sing lead him to pick up the guitar. After some impromptu performances at keg parties at his house in college at ECU, Bryan ended up on the Carolina sands of Oak Island, NC. It was there that he started crafting his style and gutting it out in any bar, restaurant or party that would hire him. “Everyone would always tell me that I was gonna make it someday. Some wondered why I hadn’t already,” says Mayer. “I knew this is what I was put on earth to do.”
In 2010, Bryan ended up with an opportunity to open for CMA nominated Country artists, Love & Theft. Singer/guitarist Steven Lyle Barker, the inspiration behind Taylor Swift’s hit “Hey Steven”, pulled him aside and praised Mayer’s great tone, strong delivery, and overall feel. Steven told him that Nashville and Country music was where he was destined. “I hung out with Steven after watching he and Eric play and realized he was right. This is exactly the sound I had been looking for,” says Mayer.
Being a southern man from NC, Bryan identified with the bonfires, days on the river, and the simple life that Country is. It wasn’t long after that show that Country radio powerhouse 95.1 WRNS took notice of Mayer’s talent and began to use him as a frequent opener at concerts for National Country headliners like Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Craig Morgan, Eli Young Band, The Band Perry, Thompson Square, and dozens more including Southern Rock Gods, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Years before, Bryan had already performed with Marshall Tucker and Blackfoot.
In the meantime, and while performing, Mayer made an attempt to write his first Country song, an autobiographic ballad called, “This is Me.” After WRNS Program Director and songwriter, Tommy Garret, heard the song, he promised Bryan if he had it recorded by hot new Nashville Producer, Stokes Nielson of the The Lost Trailers, he would play it on his Top 40 Country station. The station, which covers over 1/3 of the entire state of NC, began to get Facebook messages, emails and requests for the song. “People just identify with this song. It’s about who we are as people growing up, young and old. I think there’s an anthem feel to it and our country has a new pride for growing up in the USA.” After numerous times as #1 on the WRNS “Six Most Wanted at 6,” a daily countdown of the most requested songs, “This is Me,” ended up #127 on the Mediabase Country charts in June 2013, giving Bryan his first Top 200 Country song.
Bryan has since been back to Nashville multiple times to record his original songs and videos with Producer, Stokes Nielson. Bryan is currently being nominated by his fans for the 2014 Carolina Music Awards for Best Male Country Artist and Music Video of the Year. His single, “This is Me,” hits National Country radio this spring and his EP drops this summer. If you’re looking to add a new and promising Country voice and talent to your playlist, look no further than Country music’s future BIG MAN, Bryan Mayer.