Since 11th grade, these bandit brothers John Davidson and Jacob Bryant have been stealing every possible moment of their lives to give to making music. From sneaking off to the music room at their high school to relocating to follow their dreams, they’ve roped along two others on a wild journey from Birmingham, Alabama to Nashville, TN.
We had history class together and sat next to each other. We started telling the teacher that we had work to do in our photography class (we didn’t have photography class) and would skip to go in the high school band room and play guitar. – John
John’s cousin Jake Thrasher joined the band as their bassist after he started hanging around in 2009, a natural fit for them all. Drummer Trevor Davis was asked to join the band after that on his strong rep of being a solid guy. John and Jacob themselves both grew up in musical homes, and whether it was their parents, church or school, the guys had no small amount of lingering possibility and inspiration floating around to help them take off towards their own careers.
I’ve been playing since I was young. My dad was always in a band when I was growing up so music was always around. He taught me how to play guitar and taught the band how to use dynamics and to play tight as a group. – John
Growing up I was always around music at church and at home and I always knew I wanted to create music. I messed around with different instruments and started playing Trumpet in middle school then picked up the guitar around 8th grade. – Jacob
In mid-2011, when the guys were still playing out of Birmingham, they had a meeting with Major Bob and were shortly after signed to their publishing/management company. Several months of struggling trying to work and go to school back home boiled down their first big career decision: to move or not to move. It looks like they’ve made the right decision, and Nashville has by no means left them travel-weary and begging for room and board at the city gate.
Music City is a place where people come to nurse, wean and give independent life to creative – and particularly music – careers, just like how New York city is the big city for Broadway performers, fashion designers and dancers. While their settling into this city feels different for their music career than before, it is no lesser of place for them individually or for the band.
Nashville has been very receptive to our music just as Birmingham, but different in some ways. Birmingham is our home where our friends and family are which makes things easier but Nashville has welcomed us with open arms. In Birmingham it’s more about letting loose and having fun, and Nashville is full of musicians and people in “the business” who are there to see what you got. Luckily, it hasn’t been very stale and Nashville seems to be letting loose too. – John
From electronic to classical scores, John and Jacob and their crew share similar tastes in music and in a deep bond of friendship-musicianship, where living together, hanging out together and working together have knit them tightly together. As a unit they have walked together into new circles of Nashville, and gratefully – as John expressed – Lightning 100 has been one of them.
When you go to a new city, you look for “your” radio station. Lightning 100 is that for us because they play what music lovers would play, or at least our style of music in this case. Scott Register, who runs Birmingham Mountain Radio introduced us to Dave Rossi, who was responsible for the station that we grew up listening to in Birmingham. So we went down to the station a few weeks ago and they let us sit in for their weekly staff meeting and then listened to some of our music. They were very receptive and have been so good to us since. We are very thankful for the opportunities that we have been given. – John
Something else that is growing brighter on their horizon is a recent nomination for the CMT O-Music awards.
We are just so thrilled to be recognized in the company of so many great artists. As a thank you for the votes we released our new live video “Breaking The Law” on Cmt.com/artists/john-jacob
Look for these guys next time you’re at Taco Mamacita or Bella Napoli: “We should probably own stock in those two places because we go there so often,” John joked.
And if you’re having a pickle shot at Red Door, going out for a funky Motown Monday night in East Nashville or catching a live one at The Basement, you will more than likely see them there.
