About

“Hot Music City blogged fresh almost daily!”

The Nashville Bridge is read in more than 138 Countries every month, with representation in every corner of the globe.  The Nashville Bridge covers the Nashville local music scene as well as regional interest in almost every genre in an attempt to show that Nashville really is “Music City’,  The Capital of not only Country, but, a multi-genre bridge to the rest of the world.

Contact Brad at thenashvillebridge@hotmail.com

Reviews, Interview requests or recommendations always welcome.

Music Journalist – Artist Consultant – Photographer

Nashville Journalist & Photographer : Performer Magazine

A&R – FnA Records

Media & Publicity Coordinator – The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Fund

“the august LOVES Brad’s writing!  The gift he has for describing music is hard to come by and much appreciated.  Brad’s article praising the august’s live show gave us such good exposure that we had no choice but to hire him to write our band’s bio.  So many thanks to Brad and the Nashville Bridge for our favorite piece of Nashville press!” – Jacky Dustin, the august

” Thanks for always being there all these years – especially in some of our first recording efforts. It really helped us get off the ground to where we were able to get in a position to make a handsome living in the music and entertainment industries for the last 14 years.” – Lynn Knudsen (SIX,  The Knudsen Brothers)

“What an amazing Nashville trip we had! Thanks to our new friend, music writer/photographer Brad Hardisty, we got to experience the ultimate Nashville blues experience. We made new fans and friends.” – Debbie Bond & Rick Asherson (Alabama Blues Musicians, Willie King, Johnny Shines)

“I was the 1st chair trombone player in the Snow College Jazz Band when I first met Brad. We became friends right away, and eventually roommates in off-campus housing. When I think back on those days, I realize how important they were. That experience changed the direction of my life’s musical path, and I’ve enjoyed playing bass (and now a bit of guitar) and singing lead and backup vocals since that time. Thanks Brad, you have been a good life-long friend.” – Matthew Udall (Bassist, Songwriter, Actor, Attorney)

Writings and opinions of Brad Hardisty have been featured in Guitar Player, EQ, Nashville Scene, Nashville Music Guide, Nashville Music City News, Sleazeroxx.com,Performer Magazine,Melodicrock.com,The Horses Mouth, The Snowdrift, Girls Rock! & Pitch Weekly.

“Journalism and music composition go hand in hand. I have as much respect for the Journalists that broke the scene as I do the Songwriters and Performers. There are three writers who I particularly look up to:”

“Lenny Kaye: He was not only Bassist and Bandleader for The Patti Smith Group who was an integral part of the New York Punk scene that changed the world after 1976, but, he was very much in the moment documenting in pictures and journalism for a New York Rock publication called Rock Scene. Rock Scene was getting the word out about The Ramones, Blondie, The Talking Heads to name a few. The little black and white publication could be found in Magazine shops from coast to coast and even in England. Through his words and pictures he began a new revolution. Lenny also was a Rock and Roll historian who understood the roots of the New York movement and put together the “Golden Nuggets” collection on Sire that became a Garage Rock text book.”

Craig Stecyk: “Craig was a part of the Dogtown (Venice, CA) surf scene of the Seventies involved in the founding of Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions and chronicled the birth of the modern skateboard scene in pictures and words for Skateboarder Magazine about the Z-Boys. With quotes like “Skaters by their very nature are urban guerillas: they make everyday use of the useless artifacts of the technological burden, and employ the handiwork of the government/corporate structure in a thousand ways that the original architects could never dream of”, His pictures and words were the modern equivalent of a music video with a story line.”

Last but not least:

Hunter S. Thompson:” A journalist with his own style, “Gonzo Journalism”, would risk life and limb to get his story by going inside and becoming a part of the situation in his work writing about the Hell’s Angels to Richard Nixon in “Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail” he was equally feared by his poison quill and adored by Richard Nixon with their common interest in Football.  He almost got killed while developing his piece on the Hells Angels. He wrote about the impossible inside looking out.”

Brad Hardisty has a lifetime experience in the music business. “There have been changes in the industry that will forever impact the ability of songwriters and musicians to make a living in the music business. The traditional  delivery system to get music to the public through hired management, talent agencies, booking agents, publishers, and a myriad of brick and mortar companies is almost in complete chaos.  The internet and even the way music is now being recorded offer a myriad of opportunities for anybody to get in the game that has talent and the ability to self market”.

Brad Hardisty, in addition to his own projects works as a Journalist and a Consultant in Artist Development for Independent Artists, Bands and Songwriters.

“Nowadays, even getting a shot within the industry in front of a publisher or a great Management team can be a one time thing. If you are not prepared with what they are looking for, you may not even get a second chance.” – Brad Hardisty

Brad Hardisty has been on both sides of the industry as a songwriter and Guitarist and as a Talent Manager, Producer, Studio Designer and even a Consultant on a movie set.

Brad has offered advice from the very basic first demo of Mandi Rae in Birmingham, Alabama to giving guitar advice to Eddie Van Halen and studio advice to Chuck Berry.

Brad studied music at Snow College. “When I was there, I was the school guitarist, “the accidental jazz band guitarist”, I was on my own path to Rock greatness when I was asked to audition for the school jazz band and eventually took over that slot as guitarist and was persuaded to change my major to Music from Journalism. Professor Butch Erickson then encouraged me in Music Theory and percussion studies in Concert Band and the school pep band. I found everything useful in my goals as a musician and songwriter. The time I spent at Snow was probably the most important development to my esteem as a guitar player and performer.” Snow College is now a music school among the best.

“I started attending band practice when I was 5. A garage band was literally a garage band that practiced in the garage until the police came by and shut it down. In 1965, The Beatles had hit but even more so for bands, The Yardbirds were pushing the limits of what a guitar can do when Jeff Beck entered the picture. I remember hearing a record in late 1966 called “Psychotic Reaction” by a group called Count Five on the Double Shot label.  I knew I had remembered that song which was later covered by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. I remembered hearing that song in a garage in San Jose, California at a band practice at the age of 6. I told people the band was from the San Jose area. Only in 1968 did I prove right when I saw the liner notes of the album by Count Five. I knew that band as a child.” – Brad Hardisty

Brad somehow has managed to always look at the sum of the parts. “ I remember reading the back of the first Van Halen album. I bought it on pure instinct. It was really just reading that it was on Warner Brothers and Produced by Ted Templemen. It was before they were on radio and I bought it based on those two elements as well as the pictures of the band and the fact that they were covering The Kinks, “You Really Got Me”.  I was right on every count and turned my friends in Salt Lake City, where I lived at the time onto that great album. It was my senior year in High School and Van Halen  blasted out of my convertible Fiat on 8 track every day.”

Brad at one time mentioned to Parrish Hultquist,” this David Lee Roth is cool, but I wonder what the band would sound like with Sammy Hagar“. Of course, who would have known that prediction. It was an event like that as well as predicting the rising careers of bands such as AC/DC and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers that Brad became known as a go to person for advice from everything from snare tone to fixing an arrangement.

Brad currently lives in Nashville and Consulting for several artists and groups in several different genres giving the artist additional input or needed help without signing any long term management contracts.

A list of artists that have benefitted  Brad’s insight:

the august

Marion James – Nashville’s “Queen of the Blues”

Chuck Berry

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)

Blackberry Wednesday

David Gicking Management

Debbie Bond

Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne)

Mandi Rae ( Americana Artist)

A Thousand Words

SIX (Vocal group, previously known as The Knudsen Brothers)

Ron Fair (Executive Producer, Pres. A&M Records)

Nathan Whitmore (Americana Artist)

Tony Wayne (rap artist)

Howard Benson (Producer)

Adam Guthrie (guitarist, The Back Row Baptists, Heath Green)

Curt Acuff ( musician, songwriter, Nexus Pointe)

Karen Fine (former A&R SBK Records)

(I am bilingual Spanish and was involved with Hispanic artists when I lived in LA)

Elizabeth Aguilar (Mexican Singer)

Industrial Del Amor (LA spanish pop group)

Sodaestereo (Argentinian band)

Los Bukis

Los Freddys

Harley

Danny Everitt (bassist, sound engineer)

Edward Van Halen

John Tesh

Mothers Finest

Parrish Hultquist (Guitarist  – Megattack, Wolfgang)

TJ  Hayes (Guitarist)

Alan Zavod (Keyboardist, Jean Luc Ponty)

Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

Tristan Dunn (Musician, Rollin Roger)

Daniel Long (Drummer, The Agency, Furthermore)

Die Hard II (stunt sound design)

Seeing Blind

Brian Sorenson (Drummer, Megattack, Wolfgang, Moviescreen)

Derrick Lee (Guitarist)

Helpful links:

Check out Songwriter’s Corner at  www.lawontherow.com

Great songwrite email newsletter at www.nashvillemuse.com

more resources at  Music Starts Here

audio interviews at  Audio Nashville

Best Songwriters organization www.nashvillesongwriters.com