Doyle Bramhall

Nostalgic and slammin’ at the same time, Is It News makes it clear that Bramhall is as vital a part of Austin’s musical history as Stevie Ray and all the other giants who’ve rocked the town over these past 30-plus years.
~Drum! - Drum!

Those quick to stuff Texas journeyman Doyle Bramhall, the rare singer-songwriter-drummer, into the one-word category of blues do so at the risk of ignoring the “rhythm &” part of his sound. With the Bo Diddley stomp right out of the gate on “Lost In The Congo,” it’s hard to miss.
~Rick Cornell


- No Depression

"As a writer, Doyle Bramhall was instrumental in stretching the scope of modern blues through his collaborating with Stevie Ray Vaughan - Note the supple yet forward motion of Change It; known as one of Stevie Ray's best numbers... Doyle wrote it and claims his share here."
~Raygun - Raygun

"...This satisfying album, recorded over 13 years by legendary Texas R&B/Blues Singer/Songwriter Doyle Bramhall, (he drums too - an awesome combination)...If you think he sounds like Stevie Ray, you've got it backwards - he shaped Vaughan's vocal style."~USA Today - USA Today

"...can sing blues and R&B like a down home native... It's Bramhall's soulful, effortless way with both period covers and his own trad-conscious originals that's the radiant hub of the record..."
~Musician - Musician

"Where so many blues pretenders seem like carpetbaggers, Bramhall sounds like a Texan singing Texas music, in a voice that is as individual as his heartbeat."
~Austin American Statesman - Austin American Statesman

Doyle Bramhall unleashes a torrent of gutbucket Texas blues the likes of which haven't been heard since Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood" in 1983." ~Washington Post - Washington Post

Maybe it’s because Doyle Bramhall is a drummer, a position in any band that by helping to provide backbone rhythm, frequently instills in the musician a comfortable discretion, a willingness to remain part of the ensemble. There are exceptions of course, ranging from Buddy Rich to Keith Moon, but as a frontman, Doyle Bramhall is definitely and disarmingly a team player. The closest he gets to showboating is on the song called, “Big,” in which his drums boom thunderously and his hoarse yowl takes on a boastful assertion. More often, however, Bramhall mines the unhappiness of the blues for his best music. Born in Dallas, coming of musical age in the Texas bohemia of Austin, Bramhall is open to all sorts of music, including the New Orleans shuffle he applies to “Tortured Soul.” It’s an eloquently trenchant summation of what it feels like to verge on and to resist despair.

Yes, it’s when Bramhall embraces the loneliness in himself and others, and constructs melodies that require the sharp snap of his drums to cut off mere self pity and a willingness to believe that others can be as miserable as he can be that he achieves his best music.

I don’t usually have much use for white blues, even that of Bramhall’s former employer and collaborator Stevie Ray Vaughan. That’s probably because too many white bluesmen emulate the superiority of the black masters of their genre, to such an extent that their own identities become blurry. This is not true of Bramhall who pounds his drums with a propulsive melancholy; who sings with plaintiveness; his decades of music making giving him both gravity and a fleet assurance that anyone he loves whether It’s a woman or his audience, is in good, strong, calloused hands.
Ken Tucker
Editor at large, Entertainment Weekly
Reviewed on Fresh Air

- Fresh Air

Is It News is loud and proud, full of twists and turns in its eclectic production. …But it’s also very warm…Thankfully; all you have to do to reproduce this feeling is play it again…. Is It News is nearly hip beyond belief. Who would have thought this kinda cool still existed? ~Thom Hurek
All Music


- All Music Guide

Artist: Doyle Bramhall
Song: "I’ll Take You Away"
Album: Is It News
Label: Yep Roc

Living close to the ground, some artists have such a connection with their spirits that listening to
them sing is like entering the room where they live. There is no pretense or affectation, just a feeling
of real privacy and passion. The world is stripped to its essence and immediately upon hearing
someone like this, the windows and doors open and a fresh breeze that blows in makes the world a
much more hopeful place to live. Doyle Bramhall has been sharing his soul on the bandstand for
most of his life. He sits behind a drum set, but sings like he belongs in the center of the universe.
The songs he writes, both alone and with others-for many years with Stevie Ray Vaughan-are
usually in the universal language of love, and none are stronger than "I'll Take You Away" from last
year's Is It News album. It's so good you'll swear you've heard it all your life. With a gang of guitar
players like son Doyle Bramhall II, Denny Freeman (now in Bob Dylan's band), CC Adcock and Mike
Keller, the music is a swampy slice of the real South, no substitutes allowed. But it's Bramhall's
vocal that turns the track into a promise fulfilled, one where the knight on a white horse he sings
about rides to the rescue and turns the dark skies into a shining dawn, all within four and a half
minutes. Unbelievable.
— 06/16/2008

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