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Bryan McPherson

@bryanmcp

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Singer-Songwriter. Americana. Folk. Punk at heart.
Boston -> California -> Montana -> Austin
Still here.

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Originally from Dorchester by @bryanmcp

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2 months ago

Music has saved my life so many times by @bryanmcp

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2 months ago

When the cows sang me to sleep in Emigrant, Montana.

“Emigrant” at @cactuscafeatx - August 2026

🎥 @bhudgeons

#austin #austintxmusic #austinmusiclive by @bryanmcp

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2 months ago

Today’s sign of the day. From the laundromat of broken dreams by @bryanmcp

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11 days ago

Since I have nothing but time, I’ll elaborate on how I want to record this album.

It’s kind of like Alex Honnold free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite with no ropes. The modern recording process often involves tracking parts separately and layering them, which would equate to climbing with a rope. If you fuck up halfway through a song, no big deal. Do a bunch of takes, splice them together, keep the best parts. You don’t have to be perfect the whole way through. You have ropes.

They call it making sausage. A lot of records are made that way. I’ve made records that way, and it’s a fine way to do it.

I’ve also made records live and raw: playing guitar and singing at the same time. That approach used to be more common, particularly with singer-songwriters. It’s more challenging to record. There’s less control over mic placement, engineering, and mixing. But you get the magic of the performance. But with no ropes.

That’s the free soloing part. You have to carry the whole song the whole way through. A great vocal take and a great guitar take and a great harmonica take have to happen together. You need to be really dialed in. Just like free soling a wall. Plus factor in playing in a studio, with mics, and that whole trip. Anywhere you are not dialed in will be very obvious when you start.

So I say this because I’ve uprooted, been in a closet all summer practicing, and having three false starts because of this illness has been more psychologically disappointing than usual. There’s a lot of preparation and a lot of blood and sweat and sacrifice going into getting ready for that climb.

But maybe! I would have fallen. Maybe the extra time is helpful. I will say my guitar parts have gotten more dialed in and I have definitely kept practicing so maybe it’s for the best. What do you think? @alexhonnold

Thank you for listening to my TED Talk, safely from the ground. This photo is real. No AI was used for it. by @bryanmcp

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12 days ago

Just had to cancel studio time for the third time this month. Absolutely devastated and humbled by this. Send good vibes and no medical advice, please. 🙏 (I’ve heard it all at this point ;) Much love to you all.

Very grateful the producer I’m working with is so understanding and able to reschedule. Grateful for a roof, good people in my life, my family, and getting plugged into the sober scene in Austin.

Feeling 85% but being unable to sing is a weird place to be, but here we are. Two rounds of antibiotics later, and now steroids and allergy meds. Throwing everything at this thing, but it might just have to run its course. However long that takes feels out of my hands at this point.

Things could be much worse. There are people going through much harder things, and this has reminded me how quickly life can turn and how much having people in your corner matters.

Thanks for listening. Much love. ❤️ by @bryanmcp

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12 days ago

5 DOLLAR FRIDAY is on.

This week’s pick is How to Draw Everything: a 45 RPM gatefold double LP for $10. That’s five bucks per record, down from the usual 40$

Today only. Shipping is extra. Grab a copy through the link in my bio. by @bryanmcp

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18 days ago

Getting some vitamin D outside of a chain coffee shop as I slowly recover from the Austin Vocal Virus of 2026 when a woman came up to me and said I’ve been there! I’ve played there actually. Pretty cool. Cheers to Aunt Sue for gifting me this classic T. If you know, you know. by @bryanmcp

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20 days ago

Meanwhile, holding down the weird.
#keepaustinweird by @bryanmcp

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24 days ago

I love this mural in South Austin. Here is @tayviss working on this absolute gem.

#austin #atx #austinartist by @bryanmcp

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a month ago

Terminator music is stuck in my head. You have been warned by @bryanmcp

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a month ago

This is my Aunt Karen.
She died last year
from a rare disease
I got to see her
the summer before she passed.
We ate bologna sandwiches with my Ma,
swam in the pool,
ate junk food,
drank strong Irish tea,
and talked.
She told me she loved my music.
Told me how good she thought it was.
She was a big supporter
behind the scenes.
When my sister and I were kids
she’d drive us down the “worst road in Boston,”
massive potholes everywhere,
and we’d bounce all over
the back seat of her Ford Escort.
Seatbelts?
Hell no.
It was the ’80s.
Newport smoke
blowing out the window,
Bob Marley blasting.
She’d let us say
one swear each
on the ride back,
then stop for candy
and snacks.
She’s also the reason
my name has a Y
and not an I.
My mother was out of it
from the meds after giving birth.
The nurse came in
asking for a name.
“Brian sounds nice,” said Ma.
Karen said,
“With a Y.”
And ushered them out.
Years later,
when I did my first Kickstarter
for the Astro van
that would carry me
all over North America,
I was fifteen hundred dollars short
on the last day.
And who swooped in
and dropped fifteen hundred dollars
into the campaign?
Aunt Karen.
That was a million dollars
to me then.
A real Dorchester angel.
Her death came
at the end
of a very dark time in my life.
But sometimes
from the worst of it
come flowers.
Rebirth.
Light.
A little voice in my head
said it was time for a reset.
So I did it.
Three months
of free writing,
goofy artist exercises,
a massive inventory
of resentments,
then forgiveness.
Lots of forgiveness.
And somewhere in there
something opened up.
I wrote what will become
my next record
in about a week.
And I felt her there.
In the kitchen
of a back alley cottage
in Livingston, Montana.
Under the Mill Creek Bridge
before my shift
at the crazy hot spring restaurant.
A little voice:
try this word.
No, that one.
Turn it this way.
Do it different.
These songs have a twist in them.
And that’s Karen.
That’s my Aunt Karen’s spirit
in there.
No one can convince me otherwise.
We are all connected
in this thing.
In life.
In death.
In whatever comes after.
So today
I’m thinking about my Aunt Karen,
and appreciating her
in this realm
And the next by @bryanmcp

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a month ago