As one-third of the Missouri trio Water Liars, drummer Andrew Bryant has spent the last three years on the road recording and supporting the band’s successive albums, Phantom Limb, Wyoming, and 2014’s self-titled release. Following a tour in which Water Liars supported the Drive-By Truckers, Bryant returned to his home studio to record a solo album of songs that draw from his experiences of playing more than 400 shows during that stretch. The result: This is the Life, his sixth solo album.
Having spent “more than enough nights in a Motel 6 to last a lifetime,” Bryant calls This is the Life an album “about what it takes to keep going in the music business. It weighs the rewards and failures that inevitably come in pairs in this world whether we like it or not.” The album’s opening song, “Do What You Love”, speaks to such perseverance.
Estimating he played 90 percent of the instruments on this album (This is the Life “is an album that was produced by one man in a room alone”), Bryant was backed by friends Matt Patton (Drive-By Truckers, Dexateens) on bass and Kell Kellum on steel guitar on a number of tracks.
This is the Life will be released on 27 January via Sleep Recordings and will be available on all digital services.