A music minister’s daughter turned fierce frontwoman, Abby Bryant has cemented her presence as a standout in Americana and soul with her band’s debut album Not Your Little Girl. The 13-track LP features Bryant’s raw vocal talent supported by the confident and dynamic backing group The Echoes and establishes a strong foundation for the band in the world of vintage-inspired Americana and soul rock.

Playing for church services under her father’s direction, Bryant recalls early memories of singing a solo as an angel in a nativity play and backing up the church band in her small-town community near Charlotte, North Carolina. It wasn’t until she attended Appalachian State University that Bryant began to seriously consider a professional career in music. Forming the beginnings of the group with her friend from back home Bailey Faulkner, Bryant merged her love of the sound of soul and American roots music embodied by artists like Etta James and Bonnie Raitt with Faulkner’s similar passion for American blues and Faces-style rock. With these inspirations, Bryant and Faulkner began co-writing songs that would eventually appear on Not Your Little Girl.

After graduating from college and working with a number of part-time band members, the two relocated to Asheville, NC to form a proper band and quickly began heavy touring that kickstarted an organic fanbase throughout the Southeast. “I’ve really had to learn to trust myself and lean into our confidence in the band. There will always be difficult moments, but the thought of giving up or even slowing down has never crossed my mind,” explains Bryant.

Title track “Not Your Little Girl” announces Bryant’s resolve in trusting her judgment and beliefs when faced with adversity. “When I started singing professionally, I was young and vulnerable, and there were a lot of older folks trying to steer my career and life choices. I was done letting myself be in situations where someone would try to control my work or talk down to me,” she recounts. “It took so long for me to say / That I’m not your little girl / I gotta find my very own way / To live in this big old world,” declares Bryant in the song’s powerful chorus.

The album also touches on themes of growing up and leaving home and “having a pretty traditional childhood and needing to build an identity and set of values on my own” describes Bryant. Navigating an often harsh world with a determined and fresh sense of self, Bryant finds comfort in the band’s steady march forward. “And if you feel like you’re dying … / You just gotta follow your own lead” Bryant affirms on the emphatic rocker “Keep Moving.”

Recorded in the band’s home base of Asheville, NC, the album features Anthony Dorion on bass, John Ginty (Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The Allman Betts Band) on Hammond organ and keys, Jeff Sipe (Col. Bruce Hampton, Leftover Salmon, Susan Tedeschi) on drums, and The Naughty Horns (Nick Ellman, John Culbreth, Ian Bowman) in addition to Faulkner on guitars and Bryant on vocals. Not Your Little Girl represents the culmination of years of dedication and a decided shift in Bryant and Faulkner’s outlook on the band’s future – to claim their place among the greats of American roots and soul music.

A singer-songwriter born in Guam and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Rebecca Porter continues to forge her way in country music. Porter’s songs balance her distinctive storytelling with the dynamics of her commanding voice. A fusion of classic country and southern soul, Porter’s brand of country music is heartfelt and honest.

As a Grammy nominated, platinum selling, award winning drummer, I tour and record with Sixpence None the Richer, am featured on their hit singles "Kiss Me" "There She Goes", et.al. and work with developing and established independent artists, producers, singer-songwriters and bands spanning a variety of genres.

Zen Gruv is following