Brant Leeper - Keys

A musical whole is always the sums of it's parts, and for Brant Leeper's music, those parts consist of a love for the soul in blues, the excitement of jazz, the transformation of melody and the enjoyment of entertaining others by sharing a life's passion.

If you were to peek into Brant's record collection, you would see titles from Thelonious Monk and Johnny "Guitar" Watson to Billy Preston and Dr. John , from Junior Brown and Hank Williams to Wild Bill Davis and "Brother" Jack McDuff.

Keyboardist and bassist Brant Leeper's music career began in his basement at the age of 13 when a sports injury left him with a cast and nothing to do after school. With a piano down there and the sounds of Jerry Lee blasting from his father's Hi-Fi, he started trying to emulate what was hearing. He then began combining notes and writing his own music... a passion that has never left him.

Brant with B.B. King backstage at 
the Austin Music Hall circa 1999.

Brant has since been in the music business for all of his adult life. At the age of 18, he conned his way into nightclubs to earn money during college. By 19, he was a published songwriter and booked and managed a regional blues act "Bluehouse", in which he performed with bassist Fisher "Fish" Alexander Jr. and saxophonist Norris "Big Mac" McPherson.

At age 21, Brant moved to the music mecca Austin, TX. There he played with a number of bands before being selected by nationally known guitarist/singer W.C. Clark. Clark tours extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada. With this band, Brant has shared the bill with blues icons like Brant with B.B. King backstage at the Austin Music Hall circa 1999.B.B. King, Buddy Guy, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Allman Brothers, Roomful of Blues and Bobby Blue Bland. He has appeared on numerous TV and radio broadcasts and at many major music festivals, including the Pocono Blues Fest, Mississippi Blues Fest, the Telluride Brews and Blues Fest and the Santa Cruz Blues Fest. He was also Clark's touring merchandise sales manager. During Brant's tenure with the band, W.C. Clark has won two Handy Awards (blues industry Grammies) including Best Blues/Soul Record in 1998.

Brant is also proud to have performed with blues legend Bo Didley, harmonica great James Cotton and Johnny Rawls as well as some of Austin's finest musicians including Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton of Double Trouble (recording session), Barry "Frosty" Smith, Toby Anderson, Rob Roy Parnell, Dave Herrero, Matt Powell, Derek O'Brien, Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff, Ponty Bone, Angela Strehli, Fran Christina and Sarah Brown to name a few.

Brant was also a featured keyboardist with The Seth Walker Band during Austin's famed "swing area" from 1999 to 2001. At this time, he also appeared on Walker's release Meet Me In The Middle.

Brant in the studio with 
Hamilton Loomis and Mike Cross signing backup vocals on kickin' ItIn 2001, Brant joined forces with Houston based front-man Hamilton Loomis and after a legendary performance at the Santa Cruz Blues Fest, (Brant's 3rd appearance there,) the band was signed to a record deal with Blind Pig Records thus beginning Brant's second national touring act. Brant appears on Loomis' debut international Blind Pig release Kickin' It and wrote two cuts: Something's Gonna Come My Way and Better Man.

In 2004, after almost 9 years of heavy national touring (and over 1,000,000 miles traveled,) Brant decided to take a break for a while and relocated to the mountains of Durango, CO where he started a music coffee shop called Pure Soul Coffee. But, he is far from being retired... he still writes, records, produces and performs an average of 4 nights a week with local favorites The Swingrays, Sugarhouse, Jeff Solon, Nina Sasaki, Lisa Blue and Santa Fe's Sister Mary and the Bad Habits.

"The journey has only begun..."

 http://www.brantleeper.com/

 

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