Jimmy Bryant

Ivy John Bryant Jr. (March 5, 1925 – September 22, 1980), known as Jimmy Bryant, was an American country music guitarist. He is best known for his collaborations with steel guitarist Speedy West and his session work.

Biography Bryant was born in Moultrie, Georgia, the oldest of 12 children. During the Great Depression he played the fiddle on street corners to help support his family.

In 1943, Bryant joined the United States Army, serving in France and Germany. While fighting in Germany he was severely injured by a grenade, and spent the rest of the war in a hospital, where he met Tony Mottola, who motivated him to begin playing the guitar. Once the war ended, Bryant joined the USO, where he played until he was discharged.

After the war, he drifted around various states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., where he played as Bryant. In the early 1970s Bryant ran a recording studio in Las Vegas, but finally relocated to Georgia before settling in Nashville in 1975, the same year he reunited with Speedy West for a reunion album produced by Nashville steel guitarist Pete Drake. Bryant played in Nashville bars and did some recording work but his personality did not mesh well with Nashville's highly political music and recording industry. In 1978, in declining health, Bryant learned that he had lung cancer; He played his final performance in August, 1979 at a club in North Hollywood before he returned to his Georgia hometown.

He died in Moultrie in September 1980 at the age of 55.