Precious Bryant (née Bussey; January 4, 1942 – January 12, 2013) was an American country blues, gospel, and folk singer and guitarist. Bryant is described as one of Georgia's great blueswomen. She played Piedmont fingerstyle guitar.
Bryant was born in Talbot County, Georgia, United States. She was the third child of nine and first became interested in singing by performing at her local Baptist church with her seven sisters. They initially dubbed themselves the Blue Moon Gospel Singers but later changed the group name to the Bussey Sisters. Bryant learned to play guitar from her father and uncle, blues musician George Henry Bussey, before dropping out of high school in eleventh grade. She began to perform wherever she could.
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At age 20 she wrote her first of many compositions, a song titled “Baby Tell Me Don’t You Want to Jump”. Her music was a blend of Piedmont finger-picking blues, blues from the Lower Chattahoochee Valley, urban blues, gospel, and folk. She also absorbed contemporary influences, including Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James.However, she was particularly “drawn to the blues,” because, in her words, “the blues tells the truth.”
She got married in 1965, and moved to Juniper, Georgia with her then husband. She stayed there for about 11 years before returning home with her son Tony after her husband’s death. During her time in Juniper, Bryant met the blues researcher George Mitchell, who recorded a few of her songs in 1969. He described her as "Georgia musical treasure," but it was a combination of this chance encounter and the death of her husband that made her career possible.
A decade after her first recording, Mitchell recorded Precious Bryant again for folklorist Fred Fussell’s In Celebration of a Legacy project for the Columbus Museum. By this point, she was back home in Talbot County living in a four-room trailer with her son Tony. In 1983, Mitchell persuaded Bryant to play at the Chattahoochee Folk Festival in Columbus and soon began playing at local, regional, and international venues to a growing fanbase. Bryant played the 1984 National Down Home Blues Festival in Atlanta, the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, the Newport Folk Festival. In 1995, Bryant met Tim Duffy and became involved with the Music Maker Relief Foundation, who assisted her in booking global tours and shows and increasing her following through events like Blues to Bop in Lugano, Switzerland, Port Townsend Blues Festival, and Chicken Raid in Atlanta, Georgia.
Precious Bryant released her first commercial album, Fool Me Good, in 2002 through Terminus Records, more than 30 years after George Mitchell first recorded her in Juniper. She was 60 years old. Fool Me Good was an instant success. The album was nominated for two W.C. Handy Awards, including Acoustic Blues Album of the Year and Best New Artist Debut, and won three Living Blues Awards. In 2004, she released The Truth, featuring her son Tony on bass, followed by My Name is Precious Bryant in 2005 through the Music Maker Relief Foundation label. She was once again nominated for two W.C. Handy Blues Awards for best Traditional Blues Female Artist in 2004 and 2006.
Her song "Morning Train" was featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 film Black Snake Moan. While Bryant loved playing music, she disliked the travel that came with her career. Ultimately, she preferred performing at local gatherings and talent shows “within a six hour radius of her home.” Although Bryant’s Fool Me Good album helped to generate a loyal fan base and the recognition she deserved, she remained grounded, describing her music as an extension of her life.
“I will always be playing the blues, as long as I live. The blues tells the truth. Sometimes it is sad, sometimes it be happy – it works all kind of ways,” she said. She continued to perform for friends while making an occasional appearance at a local club or festival.
Precious Bryant died at the age of 71 years on January 12, 2013, in Columbus, Georgia, from complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure. She left behind a legacy as a bridge between traditional and modern blues. Blues researcher Barry Lee Pearson called her “a woman who played the blues like folks want to hear it” Her recordings and performances have ensured her place in blues history as “Georgia’s Daughter of the Blues.”
(Edited from Lady Plays The Blues Project, Wikipedia & AllMusic)
