Arts & Entertainment

Local Musician Brady Rymer Lands New Gig

Brady Rymer will be playing bass for the Laurie Berkner Band.

Grammy nominated children's musician and Southold resident Brady Rymer has big news.

Rymer announced last week that he's got a new gig, as bass player for The Laurie Berkner Band.

The new stint is a win-win: Rymer, who's well known on the North Fork for the joyful children's music he creates and performs with the Little Band That Could, will be playing bass with Berkner, who is well-known for her children's music in the Kindie rock genre.

Rymer said he's thrilled to team up with a woman he considers a collaborator and a friend. "Laurie is exciting," he said. "To be a part of her band and her concert experience -- it reaches a lot of kids, and it's something I really love being a part of."

This weekend, Rymer will perform with Berkner's band at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Berkner, who has been called a "kind of sippy cup Sheryl Crow," by Time, is well-known to the Nickelodeon's Nick. Jr. audience and to pint-sized crowds across the country, and has long been someone Rymer's admired.

"Back in the early days, when I was going to the Bank Street Bookstore on the upper West Side to see if they wanted to carry my first CD, I'd see her cassettes and CDs there," Rymer said.

The pair met through a mutual friend and have found a collaborative groove over the years since. "She was nice enough in those early days to have us open for her a couple of times," Rymer said. "We've been mutual fans of each other for a long time now."

Berkner sang on Rymer's latest recording, "Love Me For Who I Am," which was released in 2011. Rymer, in turn, collaborated on a spiritual selection for a holiday album Berkner put out last December.

"She's very open with her band, open for suggestions," Rymer said. "I look forward to some more collaborations."

The new gig, Rymer said, won't take him far from his Southold home and family. Berkner, he said, has a family in New York, and most concerts are scheduled in the area.

Rymer wants his loyal fans to know that the new plans "will in no way stop me and the Little band from making records."

A full slate of performances are scheduled with the Little Band that Could over the coming months, Rymer said. "I'm convinced that the more music I make, the more music I will want to do," he said. "This will inspire me to make more music, period."

Rymer's infectious, joy-filled music has children across the board dancing -- and it's a career he plans to embrace long after his first tiny fans have tykes of their own.

"I went out on the road with a rock band years ago that played the same day as Willie Nelson," he said. "I saw him getting off the tour bus, sweet old Willie, and I pretty much saw my future. These kids will be kicking my old self and my guitar off the stage. You should do whatever you love to do as long as you can."

Looking ahead, Rymer said his musical style meshes seamlessly with Berkner's. "I didn't really know how much they meshed, until I got inside of her music. To learn it, you really have to get inside and it was a sense of 'Wow, they really do mesh.' The main thing is the optimism and the joy -- and the upbeat drive to it all. It's a language I understand." 

The music, he added, is a mix of pop, rock, funk, and country, with the "whole 60s Motown girl group" part of the sound, too.

"The other thing that's really nice is the vocal aspect of her band -- everybody sings. There are a lot of harmonies and singing that, in turn, get the audience singing."  

Rymer subbed for the band's former bass player before signing on full-time.

Playing for kids, Rymer said, is a unique experience, one he revels in. "Kids are so open and energetic and able to just feel good and be themselves," he said. "They'e so uninhibited, and so willing to go with you as far as you want to go, as long as you're being honest with them, and they're not conned or talked down to. It's easier than you think, if you're open and have the right energy and the right kind of smile."

Berkner, Rymer said, relates to children on a similar level. "She is so open and talented and kind and loving with these kids," he said. "She's really impassioned about who she is and what she has to offer that it rubs off -- and you can't help but wiggle and sing right along."
 
The pair are planning a holiday show for November and December that Rymer hopes to bring close to East End audiences. "We've got our fingers crossed to play Long Island in the wintertime," Rymer said.

Meanwhile, Rymer and the Little Band will be playing locally on July 4 in Riverhead before the fireworks show at the Peconic Riverfront, as well as in Greenport on July 30; the band will also perform at the All for the East End event at Martha Clara Vineyards on August 19. For a full schedule of Rymer's performances, click here.


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