E D Brayshaw

E D Brayshaw is most commonly known as the guitar playing sidekick of Wily Bo Walker and it has taken him years before releasing this debut CD.

Cutting the story short, this is a superb modern & classic rock album that shows E D Brayshaw off as a multi-instrumentalist and a pretty good vocalist as well as a very strong songwriter – kind of the whole package!

The first thing that struck me about this set was that Brayshaw has a very individual voice, retaining an English accent while playing and singing in a very American idiom – as with Wily Bo it is a rare thing to hear a voice that isn’t just like a hundred others.
The second thing was his bass and drum playing, which is rather fine, bass especially.
When you add to that his guitar playing which covers the gamut of styles from screaming riffage to melodic playing and expressive solos without any apparent effort you have the touch of a very fine musician indeed.

I found myself enjoying every last moment of the album from the emotional ‘Hadn’t I Found You’ with it’s echoes of Carlos Santana in his playing through the powerful and riff laden ‘When The Walls Come Down’ and on to the lovely acoustic and deeply emotional electric soloing on ‘Twilight’. Every track has its’ own identity and his playing and singing takes you to different places in every one of them.

My personal favourite track is ‘Reckless’ which just hits the ear again and again with Brayshaw playing both lead and rhythm and jamming out for over eight minutes.

I’ve been waiting to hear a solo effort from Mr Brayshaw for a looong while – well worth the wait!