Bryan McPherson

"Bryan sings like we're lucky that he doesn't own a gun."
- Chris Adams, Filter Magazine
"Bryan McPherson paints his artist class reality with a detailed honesty usually found in literature. McPhersons live performances are even more intense than the tracks on his new cd (Fourteen Stories) - The Boston Herald
"Maybe this isn’t the type of disc to throw on at a party, as it might force people to stop partying and start listening"
- Mike Loce, The Noise
"McPherson is a raw emotional performer whose abilities as a Singer Songwriter are only dwarfed by the passion he projects on stage."
- Miguel Miro-Quesada, Melisma Magazine
Fourteen Stories review in The Noise, Rock Around Boston, June 2007
"In the opening bars of the first track, “Poor Boy,” I can see that Bryan is going to use his acoustic strumming as a jackhammer to demolish society’s long standing cinderblocks of bullshit and he does so with little ceremony. Bryan sounds like he’s been up all night, pissed and drinking strong coffee, and then he and his accomplices hit the record button. His delivery is about passion and conviction (not to be confused with items of similar product name sold by Bush/Cheney/Rove Axis of Truly Evil). On the CD, we get Bryan singing with such force that we can see his cords fraying—like a drunken punch in a bar fight, crudely thrown but with true heartfelt conviction. Bryan’s thoughts, however, are quite lucid. If you’re a lyrics nut, you’ll love this stuff. He turns the tables on the aforementioned Axis: “the klan of the bushes/ button-pushin’on-lookin’/wiretappin’, finger-snappin’/attackin’, patriot/…So don’t ya terrorize me!” Today being an angry man isn’t trendy, it’s a civil responsibility. Go Bryan go!
by Dan Leary, The Noise, June 2007
From Le Cirque Du Singe Bris
"Bryan McPherson is a fighter. The battles he faces, though, are not ones fought around last call. They’re ones that derive from within and all that surrounds him. Whether it was struggling to be heard on the busy Boston street corners where he got his start, being broke or contending with heroin addiction, Bryan meets them all head on. The end result is someone filled with a raging confidence. He utilizes and projects that power through songs that tell his stories of walking through fear, questioning authority, society and sexuality with a distinct one-two punch of punk and folk. It has made him a regular on the New York City antifolk scene as well as a cast member of Circus of the Shattered Monkey".
- Rich Van Vleet, Circus of the Shattered Monkey
Fourteen Stories(2007) Review in The Noise, May 2007
"The sense of urgency that Bryan put into his songs is striking. Here’s a young guy with obviously a lot to say, and in Fourteen Stories he tell tales of despair, struggle, and life at its depths. On a close listen, there’s almost a Lou Reed type vocal cynicism in some slower tunes, which is cool. Simple chord structures, repeating themes, and the music actually just serves as a vehicle for the stories in the lyric. You don’t always need Electric Light Orchestra to tell honest songs. Maybe this isn’t the type of disc to throw on at a party, as it might act as an anti- convulsive and force people to stop partying and start listening. But it is great for those nights when the moon is low, the sounds of the city offer only dire self-reflection, and the optimism to be found in life grays with each passing moment."
- Mike Loce, The Noise