Bio
Brian Buracker was born in Fairfax, Virginia, where he attended elementary school in Fairfax County until he was 11 years old, when his family moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia–a city in the Shenandoah Valley. Although he was introduced to various musical instruments at a very young age, the catalysts for his passion for the bass were two suggestions by his older brother, Dave, to get a bass and take lessons so they could start a band together. Brian instantly fell in love with the bass; during his high school years, he played in a number of project bands and learned a substantial number of songs and bass techniques of early influences. For approximately two years as a teenager, Brian took music lessons from Eric Hedrick, a noted and very talented music instructor in Harrisonburg.
Shortly after graduating high school, Brian enrolled in James Madison University (JMU) to pursue his undergraduate degree. While attending JMU, he continued work on his bass techniques and looked to new influences for inspiration. Additionally, he began playing the guitar and learning songs of some of his favorite singer/songwriter artists. He graduated JMU with a BS in Public Administration. After graduating JMU and moving back to Fairfax, Virginia, he took bass lessons from Anthony Wellington, a noted bassist and musician who teaches bass and music theory. Wellington, who lives in Maryland, is often seen on stage with noted bassist Victor Wooten. During this time period, Brian began performing solo bass pieces, including Pachelbel’s Canon in D, in open mic sessions in Arlington and Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Brian played bass approximately six months in a band, which toured full time along the East Coast, from Georgia to New York. When he left that band, he took a break from music. The break, however, was short-lived. He decided to explore an additional vista: songwriting and singing. Brian attributes some of his early focus on, and interest in, poetry as the foundation for songwriting. He explains, “My brother introduced me to a lot of the songwriting and poetry greats in my teenage years; so, when I began writing songs, these songwriters and poets served as a source of inspiration.”
As a bass player, one obstacle Brian faced was writing songs around the bass as a lead instrument. He states, “It always frustrated me that I couldn’t express myself on the bass the way many of my music influences sang and played guitar. This frustration caused me to put in a lot of time to come up with guitar-like bass parts in order to fill both guitar and bass roles at the same time while singing.”
After writing and composing a substantial number of songs, Brian selected 11 songs for his first comprehensive release entitled “Within This Brief Time.” In addition to writing and singing the songs, playing the bass, and playing guitar for the song “Pass By,” Brian serves as the composer, arranger and co-producer of the album.
While Brian owns a number of basses, his primary instruments are a Fodera five-string Monarch (a one of a kind that he designed), a Fodera four-string Monarch, and a 1973 Fender Jazz bass with a preamp installed. (See the Equipment section of the website to learn more about his basses and equipment used on and off stage.)
According to Brian, the works of a number of great musicians have served as a source of inspiration for the development of his unique style of music. They include Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Les Claypool (Primus), Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, Mike Dirnt (Greenday), Dave Matthews, Peter Gabriel, Marcus Miller, David Gray, Bob Dylan, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Sting, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Johnson, Son House and Stanley Clarke.
In addition to Eric Hedrick on guitar (and also co-producer), Brian selected three additional excellent musicians for his record: Michael Drungo on drums, Russell Williams on percussion and Walter Tates on saxophone. He will begin playing live with his band in the very near future. “Within This Brief Time” is now available for sale on his official website, various music stores, live performances and through digital music providers. See the Store portion for details.
