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Local Music Mondays is a weekly segment produced by WUKY's DeBraun Thomas. Check here for archived episodes, extended interviews, and extras.

Local Music Monday: Bryan Minks

Derek Feldman, Shaker Steps

This week on Local Music Monday DeBraun Thomas profiles Bryan Minks.

Bryan Minks is a native of Hazard, Kentucky who moved to Lexington in 2002. He started playing in bands in his teens, but after moving to Lexington to go to school and get a job, music took a back seat in his life. Minks says, it could have stayed that way, but he got some encouragement from someone who knows him best.

“My wife came along, I met her and you know, she was really talking to me like ‘why don’t you play your guitar, why don’t you sing, why don’t you do these things you enjoy doing’ and I didn’t have an answer for her and I guess that was really the point when I was like, ‘yeah, this is something I love, this is something I put on the backburner from what I thought life should be about’ and then I just had a spark to play music again and want to be involved in this, I think that was really the point, it was having someone in my life who was able to support what I wanted to do and maybe give me that push I needed to realize that is what I wanted to do.”

In 2010 Minks started the band Those Crosstown Rivals. The band is something he’s been heavily involved in, but more recently he has been working on a new sound. Minks released a solo album, Last Will And Testament, that was recorded at Sneak Attack Recording studio with Jason Groves. While Those Crosstown Rivals is something he continues to dedicate his energy to, Minks says that his solo project just came from a need to evolve.

“I feel like most of the songs that I’ve written for the solo record just wouldn’t fit the mold of TCR and I wanted to have the lyrics, the words, and the story be at the forefront of these songs and so, I wanted to have a record that we just draw back the rock n roll some, I mean it’s still a rock record, but I wanted the vocals and the story to be at the forefront and that’s what people hear and pay attention to.”

Those Crosstown Rivals is a band that has taken him all over the country. The one reoccurring trend that he sees when coming off the road, is coming back to Lexington. Minks says what he feels makes Lexington special, is everyone who lives here and it is like no place he’s ever been.

“Of all the scenes that I’ve seen and we’ve played 300 plus shows with TCR and most of those have been on the road, we’ve got something special here and it’s one of the best cores that I’ve been around, meaning the people involved are some of the best and you know, maybe we don’t have the numbers at shows that you’ll see in bigger cities, but we’re not a big city and I do think we’re making steps, we’re making strides, and if we can just hold that nucleus together, we’re gonna get there, I think there’s gonna be a lot of eyes that’s gonna come here and say ‘wow, look what you guys have done.’”

Bryan Minks performs with Those Crosstown Rivals and Bryan Minks & The Kentucky Sons. Bryan Minks & The Kentucky Sons will be performing at the Burl on November 4th.

More information about Minks and his projects can be found at Thosecrosstownrivals.bandcamp.com and kentuckysons.bandcamp.com.

DeBraun Thomas fell in love with radio at a young age but only had interest in working in radio after learning Funk musician Sly Stone got his start in radio. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Thomas moved to Lexington in 2009 to attend the University of Kentucky and pursue a career in radio. Thomas joined WRFL in 2009 and through the UK school of Journalism, Thomas had 2 features air on WUKY. In October of 2012, Thomas began interning at WUKY and produced the Unghosting of Medgar Evers. In August of 2013 Thomas became a staff member at WUKY and since that time, Thomas regularly produces the weekly segment Local Music Mondays which highlights local musicians in Lexington. Thomas hosts the Crunkadelic Funk Show which airs Saturday nights at 9pm and also produced a documentary on the 50th anniversary of the March on Frankfort. In addition to producing and hosting a radio show, Thomas also explores his other passion as a musician in Lexington.
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