Few central Arkansas musicians are as well known for their music and their political activities as Rod Bryan.
Bryan, who has had a prolific career as a member of Ho Hum, as well as other projects, solo and with the band First Baptist Chemical, has also done more than just express his opinions on vital public issues. He has run for office before, and is poised to do so again, he says. An independent candidate for governor in 2006 when Mike Beebe won the office, Bryan is now considering running for the U.S. Senate.
There was even a 2010 documentary film about Bryan’s quixotic candidacy, Independent for Governor, which was made by a University of Central Arkansas professor.
His latest band, OilFLOWer, which consists of Ben Hubbard on drums, Dickie Pool on bass and Dennis Ouellette on guitar, will perform at Stickyz Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken Shack on Wednesday. Bryan, whose original instrument was bass, now plays guitar while in OilFLOWer - a band whose name was inspired by the March 29 Exxon oil pipeline spill in Mayflower.
“I made a concept album, named OilFLOWer, about the oil spill and the media blackout that happened,” Bryan says. “I also filmed a bunch of stuff I saw there and got at loggerheads with the law. And the album, which has 14songs, is kind of a nod to Neil Young, who came there one day to see for himself what was going on.”
The prolific Bryan recently made a video of “Former Lover,” a country song he says was inspired by the Gotye song, “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
“So many songs only express the viewpoint of one person in a relationship,” Bryan says, “and I decided to write a song that lets both sides have their say. I had to find a woman who could sing in a way that would remind listeners of a classic George Jones and Tammy Wynette duo or something like that. I’d heard Megan Michelle at one of those singer-songwriter nights at The Afterthought, but she didn’t think she could sing country.
“I pointed out that since she’s from Arkansas, she is bound to have that ability, and she did.”Rod Bryan & OilFLOWer
Opening act: Crash Culture, featuring Megan Michelle
9 p.m. Wednesday, Stickyz
Rock ’n’ Roll Chicken
Shack, 107 River Market
Ave., Little Rock
Admission: $5
(501) 372-7707
stickyz.com
Style, Pages 33 on 12/03/2013