VIDEO: Wally Bryson Talks
Rocker & friends play benefit concert
As the lead guitarist of the Raspberries, Wally Bryson played and sang on international hit records. Before the Raspberries, he was a member of a couple of Cleveland’s favorite bands, including The Choir, who scored a national hit with It’s Cold Outside.
After the Raspberries, he joined the rock group Fotomaker, with two former members of the Rascals. This coming Saturday he’s playing a benefit concert at the Beachland Ballroom that will be a retrospective of his career, along with several members of his former groups and other legendary Cleveland musicians. In addition, his son, Jesse, is bringing his band in from New York to play in the concert as well.
It’s a fund-raiser for Roots of American Music (ROAM), a Cleveland Heights-based educational organization. Cool Cleveland’s David Budin interviewed Bryson recently about his career and about ROAM. Wally talks about learning guitar riffs from some of the masters, like Pete Townshend, Jimmy Paige, Jeff Beck and Zal Yanovsky; the importance of the work that ROAM is doing; getting lost as a child at Euclid Beach… it’s a wide-ranging conversation.
The concert takes place at the Beachland Ballroom on Sat 10/22, at 8PM. Tickets for the concert are $45. A few VIP tickets are still available, for $125, which includes dinner, a meet-&-greet with the performers, valet parking, preferred seating and more. For tickets call 216-321-9353.
David Budin is a freelance writer and a folk and rock musician, whose folk group, Long Road, performs occasionally. He is a former editor of Northern Ohio Live and Cleveland Magazine. His writing focuses on the arts, and especially on pop culture and pop music history. He is currently writing a pop music-related book.