Soul singer/songwriter Bryan "Professor Buggy Jive" Thomas

In today's post, Paul Grondahl interviews soul singer/songwriter Bryan "Professor Buggy Jive" Thomas. (Editor's note: The interview was recorded prior to the George Floyd killing and the ensuing protests that have gripped the nation.)

A graduate of Niskayuna High School and Middlebury College, where he majored in literature, Bryan works in an actual office -- in non-quarantine times -- in online communications, and spends a good amount of time in his home studio. He describes himself as "equal parts Zeppelin and D’Angelo and Prince and Joni in sound and sensibility, his lyrics often mine the literature of the past to make sense of the present – from Ellison to Morrison to Eliot to Didion."

Bryan was our guest, along with Michael Eck and Tainia Asili, for an “Art of Songwriting” discussion held at UAlbany’s Page Hall on April 26, 2019. See video excerpt on our YouTube channel. The late Greg Haymes, music writer for the Times Union and founder of the Nippertown arts/music site, praised Bryan, saying he "writes smart, and he writes from the heart, balancing intellect, passion, and politics.”