One Sunday evening in the spring of 1994, the PBS series, Austin City Limits, was streaming through the airwaves to a small house in southwest Missouri. A soon to be legend, Stevie Ray Vaughan, was tearing through his signature song, "Texas Flood" as an awe struck 13 year old boy turned to his dad and said, “That’s what I want to do!”
Nathan Bryce’s desire to play and promote the blues he loves has earned him the respect of veteran players from his teenage years to the present. From the beginning of his career, he has opened for and performed with some of the blues music industry’s hottest acts. Tommy Castro, Walter Trout, Chris Duarte, Delbert McClinton, Debbie Davies and the list goes on.
Drawing his inspiration from blues idols Albert King, Albert Collins and Buddy Guy as well as blues rockers Jimi Hendrix and Chris Duarte, Nathan Bryce continues to carry on the blues tradition with his masterful guitar and incredible showmanship.
At 28 years old, Nathan Bryce is already considered a seasoned veteran on the blues scene. After ten years, three bands and hundreds of shows, Nathan Bryce broke out on his own for the city that first inspired him to play the blues, Austin, Texas.
In February of 2007, not two months after Nathan Bryce loaded up and moved to Austin, to pursue his music career, Nathan encountered one very talented musician.
He was Dexter Dowell, on bass, with his country gentleman appearance and accent. Dexter was born in Mississippi and grew up listening to the blues. He started playing guitar when he was 16, and played with several bands throughout the years, in all sorts of genres, including rock, country and the blues. Eleven years ago, in 1997, Dexter moved to Austin and started in and around the Austin music scene. He picked up the bass two years later, in 1999, and has been playing ever since.
Now at fifty-one years old, he is ready for the blues scene once again. "Playing bass for Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice is the best gig of my life. I look forward to entertaining and meeting all the fans. See ya at the show!”
After a year or so of searching Nathan and Dexter finally came across the drummer they were looking for: Frankie Alcon. Born in Alice, Texas, he's been a dyed-in-the-wool Texan all his life, spending the last forty years in Austin. He picked up his first pair of sticks at age 11 and has been hittin' on the drums ever since.
After playing in a few ecelectic and progressive country rock bands, such as Basilisk, who played at the nationally known Armadillo World Headquarters and the Silver City Saddle Tramps who played all over south Texas, Frankie decided to change his rhythm so to speak. Rhythm, Blues and Rock is where he found his niche and he was quite happy to finally be there. A few gigs down on 6th Street later, he runs into Nathan and Dexter. "Nathan and Dexter are not only true professionals, they're also two of the nicest guys you could ever want to play with. Something real and exciting happens when we play together!"
With the three piece complete, Nathan Bryce and Loaded Dice were ready to get the show on the road. They have been welcomed into the Austin music scene, playing at Friend's, Nuno's on 6th, Nuno's North, Cindy's Gone Hog Wild, Saxon Pub, Antone's and Lorraine's to name a few. They competed in the Houston Blues Society Blues Challenge and managed to take first place in the Semi-Finals. They have appeared on "Good Day Live Music" on the local Fox 7 Morning News, were a top pick for this years R.O.T. Rally, scheduled to play on sixth street at Friend's, and earned a spot in the Austin Blues Society Blues Showcase at Antone's.
Within just a years time the band has already earned their spot in the Austin blues scene, and they're just getting started.
