Bryan has studied every kind of music from every decade since the traditional ragtime of the late 1800s, and from almost every country as well. That includes worldbeat; different musics from each continent (yes, except Antarctica) as well as lots of really big islands.
So he's basically been influenced by everything and craves sharing the universal language of music.
Scott Joplin's music on the soundtrack to "The Sting" inspired Bryan to
teach himself ragtime on the piano by age 13. The Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Paul Simon, and Elton John helped inspire Bryan to write his first hundred songs before he got his driver's license.
Don't tell anyone but in the 80s there was a band named gostbit (pronounced "ghostbeat") in nashville, and they released a thoroughly popped/funked 45rpm record which received scattered but heavy airplay in the eastern US, Canada, and Europe as well as rave international reviews.
Bryan has written over 400 songs; now come on, you're bound to find a few in there you like.
In 1986 Bryan had some experiences with King Crimson's
Robert Fripp and his Crafty Guitarists Workshop Series, which he recalls as a powerful fusion of the creativity of music with a philosophical/spiritual mindset.
African drumming, Balinese, and tons of World Beat were also intense subjects of his study throughout that decade and since. Other phases spanned styles from funk to punk, classical to bluegrass, tribal drumming to tin pan alley, classic rock to that good old new wave music, musique concret´ to electronica, folk to jazz, and ragtime to free time. This created the heart and soul of Ghostbeat. Check the influences page for overwhelming details.
It has been made available here for posterity/curiosity's sake.
At around 8 years old, he gave his snare drum, cymbal to his pals while he strummed a tennis racket to the records of the Guess Who, Mae West, Three Dog Night, Frank Sinatra, the Partridge Family and Ray Stevens putting on his own neighborhood american bandstands. A few birthdays later his first actual guitar ($11.97 K-mart blue-light special) led him to school performances and a modest midwest tour with his church youth group.