Skip to content

Twelve-year-old Brandon Niederauer already an old soul

Brandon Niederauer’s not yet a teenager, and already he’s been deemed an old soul by friends and family.
372965_73598306
Brandon Niederauer performs Saturday at the Thunder Bay Blues Festival. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

Brandon Niederauer’s not yet a teenager, and already he’s been deemed an old soul by friends and family.

At 12, the New York-born guitar prodigy has already been on stage with some of the best musician’s in the world, including Derek Trucks, who the youngster calls the best guitarist ever, edging out Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan for top spot on his list.

All three have influenced Brandon, who brought the Thunder Bay Blues Fest crowd to its feet on Saturday afternoon and got his musical start about four years ago after watching Jack Black in School of Rock.

He’d like one day to outstrip them all.

“I always want to be the best in the world or the best ever and that’s always my motivation,” Brandon said.

“So I work harder.”

Brandon said he’s been surrounded by music all his life.

Nicknamed Taz because of his tendency to play the guitar like the Tasmanian Devil might, in 2013 he took part in a music camp where he studied with the likes of Butch Trucks and Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers.

He’s also performed with the likes of Robert Randolph, Gary Clark Jr., Steve Vai and Trombone Shorty.

Oh, and he also was invited to strut his stuff on the Ellen DeGeneres show, further heightening his exposure to the world.

While his classmates tend to listen to the latest pop song, gushing over the likes of Katy Perry, Rihanna or Taylor Swift, Brandon said he’s always marched to the beat of his own drummer.

“I like old stuff. I don’t like the new pop music. I don’t like baseball or anything. I like sports, but music is my thing,” he said.

“People just love music in general, but some people just say, ‘I hate it.’ Some pop songs I love, but dubstep is just too electronic for me. But there’s good and bad an every single type of music.”

Though his Blues Festival Band was mostly comprised of adults, cobbled together with friends of his father’s, Brandon has spent the last three years perfecting his chops with BX2, which stands for Brothers Times Two, a group that represented Long Island, N.Y. at the 2014 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn. That year he was also named Blues Kid of the Year by Fernando Jones.

The Blues Festival continues Saturday night with The Walkervilles, Thunder Bay’s The Chain, Alan Doyle and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.
The event wraps up on Sunday.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more



push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks