Jim Bryson is a musical institution in Ottawa.

He has a passionately loyal fan base who've followed him along what has been a pretty odd musical journey. In the early days of his career Bryson was the front man for a punk band called Punchbuggy. But he gave it up to be a banjo picker.

In his current incarnation, Bryson's music runs from jangling rock songs, to gentle, reflective ballads. Bryson's latest album is called 'Where the Bungalows Roam'. It's hard music to categorize,even for him.

Bryson: "It's music with words, and instruments sung in the language of english. It has elements of folk, and rock and pop, the drums, sometimes it's sticks and brushes, and pianos and organs and it generally softens with age."

In Jim Bryson's music, the city of Ottawa is a recurring character. Ottawa is sometimes referred to as Canada's "small town" capital city. Bryson writes and sings about his frustration with the kind of suburban sprawl he's witnessed around Ottawa.

Bryson: I'm from a village outside the city of Ottawa. It was a town that was very very small, when I was small and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger as every year goes by, and they put in subdivisions, so big it doesn't even have it's name anymore. Now it's just been engulfed by the city.

Bryson's voice has a quality to it like he's been spending his nights smoking unfiltered Camels and drinking his weight in Jack Daniels. Turns out smoking and drinking aren't the cause for that raspiness.

Bryson: "I talk a lot, that's a problem. I talk at inopportune moments - late at night after shows. I had something called chronic laryngitis which i had for a year. That's because I never rested my voice and I never gave my voice a chance to rest - that I keep just running it raw and running it raw so i just stopped singing for a while."

But he continued to write. Bryson has been called one of Canada's most underrated songwriters. He is a man who struggles with self promotion. As a musician, he spends most his time as a supporting player. He tours with Canadian country singer Kathleen Edwards. Bryson doesn't seem to mind just being being part of the band. And he isn't interested in moving from his small town capital city to a larger market.

Bryson: "I know Ottawa and I really like it, and I always joke and say that I'm the one that stayed because I didn't move to another town but it's nice to be apart of something small that everyone helps each other too. I don't do much wild to be honest, I'm a fairly tame, tame Canadian."

Jim Bryson will be venturing beyond Ottawa's city limits soon. He'll be touring the U.S. in the fall.