Ran into Brett Dennen by accident this past weekend as an opener at the Ben Folds/John Mayer show at Red Rocks. Never heard the guy play until he took the stage and I have to say I was fully impressed. In fact, I didn’t even know what the band’s name was, but five songs into their set I knew I really liked it. Even turned to a friend and said, “I think I am going to buy this band’s CD at set-break.” Before his final song in the opening set, he said he was going to playing up in Boulder the following night. Turned out I already had tickets and didn’t even know it as a friend asked me if I wanted to go check him out a few days prior. His set ended, he got a standing ovation as an opener and I went and bought his CD along with the new overly-priced, 20-ounce Red Rocks beer for $7.25.
Brett Dennen is not 19-years-old like everyone is saying. More than a few people mentioned to me that he was in his teens. He is actually 28 and even though his childish face shows a younger age, being older doesn’t make his songwriting and unique style any less impressive. He has released two albums; his self-titled debut album in 2004 and So Much More this past November. I ended up buying So Much More and listened to the entire album on the drive back to Boulder from Red Rocks. This album is very much instantly likable. It is an acoustically driven album that focuses on Dennen’s knack for clever lyrics and self-introspection. The sound of the album does differ from his live show, which features an equal amount of electric and acoustic guitars, but it is still a solid piece of work and should be put on the radar for anyone who enjoys James Taylor, Tracy Chapman, Paul Simon or Jack Johnson. I would also like to point out that if Jim Henson created a folk-singer Muppet he would have created Brett Dennen. Go see him live and you will know what I am talking about.
Check out a few of his tunes here:
http://www.myspace.com/brettdennen
Check out his website here:
Or watch a in studio performance here:
