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Written by Tara Lacey
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Tuesday, 19 May 2009 |
 Brett Dennen and his acoustic onstage. Photo by Flickr's humboldthead.
When you tune in to Dennen expect a mellow mix of playful guitar and soulful, slow vocals. Though his instrumentation will have you tapping your toes, Dennen’s vocals are what make his music as signature to him as his fiery red hair. It’s as if he feels every word.
Dennen's music has been featured on numerous television shows, including Fox’s “House”, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and NBC’s “Scrubs.” In 2007, he was named to Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Artists to Watch and for good reason. With undeniable hooks and jovial melodies such as 2006’s “Ain’t No Reason,” “She’s Mine” and “Darlin’ Do Not Fear,” Dennen creates for himself a musical fingerprint of sorts, raising the bar for folk lyricists. He truly owns the mellow, semi-twangy and masterfully composed style characteristic of all three of his releases.
Most recently, Dennen released Hope for the Hopeless, an album which stays true to his signature sound with hit songs such as the afro-beat inspired “Make You Crazy,” which peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 2008, and the heartfelt “Ain’t Gonna Lose You.”
Dennen also is a humanitarian working in his native California with The Mosaic Project, which promotes peace by uniting children of diverse backgrounds. His peacenik state of mind bleeds over into his musical composition; in fact, he even has an EP entitled simply “Peace.” His successes have proved that Dennen is far more than a garden variety hippie or folk artist. He musters serious staying power.
[Brett Dennen official Web site, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Mosaic Project, Front page image by Flickr's "humboldthead"]
[Tara Lacey, a TheSequitur.com contributor, is a freelance writer out of Austin, Texas.]
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