So 2007 is nearly over, and there’s one artist who I feel should have made a bigger splash this year – Brett Dennen.
This kid brought the goods with his 2006 album, “So Much More”, but surprisingly his music is only now beginning to reach a larger audience, thanks to an opening slot for John Mayer.
2008 has to be the year for Dennen. There’s no ways that music such as this should remain only a big deal online. Part Jack Johnson, part Dave Matthews, part Tracy Chapman, part early John Mayer (and, dare we say it, part Dylan if he continues to grow and mature?)… Dennen’s use of jazzy chord structures and a voice that epitomises warmth signals big things that are far too long overdue.
Perhaps the song that best exemplifies Brett Dennen’s song-writing chops is the song, “Ain’t No Reason”. At once a song decrying the way we live:
“prison walls still standing tall
some things never change at all
keep on building prisons,
gonna fill them all.
keep on building bombs
gonna drop them all
working your fingers bare to the bone
breaking your back, make you sell your soul
like a lung is filled with coal, suffocating slow”
… it gives us back hope with the chorus:
“but love will come set me free
love will come set me free
i do believe
love will come set me free
i know it will”
Here’s the song below. Listen. Love. Support.
Brett Dennen – Ain’t No Reason
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