Brett Dennen

folk · rock

Brett Dennen is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter from Oakdale, California, born in 1979 and raised among the small farm towns of the Central Valley. He cites Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Neil Young, John Denver and Joni Mitchell as formative, and his songs pair a light, high-register voice with social and environmental themes. He began recording in late 2003; the self-titled debut appeared in 2004 on Three Angels and a Saint, and Dualtone then issued So Much More (2006) and Hope for the Hopeless (2008). Loverboy followed in 2011, Smoke and Mirrors on Atlantic in 2013, then Por Favor (2016), See the World (2021) and If It Takes Forever (2024) — eight studio albums in all. His best-known songs include "Ain't No Reason", "She's Mine", "Make You Crazy", "Wild Child", "Already Gone" and "Comeback Kid (That's My Dog)", which served as the theme to NBC's About a Boy. Rolling Stone named him an artist to watch, and Entertainment Weekly listed him among its eight "Guys on the Rise" in 2008. He opened for John Mayer in 2008, toured Australia with Pete Murray, played the Newport Folk Festival in 2009, recorded "Long Road to Forgiveness" with Jason Mraz for a Survival International benefit album, and appeared on Live From Daryl's House with Daryl Hall in 2014. Away from touring he has been involved since its founding with The Mosaic Project, a California nonprofit running outdoor social-justice and diversity programs for schoolchildren. Dennen performs both solo-acoustic and with a band, and his sets in theatres and performing-arts centres draw across the full two-decade catalogue rather than concentrating on the recent records.

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