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IN BRIEF
Toronto-based singer and songwriter Michael Brennan takes country music seriously — but his strong, distinct voice and his crack band put a sharp edge on the songs he writes. There’s sentiment in what he writes and sings, but hardly a trace of sentimentality.
Originally from Cape Breton, Brennan has released his second solo album: Anywhere But Here is a roots rockin’ country record with heart and soul, set in the middle of a big smoky, busy city — but with a clear memory of where he’s from.
The new CD, produced by David Travers-Smith, features the best crack rhythm section in Canada, Gary Craig (drums) and John Dymond (bass) and the astonishing guitar playing of Kevin Breit, best known for his recorded and touring work with Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, and Harry Manx.
Anywhere But Here is as big, as honest, and as real as the man who wrote the songs and sings them with the heart and guts they demand.
IN FULL
Michael Brennan: A big man who sings the truth.
Anywhere But Here is a strong, rough-around-the-edges second album;
country music with heart, soul and urban smarts.
Michael Brennan is a big man; slightly rumpled, like many people who teach for a living, have wives and families, and don’t drive late model cars fresh off GM’s production lines.
But, as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by the cover.
Michael Brennan is on stage, fronting his crack edgy country band, with some of the best musicians in Toronto. He’s in charge and suddenly the attention is on a voice that rumbles and trembles, and on songs that are as true and direct as the man who is singing them.
Now he’s released his second solo album:Anywhere But Here is a roots rockin’ country record with heart and soul, set in the middle of a big smoky, busy city — but with a clear memory of where he’s from. This is a place, sometimes, where you’d rather not be, if you had the choice.
Michael Brennan is the voice of REAL country music in Toronto. “Country” with edge, true stories, full of honest characters who’ve loved and lost more often than they’ve won. There’s sentiment here, but not much sentimentality. He’s seen a lot; Brennan is the sort of guy — like the characters in his songs — who’s been there and done that and survived.
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Michael Brennan’s story: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia born and raised, moved from the salt air to Toronto’s smog, settled down, and formed The Wayward Angels. Four years of hard graft in bars and clubs, and, finally, one well-received and well-reviewed CD.
Six years later — with vitally important time in between to raise a family, dig into a teaching career (math is his specialty), and write more songs — Brennan came back with his first solo CD. Cautious Man was a collection of 11 of those songs, smoothly produced by Chad Irschick.
It didn’t change Brennan’s life; he is a cautious man, and he hung on to his day job, and continued to play his important role as a parent. He played more club gigs than he did before, did his annual summer tour to the Maritimes, and watched with a smile as the critics — from Toronto to Texas, the Netherlands to Nova Scotia — praised his work with enthusiasm.
“A gotta-hear artist,” said Roots Music Report, based in Texas. “A country-rock hybrid,” said the Toronto Sun, while the Toronto Star called it “a fine collection of new original (songs).” Others invoked the names of a coterie of amazing artists — Roy Orbison, Steve Earle, Waylon Jennings, Neil Young and Nick Lowe among them in an attempt to put Brennan’s songs, voice and music in perspective.
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Michael Brennan doesn’t let that sort of stuff go to his head. Instead, he sits down, and creates more songs, more lyrics that cut to the bone, and a new record.
And then goes out and plays ’em in clubs and at concerts and festivals, where he reaches, directly, the people he singings about and singing for.
The new CD, produced by David Travers-Smith, features the best crack rhythm section in Canada, Gary Craig (drums) and John Dymond (bass) and the astonishing guitar playing of Kevin Breit, best known for his recorded and touring work with Norah Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Harry Manx, and his own bands, Sisters Euclid and Folk Alarm. Breit played no less than seven stringed instruments during the sessions for the record, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins, banjo, mandola, mando-cello and dobro.
Other players on the CD include Rob Guzevs on organ, Rebecca Campbell on background vocals, Steve Dawson on pedal steel, and guitarist Steve Briggs — who plays with Brennan’s band on live appearances.
All the songs are Brennan originals, with the exception of a classic Townes van Zandt song, No Place to Fall, and Mystery Train, the Junior Parker rhythm and blues tune that was turned into a smash hit by Elvis Presley, and which opens the CD.
More importantly, all the songs all have the ring of truth. Anywhere But Here is as big, as honest, and as real as the man who wrote the songs and sings them with the heart and guts they demand.
For that alone, Michael Brennan deserves attention and applause.
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