John Brannen
Encyclopedia
John Brannen is an American Roots rock
/ Heartland rock
, singer-songwriter whose song, “Somebody,” appeared on the most recent Eagles record, Long Road Out of Eden
. Brannen is heralded as an "underground legend," and has been active as a songwriter and performer since the early ‘80s.http://www.slydogrecords.com/johnb.htm/
is mother worked for the American consulate. Brannen’s father, a cotton broker of some note, died unexpectedly and under strange circumstances in Brazil
shortly before John was born. After his father’s death, Brannen’s mother moved to the coastal town of Bluffton, South Carolina
where she would later raise John with help from her father. It was through his maternal grandfather - a man of stature with a predilection for classic poets, especially Tennyson
and Longfellow
- that Brannen first came into touch with his passion for lyricism and, subsequently, music. By the time he turned eighteen, Brannen had hitchhiked across the United States, surfed extensively in Hawaii, and sailed the West Indies. It was around this period in time that he became acquainted with Waylon Jennings
, who he cites as “the voice,” and his paramount influence. After a brief stint at The College of William & Mary where he planned to major in political science, Brannen abandoned secondary education for a career in music.
and Nashville before being wheedled into a move to the West Coast by Joe Walsh
, guitarist for the Eagles, who had become a friend and mentor of Brannen’s. The move to Los Angeles
quickly paid off, as Brannen landed an artist deal at the Capitol Records
imprint, Apache Records. His Apache debut, Mystery Street
found its way into the Top 20, and the music video for his first single "Desolation Angel" garnered considerable attention as an MTV
Hip Clip. By 1993, in the wake of the success of Mystery Street
, Brannen was courted and then signed by the recently renamed Mercury Nashville Records. His eponymous debut for Mercury Nashville contained the single “Moonlight and Magnolias,” which became a Top 10 hit on VH1
. In an effort to launch Brannen’s career, Mercury Nashville chose him for one of three slots on the famed Triple Play Tour. The remaining two slots were filled by Shania Twain
and Toby Keith
.
In the wake of the Triple Play Tour, Brannen went on a self-imposed hiatus, settling in Charleston’s French Quarter
and "burying himself in the sand," as he has put it. Seven years passed between his eponymous Mercury Nashville debut and Scarecrow, his 2000 release for Corazong Records. After Scarecrow, Brannen was courted by Sly Dog Records, where he currently resides.
Since his return to the limelight in 2000, Brannen has been compared to Bruce Springsteen
, John Mellencamp
, Tom Petty
, and Jackson Browne
. Of these comparisons, Springsteen is the most frequently posited. The Good Thief and Twilight Tattoo, released in 2004 and 2006, respectively, are his most recent records. Twilight Tattoo, which features “A Cut So Deep,” a duet with Lucinda Williams
, was co-produced by Brannen and David Z.
, whose credits include Prince
, Buddy Guy
, Johnny Lang, and Leo Kottke
, among others. Most recently, Brannen has had success as the songwriter of “Somebody,”
which appeared on the Eagles album, Long Road Out of Eden
, and was co-written with Brannen’s longtime collaborator and friend, Jack Tempchin
. Brannen is currently in the studio with David Z.
working on the followup to Twilight Tattoo.
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
/ Heartland rock
Heartland rock
Heartland rock is a genre of rock music that developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 1980s, when it became one of the best-selling genres in the United States. It was characterized by a straightforward musical style, a concern with the average, blue collar American life, and a...
, singer-songwriter whose song, “Somebody,” appeared on the most recent Eagles record, Long Road Out of Eden
Long Road Out of Eden
Long Road Out of Eden is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eagles, released in 2007 on Lost Highway Records. Nearly six years in production, Long Road Out of Eden is the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979's The Long Run, and along with the four original tracks on 1994 Hell...
. Brannen is heralded as an "underground legend," and has been active as a songwriter and performer since the early ‘80s.http://www.slydogrecords.com/johnb.htm/
Early life
Brannen was born into a prominent and storied Southern family. His parents first met at a diplomatic function in China, where his mother worked for the American consulate. Brannen’s father, a cotton broker of some note, died unexpectedly and under strange circumstances in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
shortly before John was born. After his father’s death, Brannen’s mother moved to the coastal town of Bluffton, South Carolina
Bluffton, South Carolina
The weather in the Bluffton, SC area is typical of the Southeast with generally mild temperatures from Fall through Spring and a warm and humid Summer. There can be occasionally snow flurries in the winter but that is quite unusual....
where she would later raise John with help from her father. It was through his maternal grandfather - a man of stature with a predilection for classic poets, especially Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
and Longfellow
Longfellow
Longfellow may refer to:* Longfellow, Minneapolis, United States** Longfellow , Minneapolis, United States* Longfellow, Oakland, California, United States* Longfellow , one of America's first great thoroughbred racehorses...
- that Brannen first came into touch with his passion for lyricism and, subsequently, music. By the time he turned eighteen, Brannen had hitchhiked across the United States, surfed extensively in Hawaii, and sailed the West Indies. It was around this period in time that he became acquainted with Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, who he cites as “the voice,” and his paramount influence. After a brief stint at The College of William & Mary where he planned to major in political science, Brannen abandoned secondary education for a career in music.
Career
In the ‘80s Brannen spent time in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Nashville before being wheedled into a move to the West Coast by Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
, guitarist for the Eagles, who had become a friend and mentor of Brannen’s. The move to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
quickly paid off, as Brannen landed an artist deal at the Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
imprint, Apache Records. His Apache debut, Mystery Street
Mystery Street
Mystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
found its way into the Top 20, and the music video for his first single "Desolation Angel" garnered considerable attention as an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Hip Clip. By 1993, in the wake of the success of Mystery Street
Mystery Street
Mystery Street is a black-and-white film noir directed by John Sturges with cinematography by famed lensman John Alton. The film stars Ricardo Montalban, Bruce Bennett, and Elsa Lanchester....
, Brannen was courted and then signed by the recently renamed Mercury Nashville Records. His eponymous debut for Mercury Nashville contained the single “Moonlight and Magnolias,” which became a Top 10 hit on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. In an effort to launch Brannen’s career, Mercury Nashville chose him for one of three slots on the famed Triple Play Tour. The remaining two slots were filled by Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
and Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...
.
In the wake of the Triple Play Tour, Brannen went on a self-imposed hiatus, settling in Charleston’s French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
and "burying himself in the sand," as he has put it. Seven years passed between his eponymous Mercury Nashville debut and Scarecrow, his 2000 release for Corazong Records. After Scarecrow, Brannen was courted by Sly Dog Records, where he currently resides.
Since his return to the limelight in 2000, Brannen has been compared to Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...
, Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
, and Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
. Of these comparisons, Springsteen is the most frequently posited. The Good Thief and Twilight Tattoo, released in 2004 and 2006, respectively, are his most recent records. Twilight Tattoo, which features “A Cut So Deep,” a duet with Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
, was co-produced by Brannen and David Z.
David Z.
David Z is a music producer, engineer, mixer, and writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota who currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He is most well known for his long-standing work with Prince, but has also contributed to award winning albums by Etta James, Billy Idol, BoDeans, Buddy Guy, Neneh...
, whose credits include Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
, Johnny Lang, and Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
, among others. Most recently, Brannen has had success as the songwriter of “Somebody,”
Long Road Out of Eden
Long Road Out of Eden is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eagles, released in 2007 on Lost Highway Records. Nearly six years in production, Long Road Out of Eden is the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979's The Long Run, and along with the four original tracks on 1994 Hell...
which appeared on the Eagles album, Long Road Out of Eden
Long Road Out of Eden
Long Road Out of Eden is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eagles, released in 2007 on Lost Highway Records. Nearly six years in production, Long Road Out of Eden is the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979's The Long Run, and along with the four original tracks on 1994 Hell...
, and was co-written with Brannen’s longtime collaborator and friend, Jack Tempchin
Jack Tempchin
Jack Tempchin is an American musician and singer-songwriter, best known for writing the Eagles classic "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and co-writing their hits "Already Gone", "The Girl From Yesterday," "Somebody," and "It's Your World Now."...
. Brannen is currently in the studio with David Z.
David Z.
David Z is a music producer, engineer, mixer, and writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota who currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. He is most well known for his long-standing work with Prince, but has also contributed to award winning albums by Etta James, Billy Idol, BoDeans, Buddy Guy, Neneh...
working on the followup to Twilight Tattoo.
Discography
- Mystery Street 1988
- John Brannen 1993
- Scarecrow 2000
- The Good Thief 2004
- Twilight Tattoo 2006