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| photo by paul dunkley |
What You Don’t Even Know
I believe everyone has favorites; a
favorite color, a favorite food, a favorite sibling. You know what you like,
and you gravitate towards it. But what if you may like something and you just
don’t know it yet?
This is how I felt seeing Brett Dennen at
The Lobero for the first time. “Singer slash Songwriter” isn't my favorite
music genre. Not that I have anything against the genre or its musicians, it’s
just not my favorite so I don’t gravitate towards it. But I happen to hang out
with some musically savvy people who dig Brett Dennen, so I thought I’d give
him a gander.
Brett Dennen is a tall, skinny man with
big glasses and red
hair. Coming out on stage barefoot, he still stood taller
than his bandmates. Upon breaking out in a quirky dance during his first song,
the ladies in the audience started screaming. I didn't get it – I thought
something must have happened somewhere else in the auditorium. But no, it
continued every time Brett did a little wiggle. He really knew how to sell this
“I’m just a dork that can sing” thing.
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| photo by paul dunkley |
This leads to the music. The music was
quirky and upbeat, like Dennen. The first couple of songs in the set sounded
slightly like some other song I had heard – although I couldn't quite place
them. I found this to be a bit distracting as I tried to identify the corresponding
songs. But as the audience became livelier, I let go of the activity and became
more engaged in the performance.
Dennen had a full range of genres
covered under his singer slash songwriter umbrella. He started with the mellow
guitar melodies, moved into upbeat dancing tunes, crossed over into country,
then hit just a patch of rock, before jumping into pop. Then brought it back around
once the crowd was up and dancing, taking over the Lobero.
Throughout the 20 plus song set list,
Dennen set poetry to music spewing words of wisdom and of lessons learned. Each
song seemed to have its owned designated movement to help emphasize its meaning
and portray its feeling – which continued to set off the ladies. And although
Dennen did not convert me to the singer slash songwriter side, I now know I can
appreciate it.