John Brannen

Defining John Brannen's place within the pantheon of American music is no simple task. His journey has taken him to nearly every music capitol—New York, Nashville, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Los Angeles—and his work draws on all their traditions without settling in any. “I’m a Southern American artist,” he has said. “I feel capable of making a bluegrass record and I feel capable of making a jazz record, but what I do is out of the essence of rock ‘n’ roll with Americana, soul and blues influences.” The success of that approach is everywhere in evidence on his latest album, Bravado, his third for Sly Dog Records and his sixth overall. Bravado finds Brannen doing what he does best—channeling a segment of the American psyche. Given the complex nature of 21st century life and the detail and nuance Brannen brings to his work, Bravado is, not surprisingly, a project with real weight and scope.