Brennan Stoelb can’t be pinned down. He was born in Wisconsin, raised across the border from Kentucky and spent the last two years in the high desert of New Mexico. Fittingly, his music diverges from any one influence, instead lying somewhere between the earnestness of Bob Dylan and the sensitivity of John Denver.

Spending countless hours listening to his parent’s records, which ...  read more

Brennan Stoelb can’t be pinned down. He was born in Wisconsin, raised across the border from Kentucky and spent the last two years in the high desert of New Mexico. Fittingly, his music diverges from any one influence, instead lying somewhere between the earnestness of Bob Dylan and the sensitivity of John Denver.

Spending countless hours listening to his parent’s records, which were dug out of the attic, Brennan was attracted to simplicity. “They said so much, but in a simple way. No matter how often you hear it, you always take away something new,” he says. And it was in that simplicity that Brennan began writing songs at 16, formed his first band and began to play festivals, fundraisers, coffeehouses and backyards throughout Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In early 2009, Brennan released his first CD, “Shipwrecks and Troubled Minds.” The single “American Girls” received extensive radio play throughout Brennan’s home state and was featured in the documentary, “Kentucky Bourbon.” The song “Sail On Ilona,” won accolades from the Woody Guthrie Folk Contest.

As 2010 came to a close, Brennan released his second full-length album, “Tumbleweed.” The album reflects Brennan’s two years in the deserts of New Mexico. “The desert has a lot of extremes. And depending on your emotional state, you’re left in awe of the openness or you feel like you’re falling off the face of the earth. The same can be said for life in general,” he says. With evocative lyrics that are filled with hopefulness and despair, delivered in a gravelly voice, reminiscent of Tom Waits, with sweet and honest melodies, “Tumbleweed” resonates with listeners and those who feel, as Brennan says, “Like the drifting of a tumbleweed, I was only wanting to be free.”

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