INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Dennen’s modern protest music

Brett Dennen, Tom Freund
Birdy’s Bar & Grill
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 8:30 p.m., $8/$10

Folk/rock artist Brett Dennen, performing at Birdy’s Feb. 21 in support of his Love Speaks tour, is on his first solo tour, but he’s already a veteran stage act, having performed with the likes of Sheryl Crow and John Mayer.

“Both of those artists maintain a level of professionalism when they play,” Dennen says. “They stick to the songs, keep it real tight [and] don’t do a lot of banter. I think a lot of artists struggle playing the same songs every night and get bored with it — jam the songs out a bit too much — but I think the real key [to] playing songs every night is [a] meditative process. It’s a headspace you have to get into, a mentality you have to maintain.”

Dennen’s themes resemble the protest-folk music of the 1970s and ’80s, updated for a modern sensibility.

“I think I write about themes that everybody can relate to,” Dennen says. “You can call them political issues, but I call them moral and ethical issues. When I write protest songs, I try to write from the heart, from the people’s heart, and not from my platform towards another person’s political platform … Hopefully the joy that I create for myself on stage is contagious and people are inspired to go out and follow their own dreams.”