New Artist of the Week: Brett Dennen

Call him this year's Ray LaMontagne for me...soulful white guy making really beautiful/if-slightly-funky music mostly on an acoustic guitar. The kind of music you can safely have on in the background during dinner or when friends are over, and yet is still interesting enough to be rewarding when listening to it on its own. Also like Ray, this guy's been around for a few years, but has some great tracks on his latest disc that have the chance of placing him on the map. Either way, it's a very mellow, satisfying listen. Brett's voice is every bit as interesting as his fingerpicking: for a 20 year-old white guy (sources say he may be more like 26 or 27 but dude looks younger than a 19 yr old with a dork dot), his impeccable phrasing and smokiness in his voice recalls a much older, wiser soul (a lot like Joss Stone or Corinne Bailey Rae without the "next superstar of soul" packaging). He's like the love child of Neil Young ("heart of gold" Neil) and Billie Holiday.

So he's the new artist of this week, because somebody had to be first, and he's still relatively "new" to me. When you're in the mood for some pleasant, interesting, singer-songwriter type music, give "So Much More" a spin. There's enough range on the record that you won't feel like you're listening to the same song over and over again (which is the chief plague of singer-songwriters, David Gray...) and it's textured enough to be interesting but earthy enough not to sound like John Mayer (loved his early records though...but I digress). Standout tracks include the world-weary "Ain't No Reason", the (Paul) Simon-esque "Darlin' Do Not Fear" and the borderline bubble-bum guitar pop of "She's Mine". And you can't miss the Dylan references in "I Asked When", which does an admirable job of reviving the early 60's slow-burn protest song.

Perhaps the best track is "One Who Loves You the Most"...a great peppy love song with some nice slack guitar and a tinkling organ in the background offsetting that blue-eyed soul and Lady Day worthy phrasing. Starts almost a capella and adds instruments slowly until building to a steady jam.

Already listened to "So Much More"? What do you think? Haven't yet? Give it a shot and let me know what you think...