Don Brennan is another one of the many musicians who begged his parents for a guitar after watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.
This mostly self taught player learned many different styles by lifting tunes off of records and then eight track tapes produced by his
favorite artists ranging from America to Emerson Lake and Palmer. Though his first love is the acoustic guitar, he also enjoyed performing as
bass player in the band “Audio” during the early eighties at venues such as The Troubadour, Starwood, Cuckoo’s Nest and many others.
Fingerstyle soon became the tool for his expression with influences from greats like Chet Atkins and Leo Kotke.
It wasn’t until he heard the late great Michael Hedges that he knew his acoustic path was laid out. He began composing and covering pieces
of music drawing on the unique “tap and slap” style.
Don partnered up with Michele Thomas in 1997 and formed the band “The Naked Eye” who has released three CDs on which
includes some of his acoustic solo work. They have performed at The Coach House, BB Kings, The LA Music Awards, local colleges, and on
The Poorman’s PTV television show. Don has just released his first solo acoustic instrumental CD entitled, “Well, to begin with...”.
In 2004, Don won the grand prize for his solo guitar work at the First Annual Gathering of Artists and has been nominated
three times at the Orange County Music Awards and twice at the Inland Empire Awards for Best Instrumental. In 2008 he performed on the television
show “DayBreak OC” which can be seen on YouTube and he won Best Acoustic Artist and performed at The First Annual Star Music Awards at
The Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood.
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