Brendan James isn't Green to the music scene

I'm a sucker for the Piano.  Let me just throw that out there right away.  If there is any girl reading this that can play the piano please email me your phone number and I will marry you tomorrow!  Unfortunately for me this is a dude that plays the piano, but he plays it extremely well.
I first heard of Brendan James a couple of years ago, and I don't even remember how.  He, however has been one of those names that seems to come up randomly every couple of months for me.  Whether it be talking with musician friends, or listening to Pandora, or now having the pleasure to know his bass player(Ya Charlie!) his name comes up quite often...and for great reason. 
This guy is so talented I don't even know where to begin.  He is the purest form of a songwriter to me.  He has the ability to take a story and mix it beautifully(but not over the top) with metaphors and feeling.  Some songwriters are strictly storytellers(which isn't a bad thing) and some try so hard to be abstract with metaphors and similes that you have no idea what the hell the song is about, but Brendan molds those two worlds together beautifully.  His song Green is an amazing example of this, and so happens to be the first song I ever heard of his.  So, not only is he fantastic at the piano, writes amazing lyrics to his songs, but he also has the incredible ability or foresight(however you want to reference it) to sing within his abilities.  Now I know that doesn't sound like anything to brag about as a singer, but I think it's an incredible asset to his music.  His voice is very smooth and has sort of a velvety quality to it.  So many singers are out there recording albums trying to prove that they're the best singer in the world.  I think Brendan has a great voice, knows he has a great voice, and doesn't feel the need to try and prove it to anyone.  He writes songs that use his voice perfectly and then when he's recording/singing them, he lets the written notes do their work.  It sounds like such a simple thing but man I think it's important, and he nails it.

Brendan James is pretty well known at the point of releasing his newest album within the last week.  His album is currently #14 on the iTunes best selling albums list.  That proves that he has a good following and that I'm not the only one that follows him.  I bought his CD and was definitely not disappointed.  He continues to play to his strengths as well as playing some fun up beat songs and using some very creative writing, like in the song Stupid for Your Love.  With his new album he did a whole live set that they recorded and have on youtube.  Follow the link above to Stupid for Your Love and watch all the other ones so you can see that he is super talented without all the post production stuff that many artists need to succeed.( And look out for the super sexy Charlie Hajek playing the bass behind him!)

Here's a video for you so you can check him out a little more acoustically.  It's beautiful.  So go grab a glass of wine, put on some comfy clothes, buy Brendans' new self title album on iTunes, and sit back and enjoy.  I promise you won't regret it!

-Kev