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If you live in Boston (or its immediate environs), you've probably seen Dennis Brennan at some point, or at least heard his rootsy, Dylan-esque rock emanating from a cramped, smoke-choked little bar as you tried to avoid getting run over by some local menace behind the wheel. If you don't live in Boston and you're a grown-up fan of singer-songwriters who have done their homework -- yet somehow have been overlooked by the idiots who run the music business -- Brennan's refusal to glop a bunch of studio cheese and backroom gimmickry on his sometimes bleak tales of the human experience is going to make your day. His 1995 debut Jack-in-the-Pulpit follows a straight Roots/pop sound that comes from somewhere deep within Tom Petty country, but it's his more recent efforts Iodine in the Wine (1997) and Rule No. 1 (2000) that find him growing into his talent and beyond his immediate influences, with his early radio ambitions forgone for a fuller, more eclectic sound. Brennan's country flirtations come on stronger, with a light shading of candlelit jazz adding a touch of class to the somewhat broken-down proceedings. Brennan's particular take on the legacy of Gram Parsons is all his own, and for that reason alone, he's worth listening to.
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