| BRIAN CURRAN :: BIO |
Brian Curran is in his early thirties, but don't let that fool you. Brian has been studying blues and fingerstyle guitar for almost 20 years. He keeps his feet planted firmly in the sounds of the past but is not afraid to put his own stamp on things. His original material is a mix of heart felt lyrics and music perfect for anyone's musical tastes. Brian is not just a one man show. He is also known to be with a electric band or with his newest group Folk'n Bluesgrass which is a eclectic mix of Old Time Bluegrass and Blues with some good Rags and Jug Band numbers thrown into the mix.
Brian has performed is some of the area's top venues including, Off Broadway, The Pagent, B.B.'s Jazz Blues & Soups and many more. Brian also travels regionally, both solo and with Folk'n Bluesgrass. On stage Brian puts on a great show and always gets the audience involved. He is known to somtimes tell as many stories and jokes to the listeners as songs. Altogether, whether solo or with his band, you can't go wrong no matter what your taste in music might be. Going to see Brian is just a plain old fun time..
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| REVIEWS |
"Brian Curran's debut, Straight Up Blues (Wildstone Audio 2012), features tunes by John Hurt, Tampa Red, and Robert Johnson. On guitar pioneer Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Rag" and his own "Find Me A Place," Curran's droning style is deep and hypnotizing; his personable take on Charles Browns's "Drifting Blues" is the closest he gets to the gutbucket. Curran describes his "Bring Me Flowers" as being in the style of Tampa Red, with a lyric borrowed from Peetie Wheatstraw- a nice mix, one of those upbeat songs about death you only find in blues. Curran is unaccompanied on most songs, but you won't miss the other instuments."
-- Blues Revue magazine
"At
first, it's incongruous: you hear the raspy, smoke-filled vocals
and intricate fingerpicking guitar, songs from a life saturated
with tough times, good and bad women, hard work...but instead of
a stereotypical, grizzled Delta bluesman, you're looking at a lanky,
fresh-faced fellow in his twenties who looks more likely to head
up a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute than cover a Robert Johnson tune. (He
does, however, come by the smoky vocals the old-fashioned way: some
sets are equal parts playing/singing and smoking/bantering.)
Give him a minute, though, and you'll find that Brian Curran is
the real deal: a masterful picker and slide player (who keeps at
least three guitars onstage), gifted vocalist and devoted apprentice
to the blues masters who moves seamlessly into original compositions.
With a handful of other young acts, Curran is generating new interest
in a homegrown blues scene that's reinventing St. Louis' storied
musical past."
-- Where Magazine
At the Beale On Broadway, Brian Curran is on stage. On
his break he'll come over to watch Oliver Sain (at BB's). "Oliver
is a legend," he says. "He goes to Germany and people
know who Oliver Sain is. We have quite a town of great musicians",
Curran included, according to May.
Curran plays in the "pre-war" blues style-and that's World War II. He makes his living playing at least six gigs a week, supplementing that income with guitar lessons. On a Saturday afternoon at Mike & Mins, he sits down to talk. With long hair, a Stevie Ray Vaughn hat and an ever-present cigarette, he tries to explain how a kid who grew up in Oakville, a South County neighborhood, is now making a living playing a gritty Mississippi Delta-style guitar.
Curran has played guitar since he was 13. He grew up listening to whatever his father had on the stereo, but then he heard some John Lee Hooker, and that was that. Soon he was attending local jam sessions and hanging out at smoky bars, where the teenage Curran would play with the city's greats.
He is pleased with the St. Louis scene. "All the musicians are very supportive of each other," he says, lighting another cigarette. "Everyone is open to each other's gigs. It's cool because you get a job that pays not very much, you hang out, start talking to some cat, and they're like, 'Oh yeah, we just played this place in St. Charles. It's cool, pays $500, go check it out.' Nobody's hiding their gigs."
At the same time, he doesn't plan to spend his life eking out a living playing for the door at St. Louis clubs and making the occasional CD. "I know I'm not only going to be playing in St. Louis and a few festivals around the Midwest when I'm 30. There's no doubt about it. I want to make St. Louis my home, but I don't necessarily want to make it my career," he says. "I could make a decent living just being here in St. Louis. But then what's my music for?"
For now, it's for the patrons of Mike & Min's. Curran excuses himself, pulls an empty chair from the table and turns off the television. There are seven people in the bar, including the bartender and the cook. Curran lifts his Gibson guitar out of the case, and along with his sweet voice plays the bleating, harsh, raw blues.
During the first set, a family wanders in for lunch, not knowing they'll get to hear one of St. Louis's rising blues stars for free. When they walk out an hour later, the dad gives his little girl a couple of dollars, which she puts in a jar at Curran's feet. Curran tips his hat, smiles, then beats a steady rhythm with his boot as he plays a heartfelt "Amazing Grace."-- St. Louis Magazine
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| AUDIO / VIDEO |
Bring Me Flowers | Driftin' Blues | St. Louis Stomp | Made Myself Lonesome
| BACKLINE NEEDS |
2 boom arm mic stands, 1 vocal mic, 1 instrument mic, at least 1 stage monitor, and 1 armless chair.
| BASIC REQUIREMENTS |
1 hotel room, 1 meal before or after performance, and drinks
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