MUSIC ON THE MENU: Quinn: Comfort and creativity

Brendan Quinn, Thursday, Aug. 26, 6-10 p.m., The Gravity Inn (40 Gravity Planes Road, Waymart). Info: www.brendanquinn.net, 570.488.6918. New album available on CD Baby and at shows.

by Alan K. Stout
Music Columnist

For Brendan Quinn, the release of his new album, “How About That,” has been a creatively liberating experience. He says that while he’s still proud of his previous work, his newly found comfort in the recording studio allowed him to broaden the artistic scope on his latest CD, his third.

“This one is a little more free, with the whole vibe,” says Quinn, 42, who gigs throughout NEPA. “There’s a bigger message for people out there with these tunes, and there’s a lot more fun with this album. With the last one, the songs seemed to be a little bit more personal to me. But with these songs on the new album, I’m getting a lot of feedback where people are able to take their own meaning from them, which you hope for as a writer.”

“How About That” follows 2000’s “Upside Down” and 2009’s “In A Nutshell.” Like its predecessor, the new record was recorded at Saturation Acres Recording Studio in Dupont and was produced by Bret Alexander. The musicians appearing on the CD are Quinn, Alexander, drummer Ron Simasek and harmonica player Paul Moran. In addition to the title track, songs include “One Bullet Betty” and “Try And Try Again.”

Quinn credits his return to Saturation Acres as one of the reasons he was able to expand upon the topics in his roots-rock style music and, in essence, also enjoy the recording process much more.

“A lot of it had to do with getting hooked up with Bret and those guys,” he says. “I was able to express myself a lot more. When I went in with the EP, I didn’t know them from Adam. We had zero working history, so I was just going in cold. But by the time we got around to recording this one, we knew each other real well, we’ve been playing together, and it was just more free as far as going in there and throwing ideas out. It was how I wanted to approach things — just have a lot more fun with this album.”

Still, Quinn says those that enjoyed his first two efforts won’t be thrown too much of a curve.

“With the last EP, people were trying to classify my style of music, and nobody has really been able to compare me to anybody,” he says. “I’m not saying that’s for the better, but musically, I’ve maintained a distinctive ‘me’ kind of sound. There’s a driving need to get out as much music as I can and give people something to think about. I try to have a positive spin on most of the things I write, because there’s enough negativity in music out there.”

When Quinn hits the clubs, he plays solo or sometimes as a duo with Alexander. Though he plays plenty of originals, he also peppers his set with tunes by The Beatles, The Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead. He names Steve Howe of Yes, Johnny Winter, Jerry Garcia, Dickey Betts, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mark Knopfler as his main influences, as well as the late Wade Rose, a local artist who also had a great impact on his music. Other muses for his music are his daughters, Molly and Maggie, and his “longtime better half,” Tammi.

Music has always been a part of Quinn’s life. His grandfather was a singer and drummer and worked in a recording studio, and his older brother, Pat, is a member of the local group The Hooley Boys. He also has relatives in the band Old Friends.

“From an early time, when I was real little, at family gatherings, it was a family full of musicians,” he says. “Everybody would be gathered in the kitchen, and they’d be singing Irish songs all night long. It turned into a big music fest, and from a child’s standpoint, it was, ‘Wow, look at that.’ It was very magnetic.”

So magnetic, in fact, that Quinn has now amassed a solid collection of his own music.

“It’s pretty satisfying,” he says, reflecting on his three albums. “It’s nice to have accomplished something. You get halfway through a project and wonder if you’re ever going to finish it, but now that it’s done and it’s out there, and you can actually sit down and look back over everything, it’s very satisfying. And then again, it’s very motivating, because now that I’ve got three done, I’m working on number four.”

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