Brett Dennen recently stopped by to perform three songs on “CBS This Morning: Saturday Sessions” in support of his new album Por Favor, out now via Elektra Records. Watch him play “Cassidy,” “Bonfire” and “I’ll Be On Your Side.” In addition, Dennen was featured on KCRW “Morning Becomes Eclectic” who hails, “his newest batch of tracks reveals a raw vulnerability.”
Por Favor, which was produced by Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell), continues to receive widespread critical acclaim:
“It’s a thrill to hear Dennen go through this process, uncovering self-truths and forming new questions along the way. Por Favor paves a redemptive journey into a heart that’s not always happy and draws a portrait of a maturing artist mired in shadow pining for daylight…sometimes serene and sometimes fierce, Por Favor nourishes healing assertions and sounds.” —The Huffington Post
“fuses his folky style of the past with calypso sounds” —The Wall Street Journal
“…he strips his music down to the barest essentials to create what is easily his most vulnerable and intimate album.” —AllMusic
“Por Favor is like listening to Dennen on vacation, somewhere warm and with endless chill and plenty of rum.” —No Depression
“…the album shows Dennen at his most vulnerable, both lyrically and sonically.” —The Bluegrass Situation
Additionally, Dennen and is band are currently in the midst of an extensive tour, including upcoming festival performances at Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival and Austin City Limits as well as upcoming headlining shows at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, two nights at New York’s Bowery Ballroom and DC’s 9:30 Club. See below for complete tour details.
Of his intention with Por Favor, Dennen explains, “When you say please, you’re asking something to come into your life. It might mean that you’re weak and need something to make you strong. But you’re admitting to some sort of weakness or some form of humility. Vulnerable was another word that kept coming up when I was making this record. Is there something I’m scared to say? Can I dig a little deeper, reveal a little bit more? How far can I go? That was my direction, and once I got that in place, I started shooting down things that weren’t in that zone.”
Cobb adds, “I worked with Brett because of his beautiful balance of wit and melody. He’s very timeless in his writing and you really can hear his personality in every note he sings. The record was made totally live and we recorded all the vocals live with the band. It really was produced as stripped-down as possible— we tried to make every note matter.”
Por Favor is Dennen’s sixth full-length album and his first since 2013’s Smoke and Mirrors. Released to widespread acclaim, Rolling Stone called his most recent record his “strongest effort yet,” while NPR’s “Weekend Edition” described it as “a deeply personal work.” Since his breakout self-titled debut in 2004, Dennen has performed on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “CONAN” and has played to sold-out audiences worldwide.
