Bio
About Brian
Brian was born the son of a printer and a nurse in small town Delano, Minnesota. His parents taught him the love of music at an early age. Brian first started learning guitar at the age of eight, but really started getting into it around the age of twelve. He began relearning chords and forming songs on his dad's Maya Les Paul copy electric guitar in the basement of their house.
In ninth grade, he met one of his best friends, Matt Graunke, at a school dance when they both learned they each liked guitar. Brian would form a strong musical bond with Matt over the years, playing in the barn along with his cousin Jim and good friends James Braith, Nate Wick, and James Smola.
By the time college rolled around, Brian put music on the back burner and sold his cherished Gibson SG. He went on to get married and start a family. With his first born, Brian began playing his guitar more and singing songs to his little boy. At the end of 2008, Brian made a promise to write one new song by the end of 2009. That song became "Last Goodbye".
At the urging of a co-worker, Brian attended an open mic in his home town of Chaska. Nervously, he got up and performed a couple songs for the small crowd. It was such a rush that he decided to attend more open mics in the area on a regular basis, all the while writing more songs for what would be come his debut album A Six Pack and a Bottle of Life.
Brian would enlist the help of his cousin Jim, and good friends Matt and Jay to complete the recording of his second release, Something We All Wish We Knew, in 2012. Shortly after Brian was asked to join Matt and Jim in a new band called Dirtball Deluxe.
At first, Dirtball Deluxe was going to be a country cover band, but after the untimely passing of Jim the band became a mix of classic rock, southern rock and country. Brian and Matt began to write songs for the band, and put out an acoustic teaser EP, Miles Down the Highway, in 2013 before unleashing a double LP, Further Down the Highway, in 2014. After a couple personnel changes, the band called it quits in 2016. They released their final album, aptly titled The End, in 2017.
During his time in Dirtball Deluxe, Brian was introduced to Stacy Lee and the two began jamming together. They formed the acoustic duo The LowLee Ones in 2015. The duo played through classic songs from the 50s to current as well as performing select tracks from their solo careers. The LowLee Ones went on hiatus in 2017 so that Stacy could start a family, returning for just a couple gigs in 2019 before hanging it up for now.
With the demise of the band and duo, Brian focused on putting out his third solo effort, That's My Life, in 2017. Shortly after, Brian took a musical hiatus before resurrecting some of his favorite songs in his catalogue for a new project he titled Retrospective: 2011 - 2017.