Ian Brennan

Ian Brennan is a GRAMMY-winning record producer and has produced four GRAMMY-nominated records (World Music— 2011 and 2015, Best Traditional Folk— 2006 and 2007). In the studio, he has worked with the likes of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kyp Malone & Tunde Adebimpe (TV on the Radio, Rain Machine), Flea, Tinariwen, Lucinda Williams, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Nels Cline (Wilco), DJ Bonebrake & John Doe (X, the Knitters), Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Peter Case, Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster), Bill Frisell, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jonathan Richman, Richard Thompson, and more. With live concerts, he has produced shows of up to 15,000 people in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington (DC), Portland (OR), Tucson, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Boston with artists as diverse as Green Day, Fugazi, Merle Haggard, film-maker John Waters, Kris Kristofferson, Tammy Faye (Bakker), the Blind Boys of Alabama, Vic Chesnutt, Peaches, and the Vienna Boys Choir. These shows have raised over $100,000 for local charities and political causes. In the field, some of the artists that he has discovered and produced are The Good Ones (Rwanda), Wayo: Trance Percussion Masters (South Sudan), Acholi Machon, and the Malawi Mouse Boys. Many are the first releases internationally outside of their respective countries in the languages of each band. The Mouse Boys' debut was named "the year's best gospel album" by Songlines Magazine. The record General Paolino featuring Mama Celina was named one of the “Top 8 African Releases of 2013” by Renegade Magazine. Most recently, he produced the Zomba Prison Project “I Have No Everything Here” (Six Degrees Records) with the prisoners of Zomba maximum security prison, Hanoi Masters “War is a Wound, Peace is Scar” (Glitterbeat Records) with veterans and survivors of the American-Vietnam war, and Italy’s Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino [CGS] “Quaranta [40]” (Ponderosa Label). He also produced “Survival Songs”, the first official solo album from Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster, Celebrity Rehab). Brennan also produced Italian superstar, Jovanotti’s official USA debut Italia: 1988-2012 for ATO Records in 2012 and co-wrote two world-premiere, new songs for the release. The collection was given 4-stars and named “...one of the best releases of the year,” by Aesthetic Magazine (Toronto). As a writer, Mr. Brennan was first published at the age of nineteen and has contributed regularly to publications such as Guitar Player and Zero Magazine. He is also the author of the book Anger Antidotes, published April 2011 by W.W. Norton (NYC), which has also been released in an Italian language edition. Due to popular demand, his follow-up book, Hate-less, was issued in the fall of 2014. His novella, Sister Maple Syrup Eyes, was published in the fall of 2015 (Pleasure Boat Studio, NYC). Readers+Writers journal praised it, “A beautiful book. Achingly beautiful.” And Louder Than War states the book is, “….alive with the energy of an eye-witness.” Small Press Picks notes, “In vividly re-creating Kristian’s personal journey, Brennan offers a layered and moving exploration of the truth…” His fourth and latest book, How Music Dies (or Lives): Field-recording and the battle for democracy in the arts followed in February, 2016 (Allworth/Skyhorse, NYC). Booklist writes that, “Brennan presents a hefty, bracing tome…”, and LargeHeartedBoy.com describes it as, “One of the most thought-provoking books on modern music that I have ever read.” IanBrennan.com For over twenty years— since 1993— Ian Brennan has successfully trained over one-hundred thousand people across the country (as well as Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East) in violence prevention, anger-management, and conflict resolution at shelters, schools, hospitals, clinics, jails, and drug-treatment programs, including such prestigious organizations as the Betty Ford Center, Bellevue Hospital (NYC), UC Berkeley, the National Accademia of Science (Rome), and Stanford University. His presentations are consistently reviewed as "the best" of their kind and, when studied, frequently demonstrate significant reductions in aggressive incidents, complaints, and injuries (e.g., a 1996 study revealed more than a 50% reduction in such episodes and was written up in a feature article on the front-page of the east bay’s major daily newspaper, The Tribune). These trainings are based on over 15 years experience working as a mental health specialist in locked, acute-psychiatric settings, the job rated as “the most dangerous” in the state of California. From 1991 to 2001, he conducted psychiatric triage-interviews in the county emergency-room for Oakland, CA (one of the busiest in the country). Additionally, he works throughout the United States providing one-on-one, anger-management sessions for individuals facing criminal charges due to violent conduct, and, relatedly, provides expert testimony in such cases. He is also the author of the book Anger Antidotes, published April 2011 by W.W. Norton (NYC), which has also been released in an Italian language edition. Due to popular demand, his follow-up book, Hate-less, was issued in the fall of 2014. ViolencePrevention.us