From Tuscaloosa to the Tour Bus: Brennan Keller Is Finding His Sound in Real Time
Interview and photos by Paige Dummer
For 21 year old Brennan Keller, making music has been a process of figuring things out along the way. What began as recording songs on his own, has grown into touring, connecting with fans face to face, and preparing to release his next album. On the first night of tour in Detroit, Brenn! reflects on learning to produce music by himself, the difference between festival stages and intimate headline shows, and why making music feel tangible beyond the internet has become so important to him.
PAIGE DUMMER: All right, I guess we’ll just start off with a little introduction. What is your name? How old are you?, and where are you from?
BRENN: My name is Brennan Keller, I’m from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and I’m 21 years old.
PD: It’s your first day of tour today, how are you feeling? Nervous? Excited?
BK: I feel good, I feel like it’s my first stop. It’s all kinda like, you do this one and then you figure out what's wrong. But hopefully it’s not a bad show.
PD: Have you ever been to Detroit?
BK: No, but I’ve spent a lot of time in Indiana, in Valparaiso, so I get it.
PD: What’s your favorite part about being on the road?
BK: I just got this thing. Are you a gamer? It’s like a Nintendo Switch and a computer combined. It keeps me busy, it’s great. That’s my favorite thing about being on the road.
PD: Nice. You’ve been releasing music for about four years now, what was your process of making those songs versus what you’re doing now?
BK: I know what I’m doing a little bit more now. There was a period of time where I was figuring it out and people were doing it for me. And then I just did a whole album by myself.
PD: That’s awesome, how was working all that out by yourself?
BK: Oh, I was going insane. I have this thing called a tube mic and anytime you put a phone near the tube, it crackles. And I moved next to an airport, so all the transmission from the radios from the planes would pick up in my mic. So, I would have to be very particular about when I record. It was really frustrating trying to figure out what it was. I thought it was broken or something but in reality it was just a plane passing by.
PD: If you were to collaborate or go on tour with anyone, I guess dead or alive, who would you want to do that with?
BK: Hunter (his tour manager) who would I want to do that with? You know, I’m not a big music guy. I’m weird, I listen to worship music and that’s about it. But, I’ll say Chandler Moore. He’s a huge Christian artist. He’s got a crazy voice. I think that will be my go to.
PD: I was able to see you set at Lollapalooza in 2024, it was great.
BK: Oh, we’ve improved slightly since then
PD: [laughs] How does that compare, playing a big festival, versus doing more intimate headline shows while on tour?
BK: Festivals are fun, they’re cool. But, these shows are much more intentional. Everyone is here for me, so I try to be as interactive and as on top of it as possible. I always try to stay and meet everybody. That’s important to get rid of that digital aspect. I did all my music online, so I try to get rid of that barrier whenever I get the opportunity to.
PD: Do you have a favorite place you’ve played a show or visited on tour so far?
BK: I honestly don’t know. New York was fun. I’m not a big city guy though. I’m from a college town, it feels a little big but outside of that, it’s like no one lives there.
PD: Is there anywhere you would want to play a show?
BK: I wanna go to Australia. I had an opportunity but I had to cancel.
PD: Oh no! Hopefully that will come again.
PD: You just put out a song called “Somehow Made It Out”, Tell me a little bit about how that song came together.
BK: My guys Jeremy Fedryk and Hayd, I was visiting them to do some music, like 5 days of writing in LA. I was visiting them and we had this great idea to go to IHOP, and then after we came back, we wrote that song and I hated it, hated it, hated it. Eventually, for the last three months they were like, “If you don’t put this out, we will, this is such a good song” So, I put it out and people are loving it!
PD: Last thing, what can fans expect for this next chapter? I assume the two singles you put out are a part of a bigger project?
BK: Yeah, an album. I’m working on putting out this album. I want to make this album as tangible as possible, as in real life as possible. We decided to do some themes with it and things that people can interact with and look outside of posting on TikTok or outside of Spotify, and see the music.
PD: Is it different going on tour before releasing a project?
BK: It’s weird cause you want to hint at it, but you don’t want to go all the way in because people aren’t gonna know. It’s been a learning curve trying to figure out where the happy medium is at. But, I’m really excited to get these songs out and have people listen to them and everything. I’ll be playing one or two of them tonight.
PD: I can’t wait to hear it and I’m excited for the show. Thanks so much for having us out!
