Press
Review of Brennen Leigh at Veierlandfestivalen
From tb.no (Tønsberg, Norway) 02 July 07
Cowboykos
Den store langveisfarende stjernen i år, den cowboyhattene på første benk ventet på, var en av Amerikas raskest stigende countrystjerner, Brennen Leigh, med sin faste makker broren Seth Hulbert på gitaren ved siden av.
Leigh befinner seg stilmessig i roots/bluegrass-delen av den vidtfavnende westernverdenen, og repertoaret favner dermed selvfølgelig ulykkelig kjærlighet, ulykkelige kjeltringer og ensomme tog, som det skal.
Amerikansk presse sammenligner henne med noen av de aller største countrynavnene, og hennes debut-CD ble i 2002 hilst som "a brilliant bit of American music revival".
Hun ble kåret til "Texas' female vocalist of the year" bare noen måneder etter at hun flyttet fra Minnesota til enstjernestaten i 2003, og derfra har det gått oppover. Lørdag hoppet hun av hesten og tok seg tid til å spre litt præriefeeling på Vellet, før hun red videre inn i solnedgangen.
Country Gazette - Netherlander
Hans van Dam
Brennen Leigh verhuisde van Minnesota naar Austin, Texas en dat is precies de plek waar ze muzikaal past. Brennen heft nog die ouderwetse snik in haar stem waar country haar identiteit aan te danken heft. Ze treedt muzikaal in de voetsporen van artiesten als Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette en Connie Smith. Van de jonge generatie past ze in de lijn van Danni Leigh, Heather Myles en Erin Hay. Haar stijl is voornamelijk akoestisch, zeker beinvloed door Ralph Stanley, warmee ze op toernee was. Voor dit album kreeg ze in twee nummers de hulp van James Hand in gesproken delen (narrations). Artiesten als Gram Parsons, Louvin Brothers, Ralph Stanley en de Carter Family hebben haar muzikaal gevormd. In 2005 werd ze uitgeroepen tot ‘My Texas Music Female Vocalist of the Year’. Ook voor dit jaar heft ze die nominatie op zak. Ze werkt aan een duetalbum met Jesse Dayton, nog dit jaar te verwachten en dan moet haar naam ook tot in ons land doorgedrongen zijn. Brennen Leigh is puur country, temidden van fiddle en steelguitar, dobro, cello en gitaren. En ze heft een dijk van een stem. Een dame die maar eens met spoed naar ons land moet komen. Onthoud de naam, we gaan vast nog veel van haar horen! De CD is te koop via: www.Myspace.com/brennenleigh.
Houston Press
Scott Faingold
"The new Devil's on My Trail CD by Brennen Leigh is so country it hurts. And
I mean that in the best possible way. There's no bullshit here, just heartbreak, violence and Gawd-fear, the sound of tortured twang giving way to sassy swang and going back 'round the horn for more punishment. Leigh
should take her place on the mantle somewhere between vintage (think "Down from Dover") Dolly Parton and Catherine Irwin, although she's more straightforward and less wordplay-drunk than that Freakwater gal. Can't get much more effusive than that"
Austin Chronicle
Margaret Moser
“Too Thin to Plow delivers Leigh's iron grasp of Americana in bits of
country, bluegrass, and roots-rock, making her a most welcome yodel on the scene ("Wish I Was a Single Girl"). Think this is hyperbole? Brennen Leigh just landed herself touring dates with bluegrass godfather Ralph Stanley.”
Dale Watson
"Brennen Leigh is a girl that has been coming on real strong in Austin, and I think she's got a great voice. One of the most country voices I've heard in years. Not contrived, not Nashville sounding and contrived. You
know? You hear these folks doing their best Loretta Lynn impersonation, and they fall short. But there are real people out there."
MyTexasMusic.com
Jinelle Boyd
“With Country, Roots, Bluegrass, and a twang that is more Dallas than Dakota, more Frio than Fargo, Brennen Leigh is a welcome addition to Texas music!”
Tallahassee Democrat
Kati Schardl
Midwestern mandolin maiden Brennen Leigh sure picks up a string-ringing storm on a heap of tunes on her excellent CD "Too Thin to Plow." She sings like an angel, and she's mighty easy on the eye, to boot.
TSU Daily University Star (San Marcos, TX)
Orlando Logan Perez
“In a world where even country music has become bastardized, Leigh successfully revives a lost art and performs it magnificently.”
AOL Weekender (New York City)
A. Onofre
"Biker bars and roadhouses have welcomed the two as warmly as colleges and coffeehouses."
Times of Acadiana (Lafayette, LA)
Arts and Entertainment
”With a voice that sounds like hers does - a feminine, but still pained, Hank Williams Sr. - it is hard to believe that Brennen Leigh is a) only 19 and b) from Fargo, N.D. But she is.”
High Plains Reader (Fargo, ND)
John Lamb
“Leigh's songs are a special sound in this town.”
Weekly Planet (Sarasota-Bradenton, FL)
Eric Snider
Straight outta high school, young songstress Leigh left her native Fargo,
N.D., for Austin's roots-intensive music scene, and has quickly made a name for herself in the few years since. Expect a variety of seminal Americana styles -- and more than a few classic tunes mixed in with the originals
-- from Leigh and her brother Seth.
Houston Chronicle
Joey Guerra
"Lone Star State's best-kept secret"