Ridgefielder’s 5th album reflects on ‘Endemic’
RIDGEFIELD — While the COVID-19 pandemic has affected life on many levels the past three years, including loss of life, Ridgefield singer-songwriter George Brennan has been able to produce something good out of a bad situation.
Influenced by the pandemic, the creative juices have been flowing for Brennan who once wrote and performed songs for several of MTV's animated series. Dubbed the Ridgefield Rocker by his fans, he has produced his fifth album titled “Endemic.”
“The album coincided with the start of the pandemic,” he said. “Although we're still in the pandemic, since we are in the process of coming out of it with life returning to some normalcy, I thought the title was apropos.”
Brennan has also enjoyed local notoriety as a Ridgefield troubadour producing original songs with Ridgefield town themes including songs for Ridgefield schools and local town events.
“After six years since I did my last album, just before the pandemic happened, I decided to write songs for a fifth album,” Brennan said. “But it was a busy time and a slow process. What the pandemic did, especially at the height of the pandemic with businesses and everything shut down and everyone working from home, it allowed me to focus on my songwriting. I took a break away from everything and dedicated my time to the album.
“What happened was I found myself writing songs with a pandemic theme. It became a collection of reflective songs about valuing your life and to be grateful for what you do and what you have.”
The album was finished in mid-October and was released online on Black Friday (Nov. 25) on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, Naptser, iHeart Radio and YouTube Music. The album has 12 songs.
“The response has been great with a lot of buzz for the single ‘We Captured Lightning,'” Brennan said. “People like the sound of it, the rhythmic and acoustic sound.”
Other singles, “Change is Good” and “Rise Above It All,” have received good responses, he said.
One that hits close to home is “The Last Goodbye,” a tribute to his mother-in-law, Dr. Jackie Burns, director of cytogenetics at Danbury Hospital, who died a year ago from cancer.
“'The Last Goodbye' was my observation of how well my wife Katie Brennan took care of her while they were still able to converse, share wishes, and the time my children had with her in our home before she passed,” Brennan said.
Career and home
Brennan, who grew up in New York in Manhattan, started singing and writing songs in high school. While attending St. John's University he worked for the college radio station WSJU where he first aired his original songs.
He worked at MTV in New York from 1995-2002 where he performed songs for the “Beavis and Butt-Head” animated series. He also played the guitar parts for the characters Trent and Jesse for three seasons in MTV's “Daria” animated series.
While at MTV he also learned to do post-production work and mix and master his own music.
After MTV he worked at a production company in Norwalk and in 2003 moved to Ridgefield with his wife Katie. They have three children, 15-year-old twins Connor and Caroline and 13-year-old Caitlin, who have served as inspiration for many of Brennan's songs.
In 2011, Brennan wrote his first Ridgefield-based song. It was teacher appreciation week at Montessori School and he wanted to give the teachers a special gift. He wrote the song “Here's To You Ridgefield Montessori School.” He was asked to write a song in 2013 for spirit day at Scotland Elementary School and wrote “Scotty Spirit Day.”
In 2013 it was the Brennans 10th anniversary of moving to Ridgefield. The town had become such a big part of the Brennans' life that he wanted to give something back to the community. He wrote “This Is My Ridgefield” and produced a video to go with the song, which has nearly 10,000 views.
Brennan has taught guitar in Ridgefield and over the years has performed at town events and schools. He has performed at local pubic venues in Ridgefield, the Danbury area and in New York City. He performs close to home to be near his family and so he can attend his kids' sports events. Connor plays baseball, Caroline is a cheerleader at Ridgefield High and Caitlin plays youth field hockey.
Over the years he has also worked part-time as an accountant and has written several books.
Brennan is producing videos for the more popular songs on his fifth album.
“It takes two years to produce an album, from the writing process to the distribution process of getting it to all the music channels online,” Brennan said. “When the videos are produced, after New Years Day I'll support the music with live performances at venues still to be determined.”
You can find Brennan and his music on YouTube at https:// www.youtube.com/@GeorgieBrennanMusic, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ georgieboymusic and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ georgiebrennanmusic.