brianwallenmusic.com
Playing Since: 2001
Experience Level: Expert/Professional

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[Jamming] [Socializing] [Helping]

Occupation: Musician/Student

Gender: Male
Age: 34

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Visible to: Public
Created 6/26/2007
Last Visit 6/30/2016

When it came “time” for Indiana artist Brian Wallen to record his next album project, he was faced with a dire prospect; how to follow up a 14 song CD that garnered positive comments from musical elders and critics across the area and beyond? “The answer is in the title!” proclaims Brian. You see, Brian isn’t your average 15-year-old. He picked up the guitar at age 10, an interest perfectly natural for a young child. But it’s when he started picking up everything else that it became clear that he wasn’t exactly average. Brian plays 9 instruments, which is “quite a few, I guess”. What’s more remarkable is the fact that he hasn’t had any formal instruction. But it doesn’t stop there; Brian isn’t just an instrumentalist; he’s also a singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has his own studio, where he writes and tracks the latest chapter in his musical journey. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Brian has recorded quite a few projects in his studio already; “Homegrown”, his junior effort from 2006 features traditional folk tunes. “Sawmill Creek” from 2007 features a mix of original and traditional music. “Tidings of Great Joy”, also from 2007, is a collection of Christmas favorites. But his new album, “Time”, is different from the others. When asked to explain why, Brian articulates, “The previous albums were all in a style. Homegrown was folk and Sawmill Creek was in the bluegrass vein. But I really feel like this new album is an expression of me. Instead of falling into a genre, I created my own. About the only thing you can describe it as is Acoustic Music.” A big part in this has been Brian’s songwriting. “Instead of the project being mostly covers or traditional songs, it’s, for the most part, original. A song that’s already been done has a predefined sound that people expect. With something that you wrote on your own, the door is wide open to just about any possibility. The same goes with recording in your own studio, on your own time. I took three months to do the album, so it’s not like I was going into an environment where I was being rushed or forced to create. I did it exactly how I wanted it to be done. And that means doing it yourself a lot of the time.” Brian arranged, performed, recorded, produced and mastered everything you hear on his projects. Every vocal and instrumental part has been deftly shaped to his standards. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ So, just what is “Acoustic Music”? “It’s everything. It’s blues, it’s jazz, it’s country, it’s folk, it’s Celtic, it’s bluegrass; the list goes on and on. Rather than classify myself as being one thing, I prefer the ability to be anything I want to be. This style of music gives me the flexibility to do that. If I think a song should have, for example, a fiddle part, or a slide guitar part, or anything else, I can do it. If you describe yourself as only one thing, it gets too restricting.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________ So has Brian succeeded in his goal of carving out his own niche in the musical world? The answer is yes. “Time” finds Brian at the peak of his creative force, standing out from the crowd of singers, instrumentalists and artists that came before him. “I guess I’m different because I refuse to be pigeonholed.” To sum it up, Brian states, “I’m not your typical average teenager, but I’m fine with that…I wouldn’t want to be anything else than what I am.” ×