Jesse Brand

Personal life

Jesse Brand was born in Ferndale, Washington. He is the youngest son of Steve Brand, former touring musician, playing drums and guitar for Country Music acts David Frizzell, Tex Williams, Rose Maddox, Rusty Draper, and Forrest Lee Sr, as well as touring with Rock and Roll bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival and Steppenwolf and Gail Brand, an American Sign Language Interpreter and schoolteacher. He spent five years in the MPFL (minor professional football league) with the North Texas Stampede (Fort Worth, Texas) and Northwest Avalanche (Bellingham, Washington). Jesse lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he, in 2016, opened a local small business called Exhale Massage and Wellness.

In late 2015, Brand made national news headlines when he reportedly had an altercation at a Nashville Waffle House restaurant, involving a disabled homeless United States Marine Corps Veteran, and employees at the restaurant. After playing a concert in Nashville, Brand and an unnamed companion stopped at a local Waffle House for something to eat, when he noticed a disabled homeless man walking across the parking lot. The altercation occurred when Brand invited the man to sit and eat with he and his companion, and were allegedly refused service by employees, due to the man's "dirty clothes". Brand allegedly became irate, when they were informed that the homeless man's wheel chair and sleeping bag had been thrown away by restaurant employees, and got in touch with Waffle House vice president of culture, Pat Warner. It was reported that the following day, Brand contacted WSMV, the local Nashville affiliate station of NBC, which is when the story went viral. Jesse was quoted as saying "for anybody to treat him differently because of the clothes he was wearing? It's deplorable.” He said “He's my buddy, my friend. I'm going to stand up for him.”

Music career

During a 2011 interview on Talk It Up TV, Brand stated his dreams of a musical future started when he was six years old, while watching his father's band... "I saw what music did to those people, and I at that moment, made a conscious decision. I said to myself, that's what I'm gonna do with my life." He has shared stages with acts such as Lee Brice, Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, The Doobie Brothers, and has been in bands with Audley Freed and Charlie Daniels. To date, Jesse Brand has released 11 albums under his own label, FiveSlumpRecords, and is considered an important figure among today's songwriters "...prolific, elegant, beautiful and dark... he is one of the last of the true hardcore troubadours. In 2014, Jesse Brand won the Award for "Song of the Year", from the Academy of Texas Music, for his song "Praying For Rain". He was also nominated for "Male Vocalist of the Year", the same year.

Discography

Nominations and awards

General