Biography

Bennett Brier was born in Beaumont, Texas and lived in Houston, Texas as a teenager. He served as a community activist in Arkansas, and currently works and resides in Austin Texas. He hopes to retire to a life of musical creativity as soon as possible!

Bennett has composed music for over 30 years and has written over 150 songs to date. He is a member of BMI® , the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) ®, and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. - Texas Chapter. Bennett's songwriting is recognized by the Southern Songwriters Guild and by Songwriter's Monthly magazine. He and a friend performed in Austin as the duo, the Stragglers.

If it must, his music can be classified as contemporary folk, AAA, Adult Contemporary, Americana, or folk-rock. Bennett blends folk, blues, country, rock, pop, and bluegrass influences into his work.
He cites his major musical influences as Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Butch Hancock and Nanci Griffith; the talented friends he's played with over the years and the sensational musicians he's seen perform countless times in Austin.

Bennett says, "The greatest little club that ever was in Austin, was called emmajoes, with a small "e". For $3 dollars tops, night after night after night, I could watch and listen to folks like Nanci Griffith, Butch Hancock, Lyle Lovett, Townes Van Zandt, David Halley, Lucinda Williams, Robert Earl Keen, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore!".

"When I was 17, I saw Bob Dylan perform twice the same night during his "comeback" tour and left those concerts overwhelmed and transformed by the raw poetry and timelessness of his music, words, and performance," says Bennett. "Inspired by these shows, I learned to play guitar and began writing songs. One day I wrote something really good that seemed to come from a place I never knew existed. I realized then that maybe I could write songs that mean something to myself and to others."

In September 2010, Bennett is releasing his second CD of original songs, Scorpio and Me. Jay Sims sings lead vocals and Stephen Doster plays lead guitar on this album.

Bennett’s first CD of original music, Anthem, was recorded and released in 1999 with the help of such outstanding musicians as Van Wilks, Christine Albert, Jay Sims, Jeri Arsenault, Chris Maresh, Art Kidd, Conrad Deisler, Deb Schnack, Richard Bowden, Joe "King" Carrasco, Gene Elders, and his daughter, Jessica Brier. Anthem has received airplay in the US, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy, and Slovenia and was even pirated in Sweden.

Bennett adds, "They say that you spend your whole life making your first album. With my second album, I have this chance to offer more of myself than simply what I’ve long hoped to do. First with Anthem, and now with Scorpio and Me, for whatever it is worth, I am lucky to share, through my words and music, something timeless about myself."

You can contact Bennett at bbrier@austin.rr.com.