Alternative folk-pop-rock artist Brett Dennen will make his first appearance at the Lowell Summer Music Series on July 15th! He is touring in support of his new album Por Favor which releases on May 20th. Opening the show will be Air Traffic Controller, a Series favorite!

As common and simple as it is, “por favor” is such an evocative expression. From Spanish, it translates to “please,” a word that suggests a need for something, a desire to make a change. “Por favor’ was something I kept saying every day in the studio, and I got the other musicians saying it,” says Brett Dennen. “We were goofing around, and Dave Cobb, my producer, said it should be the title of my new record. I laughed it off at first, but then I really thought about it.”

Brett Dennen (Official Photo)

“When you say please, you’re asking something to come into your life,” Dennen adds. “It might mean that you’re weak and need something to make you strong. But you’re admitting to some sort of weakness or some form of humility.”

That notion is at the heart of Por Favor, Dennen’s intimate and revealing new album that Elektra Records will release on May 20. Produced by Cobb, fresh from his Grammy-winning work with Chris Stapleton and Jason Isbell, the record strips Dennen to his core as a songwriter with nothing to hide.

“What was I asking for with this album” Dennen says. “I wanted to be a good person and feel good about myself again, but in a way that I knew it was OK to be sad. That’s part of life, the ups and downs. But with these songs, I want to make people feel good about themselves and about life through the good and bad.”

Tickets for the Brett Dennen show are priced at $32 in advance (fee-free!), $35 on the day of the show (if available) and children 12 and under are always free courtesy of Eastern Bank. There are also premium seats – beach chairs are provided by the Series – set in two rows directly in front of the stage for $132. Tickets for this show go on sale on Wednesday, April 27th at 9 a.m. through Lowell Summer Music Series.

For those of you who are unaware of the  Series, or if you are aware of it but have never attended a show there, it is an outdoor (weather permitting) concert series held on National Park Service grounds in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Series is not-for-profit, which helps keep the ticket prices reasonable.

Surrounding Boarding House Park are old mill buildings, part of the Lowell National Historical Park, which you can tour if you arrive early enough. They provide an unusual setting for an evening of great music and ambiance.

The Series generally runs from late June to early September.

This Series is dear to my heart. I have been a season pass holder since 2007 and it is one of the highlights of the year (and of summer in particular) for me. Many lasting friendships have been made there. I expect this will be another excellent year!

I will post additional announcements for the Series as they are made.

Shows announced to date are:

June 10 (Friday) – Patty Griffin

June 11 (Saturday) – Guster

June 17 (Friday) – Mary Chapin Carpenter

June 18 (Saturday) – Peter Frampton

June 23 (Thursday) – Indigo Girls

July 14 (Thursday) – Los Lobos

July 15 (Friday) – Brett Dennen

July 16 (Saturday) – Colin Hay

July 22 (Friday) – Eric Burdon & The Animals and The Edgar Winter Group

July 23 (Saturday) – case/lang/veirs

August 12 (Friday) – The Lone Bellow

August 13 (Saturday) – Dr. Dog

August 19 (Friday) – A Celtic Sojourn: Roots and Branches

August 20 (Saturday) – Peter Wolf & The Midnight Travelers

September 1 (Thursday) – ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

September 3 (Saturday) – The B-52s