Brian Dunne is a talented musician and a gem of a human being.
I knew from our conversation last week that he had great taste in music and seemed like a genial, thoughful guy, but when there was a mix-up and my name was not on the press list for his show at Beat Kitchen on Sunday night, Dunne personally came to clear things up and bring me inside just ten minutes before going onstage. That casual kindness exuded throughout his 70-minute set, with the self-proclaimed “people pleaser” taking audience requests and engaging in off-the-cuff back-and-forths with eager fans in the crowd.
Flying completely solo and armed with three guitars and a harmonica, Dunne kicked off the proceedings with the closing track off his new LP Clams Casino, “Living It Backwards.” His warm, gritty vocals commanded the audience’s attention right away, but what really won everyone over was his banter. Dunne is effortlessly charming and clever, and would undoubtedly thrive in a straightforward storytelling platform like the Moth.
His best tale of the night was recounting an unfortunate incident involving his newly purchased car, a used Honda acquired ten days before starting this tour. A week later, the parked car was hit by a truck in Brooklyn, and he desperately needed a vehicle to make his way across the country. “Nobody ever goes to a car rental place in New York for a good reason,” he mused, evidenced by his discovery of tape and rope in the back of his rented Chevy Malibu.
Dunne’s evocative and witty worldview applies not just to stage banter but his lyrics as well. “Clams Casino” reflects on the struggle to outrun his working class background, while “Rockland County” pays perverse tribute to where he grew up, a place that “sounds funny but it isn’t much fun.” These two highlights from his latest album proved just as effective on stage, as did cuts like “Optimist” from 2023’s Loser on the Ropes and a few songs from a collaborative project called Fantastic Cat, which Dunne described as a supergroup, “but none of us are famous, so maybe just a group.”
Eschewing an encore because “this is all wall behind me,” Dunne graciously offered the audience a 90-second head start so that they could avoid making eye contact with him at the merch table if they weren’t buying anything. I was all too eager to purchase a Clams Casino t-shirt, though, to support one of my favorite music discoveries in a long while.
Fans of Dunne’s laundry list of influences—Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, among many others—should definitely check out this impressive singer-songwriter.
