Category Archives: Reviews

BY  ART THOMPSON You always know a record is good when the songs start sticking in your head on the first spin, and Sugarland, by ex-Dwight Yoakam sideman Brian Whelan, catches the ear with tunes that sit comfortably in the alt-country camp, while simultaneously steering in a heavier, more guitar-forward direction than what’s typically heard from […]

BY WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH It might seem like career suicide to write a scathing tune about the very genre you operate in, but that’s exactly what former Dwight Yoakam sideman Brian Whelan has done at the beginning of his second solo album, Sugarland. “Americana,” which the Houston Press is premiering today, is a jet-blast critique of […]

By: Jefferson Laufer @ 23.12.2015 L.A. based singer/songwriter/ producer.. Brian Whelan  sends spiritual consolation  through his music. His dossier includes playing with the likes of Chuck Berry and Dwight Yoakam. Whelan learned to play guitar before he could walk! The album “Decider” is a few years old but it continues to teethe a lot  of wallop. He’s now completing his […]

by Philip Hopkins Philip Hopkins: How did playing with Dwight change your approach to playing, and songwriting if at all? Brian Whelan: I was a little timid when I first got into the band, and between Dwight and the other band members, we put a stop to that. Loud and proud is what they preach. It’s actually […]

Country and Western Music – By Jason P. Woodbury Brian Whelan isn’t a snob when it comes to a good song. “I have never gave a shit if it’s a pop thing or a lo-fi indie thing, I don’t care,” Whelan says over the phone from the South By Southwest festival in Austin, speaking over the blunt […]

By William Michael Smith Thu., Mar. 5 2015 at 6:00 AM – Houston Press After four years of road-dogging with Dwight Yoakam’s band, multi-instrumental utility man Brian Whelan has quit and struck out on his own. He rolls into McGonigel’s Mucky Duck Saturday for a song swap with old Los Angeles running buddy and local […]

Brian Whelan has spent the past four or five years as guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for Dwight Yoakam, whose extensive touring schedule has brought Whelan through Tulsa on multiple occasions. Prior to that, he was a member of the California power-pop band The Broken West for about five years. Whelan will perform solo for the first […]

Brian Whelan was one of the very first guests on Independent’s Day, stopping by our studios for the second episode way back on March 9th, 2011. At the time, he was making the rounds in a number of Los Angeles bands and building a reputation as a formidable player on a number of instruments. That […]

Former Dwight Yoakam sideman Brian Whelan headlines his own show at T. Boyle’s Saturday night By Bliss 02/19/2015 Some people spend years charting their life’s direction; others shift course midway — or multiple times — through their careers. Not Brian Whelan. From the time he was in kindergarten, when he fashioned a guitar out of cardboard and […]