I'm a writer, editor, producer, pianist, songwriter, composer, singer, traveler, surfer, waterman, and creative consultant. I'm also the founder and owner of a creative and media agency dedicated to helping creatives and entrepreneurs develop their work and become successful.
My parents named me after a hitchhiker when I was born in Bemidji, Minnesota. After traveling around the country living in a Volkswagen bus and then in Nebraska, my family and I moved into an old farmhouse in the arctic Central Minnesota countryside when I was five. There I made up music on an old, upright bar piano that had plastic keys, which fell off as I played. By the age of 15, I won a series of statewide awards for classical piano.
I left the Midwest as soon I could, a week after turning 18, and became part of the early 90s Seattle music scene as a songwriter, lead singer, and spoken word poet. Then, I moved to the Czech Republic and became a club DJ in Prague while I also worked for the East European art and literature magazine Yazzyk.
I returned to the U.S., settled in San Francisco, and became a digital producer during the first dot-com explosion. In 2000, I won three Northern California Songwriting Association awards, then I formed the Night Watchmen, a band that gained a small cult following internationally. I released five albums with my band and as a soloist from 2001 to 2005.
After the suicide of my bassist and good friend, I went completely solo in 2006. I released the three-part indie rock album No War with a new band, and also the atmospheric instrumental album Santa Fe Sky, which I wrote and produced with Dave Hoover. I then spent three years touring the U.S. and Europe.
In 2008, I recorded the first English version of Boudewijn de Groot’s Dutch classic Avond and followed that in 2009 with a self-titled EP showcasing different genres. Both releases received international airplay.
After returning to California, I performed headlining and opening slots, including a performance at Oakland Coliseum, and was featured on VH1 reality show and Hip Hop star John Brown’s song and video No Games. I released an album of Dutch songs adapted into English called Within A Sigh & A Curse in 2012 and toured Europe a sixth time. Then I released Human, a double album made with vintage equipment, and toured Europe for the seventh time in 2014.
I stepped away from music and founded my agency Gentry Bronson Media & Creative in 2015 to help other creatives, then spent four years in Mexico and the Midwest. I made New Orleans my home in 2017, which is where I wrote and produced my nouveau classical piano album Environments. It was released in November 2018. I still live in the marvelous Crescent City.
My media and creative agency clients have included writers, musicians, entrepreneurs, change-makers, public speakers, circuses, restaurateurs, filmmakers, and visual artists. I continue to learn fascinating new things every day.
Currently, my primary writing projects are a series of memoir stories with twists, turns, trials, tribulations, and tragicomedy; articles and essays on personal development and creativity; and two fiction series.
I've had 21 stories curated for a "boost" on Medium, and in addition to Medium, my stories are available on YourTango, Substack, my website, in The Memoirist Quarterly, and wherever else they may be living online and in print.
You can learn more about me on my official website www.gentrybronson.com.
My music is available on Spotify, TIDAL, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeart, Apple Music, and lots of other places.
