Brian Rath

Brian Rath was born in Rochester, NY in 1979. His grandfather was a radio announcer and lived a kind of nomadic lifestyle pursuing job openings across the U.S. with professional sports teams. "I think my grandfather has lived a life worthy of a Hemingway novel. We're the dreamers mucking our way through two industry giants-sports and music. I think the passions of his life will live on through me."

In 1998 Rath left his hometown and began a series of stints at various colleges. Finally, a move to Boston in 2000 led him to a degree in English Literature from Northeastern University. It was in Boston that Rath began playing his first gigs and feverishly writing new songs. "I had this great apartment-well, in some aspects it was great... paying $400 dollars a month to sleep in a room with two other people, on top of a bunkbed, wasn't necessarily a highlight. But the apartment was right in the city, on the corner of a major intersection with cars and sirens all night. The roof access was unbelievable; right in the heart of the city, you could go up there, escape the noise below and start strumming."

Rath started wandering into Cambridge at night to play his latest songs at the famous Club Passim Open Mic, where Bob Dylan and Joan Baez used to perform. A place with lots of history and relevance, it was a perfect habitat for the young musician. "My pursuit of the stage...of an audience, was relentless back then. I felt like I spent so many years, quiet as a mouse, as an observer, that something in me wanted those moments on stage to confront this ghost of a past and shed that skin."

A couple of cross country treks landed Brian in Denver for the summer seasons of '99 and '03. "I think the very night I made it into town, I was already browsing local papers, looking for open stages, already scoping out venues to play etc." He spent those summers, traveling the midwest, bussing tables, and playing out any chance he had.

Rath returned to Rochester after graduating in 2003. He has become a familiar face in the local music scene and receives airplay on a number of local radio stations. Brian was voted one of the "6 Music Acts to Watch in 2006" by Insider Magazine (Rochester entertainment weekly).