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Colin O'Brien
acoustic guitarist, singer, songwriter

"O’Brien’s songwriting is strong, his obscure covers well-chosen, and his rustic vocals convey more years than he has lived" --Billboard

Milwaukee-based musician Colin O’Brien has drank deep from the well of folk, ragtime, blues and most of all, his own compositional imagination. Playing 6 and 12 string guitars, and a bit of slide banjo, O’Brien has been recognized for the freshness and energy he brings to his original compositions and his interoperations of existing works. "I want my playing to be immediate and urgent." O’Brien told a reporter for the Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express. "I want to play music that’s exciting." His playing style is as diverse as his repertoire, spanning the finger-picking grooves of Leo Kottke to the primitive, soulful vocals reminiscent of Nick Drake.

A native of southeastern,  O’Brien moved to Seattle in 1992 to study classical guitar with Steven Novacek at Cornish College of the Arts. In 1993, he was awarded second place in the Seattle Classic Guitar Society’s annual competition. Later that year, he moved to Milwaukee to study under John Stropes in the American fingerstyle guitar program at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He has taken master classes with Adrian Legg, Pierre Bensusan, Duck Baker and the Los Angles Guitar Quartet. In 1995, he was awarded fourth place in the Tellurine Bluegrass Festival fingerstyle guitar competition. He has shared the stage with Kansas, Willy Porter, Joel Maybus, Richard Gilwitz, Paul Cebar, Dean Magrew and Peter Ostroushko. In October of 1997, he appeared in a PBS documentary on Milwaukee’s Brady Street. In April 1999, he was featured on Public Radio International’s World Café.

In December of 1997, O’Brien released his debut C.D., "Pressure in the West", engineered and co-produced by Willy Porter.

"The C.D. shows not only the musician’s songwriting skills and technical wizardry on the guitar, but his ability to perform across the musical map."
--June Lehman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"It’s among the best Milwaukee recordings of the year."
 –Dave Luhrssen, Shepherd Express