E-Mail This Article to a Friend Bred in the bone (continued)

But the lure of long DIY punk tours sleeping in vans and on floors lost its charm. Also, Brennan recalls, "Even when I was in Cast Iron Hike, I was getting the albums that Steve Earle was making, and that led me back into George Jones. The thing about punk rock is that it’s a great scene that sustains itself just below the radar, but the people in it aren’t open to much else. I remember trying to play George Jones for the guys in Cast Iron Hike when we were in the van, and they wanted no part of it."

Leaving his first band to seek inspiration in more rooted music wasn’t a leap into an entirely alien world. Brennan grew up in Clinton with his mother, but visits to his father’s place in Cambridge were musical odysseys. "I’d be reading an interview in a magazine with some new band I was into, and they’d mention P-Funk or Otis Redding or George Jones, and all of those records would be in my dad’s collection. Sometimes he’d send me mix tapes in the mail."

Somewhere in among Cast Iron Hike, college, and a shot at a straight job, Brennan found his future as a songwriter and put together the Confidence Men. "I think my father would rather I do something else. He’s worn his own career on his sleeve at the expense of everything else. But I think he’s also happy that I’m doing what I love."

Brennan’s unabashed affection for rock leaps out of Love and Bombs and is visible in his unsparing performances. You can also see it in your living room, on the Singer-Songriot DVD, which accompanies the first pressing of the album. The film shows a beer-fueled weekend party at Kolderie’s Camp Street Studios in Cambridge where the sessions for the CD culminated, featuring Jimmy Ryan, the Figgs’ Mike Gent, Treat Her Right’s Jim Fitting, and others musical guests. "It gives the impression the whole album was recorded that weekend," says Kolderie, "but it was really a long, involved process with a lot of thought and experimentation and give and take — although what happened on that weekend really did bring elements of what we were doing to life."

For a brief time, it seemed that Love and Bombs might not detonate. "We really looked for the right label to put it out," Kolderie continues. "You always hear, ‘That doesn’t sound like anything that’s happening.’ I’ve never worried about whether the records I’ve made fit into the sound of the moment, and some people didn’t get what Jake does." Nashville-music-biz veteran Jack Emerson, who’d just dissolved his partnership with Steve Earle running E-Squared Records, got it big time. "He became a champion and a friend," says Brennan. But as Emerson’s new label prepared for Love and Bombs in 2003, he suffered a heart attack and died. "I thought, ‘Oh God; that’s it. We’re fucked.’ "

Then Yep Roc entered like the cavalry. The label has various connections to the Boston scene. Its president, Glenn Dicker, worked at Rounder Records and knows Kolderie. He’s also friends with Jake Guralnick, the son of the roots-music journalist and Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick and the manager of Jake Brennan and the modern gospel-blues group Ollabelle. But the linchpin in Yep Roc’s deal with Brennan seems to be a genuine belief in his music. Their promotional campaign for the album began months ago. "Paul and I are talking about the next record, and I’ve already got half the songs written, which takes the pressure off. But I’m probably more in touch with my anxiety now than I’ve ever been, with the record coming out. Still, I have the capacity to trample over it and do what has to be done, which right now is to get out there and play as hard as we can."

THAT NO-HOLDS-BARRED playing style might not be genetic, but you can judge for yourself at Dennis Brennan’s ongoing residency Wednesday nights at the Lizard Lounge. He’s got a damn good band, too, with guitarists Duke Levine and Kevin Barry in the fold, Andrew Mazzone on bass, and Billy Beard on drums. The Lizard has also begun to offer free admission on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays for both the 7 p.m. "Soul Low" series and the shows that begin at 9. Upcoming picks include a "Beatles vs. the Stones" night on September 28 featuring members of the Heygoods, Session Americana, Rocketscience, and Asa Brebner and then Shivaree on October 26. For more information, call the Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, at (617) 547-0759.

The NEMO conference is just a weekend away. One showcase that typically slips through the cracks is for blues, and this year, the line-ups are driven primarily by notable local talent. On October 1, there’s Daniel Banks & the Moondance Band, the Timo Arthur Trio, Mike Welch, the Racky Thomas Band, and Weepin’ Willie, among others. On October 2, there’s Mr. Nick’s Blues Mafia, Sweet Willie D, the J. Place Duo, David Maxwell with Kevin Barry, Chicago Bob Nelson, Dwight Ritcher, Jose Ramos, Prof. Harp, and more. Both evenings are at Johnny D’s, 17 Holland Street in Somerville’s Davis Square; call (617) 776-2004.

Jake Brennan & the Confidence Men with Runner & the Thermodynamics, the Rudds, and the Heygoods play this Friday, September 24, upstairs at the Middle East, 472 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square; call (617) 864-EAST.