Brent Kirby has worn many hats over the years: drummer, guitarist, bandleader, mentor and tireless supporter of local music.
After more than two decades in the Cleveland area, Kirby has become a central figure in the Northeast Ohio music scene for the songs he writes and performs as well as for the community he’s helped foster.
Kirby is marking a milestone with the release of “On+On+On,” a new collection of songs recorded and produced by Don Dixon, known for his work with R.E.M., the Smithereens and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Tracked in an 1800s farmhouse in Oberlin, the album carries a spiritual weight.
Its songs are impressions of redemption, loss, and reflection, written during some of the most difficult transitions in Kirby’s life.
“I realized I had a whole other record of these songs that I had written when people had passed away or in times of grief or in time of loss,” Kirby said, “What it came down to, the thread for me, was transition.”
Building a life and community around music
Kirby grew up outside of Milwaukee, where his father was a band director. Music was part of everyday life, and by fifth grade he had written his first song.
He played drums through high school, picked up guitar in college and spent his early years chasing music across the Midwest and South from working in a vintage guitar shop in St. Louis to recording in Nashville.
He moved to Cleveland while managing the Sam Ash music store in 2001, and he quickly found a home in the city’s vibrant music scene.
“I love Cleveland,” Kirby said. “It definitely feels like home to me, and I'm Cleveland proud.”
Kirby’s projects span genres and decades. For nearly 20 years, he’s fronted the Cleveland rock band Jack Fords with guitarist Bobby Latina.
He leads The New Soft Shoe, a Gram Parsons tribute group that has played every second Thursday of the month at Forest City Brewery for the past 15 years.
Each holiday season, he’s behind the drum kit with the Ohio City Singers, an all-original Cleveland Christmas band.
He also performs with Doug McKean and the Stuntman and appears in countless duo and solo sets across the region.
“Very early on I saw the effect of music. And I saw that camaraderie of music, and I saw the pride and I see the connection that it created."Brent Kirby
Beyond his own bands and solo work, Kirby has built spaces for others to be heard.
His 10x3 Songwriter/Band Showcase began more than a decade ago at Brothers Lounge and now takes place at the Bop Stop on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.
The event is a pre-arranged open mic where 10 artists perform three songs each, with at least two originals required.
“It's a songwriter showcase and kind of a lean to my time in Nashville, where you would have more showcases and you would have open mics,” Kirby said.
The showcase paused during the pandemic but has since returned, continuing its role as a launchpad for emerging voices and a gathering space for musical veterans.
Thousands of artists have participated, and Kirby said his goal was to create an environment where people could turn off their screens and really tune in to the music.
“It makes me feel good because I go out and I see people that I know met at the 10x3,” Kirby said. “I introduce them, and now they're doing collaborations. They're doing shows, they are doing recordings, they are doing all sorts of things together and that to me is like, ‘OK, that's what I wanted.’”
Releasing his most personal album yet
While supporting others remains a constant, Kirby recently turned inward with his new solo record.
The album is steeped in memory and healing. Tracks like “Moonrise,” written for his wife’s sister, and “Sun Shining Off the Sea,” written for his mother, capture moments of raw emotion.
His song, “Three Sisters,” was experimentally written from a voice separate from his own — he penned the track the day his mother died.
Kirby imagined the song being sung from the perspective of one of the women in his family.
“She was one of the three sisters, and then my sister has three daughters, and I was thinking about them,” Kirby said.
It's from a perspective of one of the sisters, he said.
“I felt like, ‘Well, if anyone's gonna connect with this song and the three sisters song, I would rather have them sing it to each other,’” Kirby said.
Kirby also weaves the sounds of nature into the album, underscoring its themes of continuity and connection.
“Regardless of the ups and downs we have, nature is constant,” he said. “I wanted the listener to be in the space to hear the song.”
For Kirby, releasing the album brought a sense of freedom.
“I have so many songs that I've built up, and I feel like I'm shedding skin or purging,” Kirby said. “It just needed to be heard by others, because I felt like there was something in there that people could attach themselves to.”
As he reflects on grief and memory in his work, Kirby remains as busy as ever.
He recently moved from Cleveland Heights to Kirtland, and he is planning new albums with The New Soft Shoe and the Ohio City Singers, collaborations with Laurie Caner of Hey Mavis and possibly a new Jack Fords record.
Another solo album is also in the works.
“Everyone's going to be sick of me,” Kirby said.
His tour schedule is fully booked, with upcoming performances taking place Friday at the House of Blues and Sunday at Heritage Farms in Peninsula.
He plays in Playhouse Square, the Bop Stop and Forest City Brewery next week.
“Very early on I saw the effect of music. And I saw that camaraderie of music, and I saw the pride and I see the connection that it created,” Kirby said. “I've been extremely lucky to have a lot of opportunity and be surrounded by incredible musicians that tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Hey, you want to do this?’ And man, it's been great.”
