Photo: Diana Mariscal

Born Petrified is the one-man-band project of Oakland’s Brendan Leonard, and has amassed a very nice collection of tracks over the years. Like most one-man-bands, he has a heavy blues tint, but his music also spends a lot of time hanging out in the area where folk songwriting meets punk and rockabilly rhythms. Above all, Leonard is always engaging on the mic, whether he’s hooting and hollering or just singing the blues.

Below, listen to a couple of my favorites from Born Petrified – “Reaper” off his October 2012 self-titled LP, and “Townes Said” from his 2011 self-titled EP. Both albums can be purchased or streamed from the Born Petrified Bandcamp page.