Brett Wiscons celebrates the songs that made him at The Jazz Kitchen

The Indiana singer-songwriter throws two release-party sets for "The Music That Made Me Vol. III" on Nov. 7 in a 120-seat room.

Every songwriter has a shelf of records they learned on. Brett Wiscons is turning his into a series, and the third installment gets its party a week from tonight. On Saturday, Nov. 7, The Jazz Kitchen hosts the album release party for *The Music That Made Me Vol. III*, and it's doing it twice.

The early show starts at 6:30 p.m., with doors at 5. The late show starts at 9, doors at 8:30. Tickets run about $24 to $44 through the club. According to the venue, Wiscons will be backed by an all-star band and will play his own best-known originals alongside a handpicked set of covers, which is the whole point of the project.

His own store page describes the record as a curated collection of cover songs paying homage to the artists who shaped him as a songwriter and performer.

Wiscons is an Indiana lifer by most accounts. A 2016 album announcement on Todd Starr Photography's news blog said he grew up in Plymouth, Ind., listening to Hootie & the Blowfish and Pearl Jam, and Current has written about him as a Zionsville singer. That 2022 story covered *Late Bloomer*, still his best-known full-length of originals; he performed its title track for WISH-TV's All Indiana, and he's sat in for WFYI's Small Studio Sessions.

The Hootie connection isn't just a listening habit. His HiFi Indy artist profile credits Hootie & the Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryan as a producer and songwriting partner, and says Wiscons has shared stages with Jon Bon Jovi, Jimmy Buffett, Darius Rucker and Hootie, and was picked for Bon Jovi's 2019 Runaway to Paradise cruise. His bios count thousands of live shows, and he writes the Bear Whitman detective novels on the side.

A covers record is a confession: here's who I was listening to when I decided to do this.

That's what makes a covers record from a working songwriter interesting. It's a map of where the originals came from. Hearing them in the same set, his songs next to the ones that taught him how, is the best argument for going in person rather than waiting for the stream.

The room helps. The Jazz Kitchen holds about 120, which means there isn't a bad seat and there isn't much distance between the band and the tables. Two seatings also means you have a choice: the early set if you want dinner and an early night, the late one if you want the version where the band has already played it once and loosened up.

It is a rare format: a full band, a new record and a reason to hear the whole story in one sitting. Pick a set and book a table.

Sources: The Jazz Kitchen — Brett Wiscons: The Music That Made Me Vol. III Album Release Party (Nov 7) (calendar.thejazzkitchen.com); Brett Wiscons store (brett-wiscons-store.myshopify.com); Todd Starr Photography — Singer-songwriter Brett Wiscons to release album in October (2016) (toddstarphotography.com); Current — Zionsville singer to perform new album (youarecurrent.com); WISH-TV — All Indiana Artist: Brett Wiscons performs 'Late Bloomer' (wishtv.com); WFYI Small Studio Sessions — Brett Wiscons (wfyi.org); HiFi Indy — Brett Wiscons artist profile (hifiindy.com); Indy Arts Guide — Brett Wiscons (indyartsguide.org); Brett Wiscons & The Benders - artist profile (mokbpresents.com)