In service of music: Meet Denver producer and guitarist don

Denver-based guitarist and producer Brandon Craven, who makes music under the name don., has the Jonas Brothers to thank for setting his music career in motion.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, he was six years old watching the boy band when he first voiced an interest in learning guitar. “I hate that this was my moment, I resent it, but it was a Jonas Brothers performance on Disney Channel, and I loved the energy of Kevin Jonas – the least-remembered Jonas brother,” he remembers with a laugh. “He was shredding a guitar solo, and I turned to my parents like, ‘It would be so cool to learn that.’”

His parents obliged with guitar lessons, eventually leading him to study music at CU Denver. “I still chase that feeling when I was six taking my first guitar lesson,” he says. “From then on, I was pretty attached to guitar and music, not just as an outlet but as a language I wanted to speak, and be able to speak as a career forever.”

On the heels of releasing two solo instrumental EPs via Arden Records, “The Grand Gentle Part 1” and “The Grand Gentle Part 2,” Craven talks with Westword about making the jump to producing, helping other artists hone their sound, and what he’s looking to explore next. 

Craven started gigging professionally at 16, and was on the path to being a lifelong session musician for hire. He didn’t expect to become a producer, but frequently working alongside producers as an instrumentalist spurred him to try his hand at it.

“I could just play guitar forever, and that was my mentality for the longest time,” he admits. “Working with enough producers, I realized I wanted to start producing, because I was sending them my guitar and starting to build out beats a little bit, and thinking ‘Why don’t I just continue this?’”

He started noticing other ways he could contribute to songs besides guitar, and wanted the chance to fully flesh out a track from start to finish. 

With years of experience playing in bands and recording with other artists, Craven was used to thinking “In service of the music,” while still preserving his own point of view, he says: “I do feel like I’ve always had an artistic voice, and I don’t feel like I’ve struggled to blend that in sessions with other artists. I never feel competition when I’m collaborating.”

Since he started producing, he’s developed a local network of repeat collaborators, including HOME (the pair released a full collaborative EP in February, “Letters From Home”), Hunnie, Bennett Louis, and Brooklynn. But Craven understands that he may not be the right producer for every artist, and he’s at peace with that. “

Collaborations come in and out for life alignment reasons. I’ll make really beautiful art with somebody, and the next moment it might not work out, not because we can’t work together, but just because of life, or maybe their sound is different now,” he explains. “I guess it’s the abundance mindset, as rinsed and repeated as that verbiage is. There’s enough out there for me to either make or become a part of, and the more secure in my voice that I am, the more I attract other collaborators.” 

Producing for other musicians was Craven’s segue into creating his own original music. He released his first solo project, a six-track EP called “Sleepless FM,” through the lo-fi label Arden Records in 2024, then followed that up with an independently released EP called “Ripples” last spring. He teamed up with Arden Records again for his latest project, “The Grand Gentle” which they suggested splitting into two EPs for an extended rollout. “The Grand Gentle Part 1,” which dropped at the end of February, is more contemporary and R&B-inspired, while “Part 2,” which came out in late May, combines influences from Craven’s jazz background with Arden’s lush lo-fi sounds. 

The titles came from how Craven sees the music he makes.

“I make big things from small things,” he puts it simply. “It came from trying to highlight that I’m trying to make big sounds, but they might not hit you the way you’re used to big sounds hitting you.”

Because he produces from a guitarist’s perspective, he rarely uses hard-hitting, in-your-face drums that listeners may typically associate with high-impact beats.

“I’m finding chill, undeniably groovy drums that are accentuated by the guitar,” says Craven. “With this not being a vocal project, I try to take that vocal harmonizing stack approach to the guitars, and let the drums help facilitate that.”

Now that Craven has dropped these solo EPs, he’s back in the studio working on more upcoming collaborations.

“I had a moment for myself, now I want to help other people have their moment,” he says. “Finding my voice through collaborations and continuing to facilitate art for others is a big part of my journey right now.”

He concludes: “I think I’m finding a lane for myself. Still, I’m open to everything, and I’m still taking on projects that challenge me. I’m not going to take something that’s completely out of my wheelhouse, but if there’s growth in it, I could be tempted.” 

“The Grand Gentle Part 1” and “The Grand Gentle Part 2” are available now on all streaming platforms.