Brett Ratner

Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Brett Ratner is a musician with a rich pedigree. Interested in music from a young age, Ratner grew up listening to Classic Rock and the American Top 40. He played saxophone in school bands in grade school and high school and was inspired to pick up the guitar after hearing classmates perform "Hotel California" at a school assembly. Largely self-taught on guitar (save for a few lessons), he jammed to tunes by Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Boston, and The Cars, figuring out how to play his favorite songs by ear. Joe Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien was a huge influence when he first learned the instrument.

Brett attended the University of Iowa (where he earned a journalism degree) and became a music critic for The Daily Iowan. On the recommendation of a music professor, he regularly attended blues jams and open mic nights, some of which he would occasionally host. He eventually joined a couple of local cover bands. Ratner moved to Nashville directly after college and quickly became a rock music critic and music journalist for The Tennessean, The Nashville Scene, Music Row Magazine, Guitar Player, Musician, and Electronic Musician, in addition to several other highly-regarded publications. He also worked at Gibson Musical Instruments in their Marketing and Artist Relations departments for three years, where he interacted on multiple occasions with Gibson artists Slash, Angus Young, B.B. King, Peter Frampton, Zakk Wylde, Kix Brooks, Nikki Sixx, Chet Atkins, and many more. He unofficially led the house band (made up of Gibson employees, including the CEO) at the Gibson Café, which hosted jam sessions that often included famous players. In addition, he played in a couple of aspiring original groups that regularly performed at Nashville venues such as Exit/Inn, Bluebird Café, Douglas Corner, Ace of Clubs, Hard Rock Café, 12th and Porter, and more.

Around 1995, Ratner recorded an original instrumental track called “Blues in Space” that featured echoed, ambient guitars mixed with two-handed finger tapping and “shreddy” guitar licks. "Blues in Space" was inspired by the lush, ambient music that he found an affinity for as a music journalist. The song is still available on iTunes and has been licensed for use in visual media on multiple occasions. Coincidentally, around this time, Ratner was seeking mentorship and advice on how to integrate into Nashville’s session scene. Noted session player and producer Kenny Greenburg, upon hearing Blues in Space, instead encouraged Brett to focus on writing and performing original instrumental music (advice Ratner would, unfortunately, ignore at the time).

Brett moved back to Illinois in 1999 and quickly fell into a blues band that hosted weekly jams and played regularly in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. In the early 2000s, he started playing solo sets at bookstores, restaurants, and several area pubs. This is significant because it is when Ratner started using a looper pedal and began developing his own voice on the guitar.

In 2005, Brett met Rick Barnes, the owner of Chicago's esteemed Rax Trax Recording studio. Barnes suggested that Ratner seek out a talented singer-songwriter to build a project around. This resulted in a working relationship with Monica da Silva, and Brett co-wrote the 2007 album Miles From Nowhere, which Rick produced at Rax Trax. The project got some nibbles from major record labels but ultimately wound up being a huge springboard into the world of production music for Ratner, who was soon writing for Universal Music Publishing, Oprah’s music publishing division, as well as several privately owned music publishers. As a result, Brett's original music has been used in more than 700 TV episodes (spanning almost 200 shows), three movies (Holidate, Lady Bird, Polanski Unauthorized), and a small handful of commercials. His TV credits include The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Chicago PD, Shameless, American Idol, NFL on Fox, MLB on Fox, and The Office. 

After brief stints playing in cover bands and live karaoke bands between 2005 and 2011, Ratner largely went on a musical hiatus for several years as he was primarily interested in riding bicycles. He lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and then Chattanooga, Tennessee, and spent most of his free time on a mountain bike or road bike. He moved back to the Chicago area in 2018 and, one week after the move, he received a random call from a bandleader that he used to do gigs for. The band leader was in need of a guitarist and, suddenly, Brett was playing 70+ shows a year. Soon after, he was also regularly playing solo at breweries, bars, restaurants, and on cruise ships, honing his chops as a guitarist using looper effects.

After playing upwards of 350 gigs over the past 5+ years, Ratner started to feel inspired to finally take Nashville session ace Kenney Greenburg’s advice and start recording and performing original music…which brings us to now.

Brett Ratner will be releasing his debut EP CityScapes in the early summer of 2024 and is in the process of planning its release. He is working closely with Novo Management & Publicity's Chicago office and a local creative agency on a music video for the CityScapes single "Caribbean Street Fest" and a CityScapes listening party to be held at Rax Trax is in the planning stages.

FOR PRESS AND RADIO INQUIRIES:
August Forte
NoVo Management and Publicity
4245 N Knox Ave.
Chicago, IL 60641
Tel. 773-278-6686
august@novo.net
www.novo.net