"Short Bus" singer/songer Jay Brannan kicks of 10 city US Tour in Northampton at Iron Horse Sat 11/8

After spending a month playing sold shows across Europe and Australia, gay singer/songwriter Jay Brannan will kick off a special ten-city North American tour on November 8th at Iron Horse Music Hall in
Northampton, MA and will conclude with an already sold out hometown performance at Joe's Pub in New York City. This tour will be in support of his critically acclaimed debut album goddamned which was released earlier this year on Brannan's own Great Depression Records label. In addition, Jay will be releasing a new music video for the hit song "Can't Have It All" to coincide with the upcoming US tour.

You may remember Jay from his role as Ceth in John Cameron Mitchell's recent film, Shortbus, performing one of his original songs 'Soda Shop'. Brannan has operated an enviable online campaign from his studio apartment, premiering bedroom versions of his songs on MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.

An EP entitled Unmastered has sold over 30,000 tracks through iTunes and a 1,000 piece run of this EP, each with a different Polaroid cover, sold out in a day. Almost 4 million people have watched his clips which were shot entirely from his laptop. This online devotion has translated to a live draw, with worldwide sellouts including Los Angeles, London, Paris, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Commenting on his musical career, Jay says "I don't think that the movie or my music is hanging the world or anything, but I do think that it's a small way in which I can contribute. I think that if we present things like sexuality in music and film, among other things that are sort of taboo in American culture, eventually we're going to have to get used to it."

It's Northampton's turn, Jay Brannan, Saturday November 8th at the Iron Horse. Doors open @ 5:30pm for dinner. Show starts @ 7pm

Tickets for all IHEG shows are available at the Northampton Box Office. Charge by phone 586-8686. Order online at http://www.iheg.com

Vermonter Gregory Douglass will open the show. His passionate amalgamation of contemporary folk, pop, and rock has been compared to Tori Amos, Jeff Buckley and Patty Griffin. With six critically acclaimed, independent CDs under his belt, the 27-year old Vermont native evokes the songwriting skills of an old soul with the voice of an angel.