I am a songwriter and a songleader based in Minnesota.
I write songs for groups to sing together. Songs about social justice, inclusion, sustainable living, shared abundance, nonviolence, neighborhood life, and fishing. You can find and download my songs on this website; I hope you can find a way to sing them, too.
I also lead groups in singing: I’m interested in helping groups of ordinary folks sing together: community sings, progressive churches, big and small events, social change organizations, and concerts.
More About Bret:
Bret cofounded and coled the group Minnesota Community Sings, along with Twin Cities songleader Mary Preus, to promote and revive the practice, from its heyday early in the last century, of friends and neighbors gathering in parks and public places to sing.
Bret worked for 20 years with St. Paul-based Advocating Change Together, using participatory methods of popular education, along with songleading and collective songwriting to build leadership and advance civil rights and self-advocacy for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Bret was also a founding member of Bread for the Journey, a Minneapolis-based ensemble that between 1992 and 2005 traveled nationally to teach and lead songs of faith, hope, justice and inclusion from progressive Christian communities around the world.
Bret and his wife Jaimie Bennett live in Minneapolis.