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Chris started playing the guitar, incessantly, in his early teens. Raised in Kristinehamn, Sweden with the weather being, let’s say, uneven throughout the year, his grandparents often found him transfixed on his strings in the backyard as the midnight sun dipped into the horizon, unable to tear himself away from the challenge of creating sound.
A couple of years after picking up the guitar, Chris founded a guitar/vocals duo with a friend, which then stretched into a trio with a bassist. The three gained national attention when they were included in a Swedish TV program focusing on people making music in their basements and were enlisted to record for Radio Sweden. Feeling the need to expand his musical knowledge, Brenne applied to the Berklee College of Music and made his first trip to the USA with suitcase and guitar in hand. While he wasn't in the practice rooms at Berklee, he was driving a cab around Boston. Both efforts eventually led to him graduating Berklee Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Film Scoring.
As a composer, Brenne is heavily influenced by players such as Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch, and Steve Howe (“of course”). He has developed a style of acoustic compositions that includes many of the familiar “folk” idioms, but veers towards enlisting jazz and contemporary qualities, aiming to increase the harmonic palette presented on the acoustic guitar, much in line with what players, like Alex De Grassi, were doing. “All I was trying to do was make it possible for me to play all the styles I love in one fell swoop. I wanted to be able to dig into a blues lick and then quickly settle into some un-nameable harmonic progressions, the kinds that have a very open-ended, airy sort of feel, Debussy-ish if you will.”
"I am a fairly shy guy, although some of my students might disagree, especially when I am on stage. But with music, I have found my path for expression. Everything that I feel comes through in my music. One note, one phrase at a time, whether it is a lullaby or a discussion about politics, music is my voice."