“Wonderful Creature” – Single

My new single, “Wonderful Creature” (Feat. Aaron Bates) is available now for streaming/download.

“The Tortoise” (Orchestral) – Single

New single, Michael Oliva’s “The Tortoise” (Orchestral) is available now for streaming/download.

Trailsongs: Volume 1

Today is Trailsongs: Volume 1 album release day, featuring 10 songs inspired by America’s National Parks.

“The Tortoise” – Single

Inspired by Joshua Tree National Park. I was hiking alone in the desert and thinking about how you had to take it one step at a time and really think about water.

“Oh Bear” – Single

Inspired by a solo hiking trip in Glacier National Park, this song is about how I ignored all the warnings about hiking alone in bear country and my conflicting feelings of wanting to see a bear while simultaneously being terrified of encountering one. Not even carrying a bear bell, I started signing to alert any nearby wildlife of my presence and came up with this song.

Spices

I have a new Christmas song to share. This started as something Molly wrote and asked if I wanted to work on recording with her. We ended up deciding to do two different versions but we’re both featured on each one. We hope you like it! I have a few other Christmas songs you can enjoy

Wonk + Kendall

Besides performing with Royal Holland, I’ve also been playing ukulele with Wonky Tonk. Wonk was playing bass with Royal Holland and once I heard her excellent new album, Stuff We Leave Behind I insisted that she let me accompany her as well. We also decided to enter a SafeAuto Songwriter contest and ended up making it to

Trailsongs: Inspired by Our National Parks

August 25, 2015 was the 99th birthday of the National Park Service and to celebrate I launched a new project. Trailsongs: Inspired by Our National Parks is a collection of songs that I’m writing based on the 59 National Parks managed by the National Park Service. This is an ambitious long-term project that I’ve been slowly working

Royal Holland Shows

Last Summer I played some shows with Royal Holland and it’s happening again! I’ve taken to playing ukulele and providing backing vocals in the new lineup that includes Matt Retherford, Margaret Darling, and Wonky Tonk. Here’s a kind quote from a recent review of a show we played in St. Louis at Off Broadway, “Kendall Bruns adds just

Royal Holland EP Release Tour

I’m packing up my Moog and going on tour with Royal Holland for six midwest dates. We’ll be playing songs from Royal Holland’s debut EP, The Maze. Royal Holland is a “synth-folk” band led by my previous Koala Fires collaborator, Matt Mooney. His new EP was recorded (on actual analog tape) by Grammy award winner,