Brennan Whalen began playing guitar at age 7, but he hated it.

"I was just playing notes and reading music and everything was classical and I thought it was the worst," said Whalen, 19. "I hated it up until about fourth grade. I discovered metal."

Brennan Whalen

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Whalen, who plays solo gigs under the name The Six Horse, describes his music as "sort of indie, folk, alt, country.

"The Six Horse essentially is a kid that's listened to a lot of punk and metal all his life and suddenly decides he wants to be a country folk artist."

He began rebelling when he was 9. He wore black band T-shirts and Vans to school. "I would paint my nails black with a Sharpie."

Whalen played tuba in school bands from seventh grade until his first semester at University of Memphis, but he joined his first rock band, The Rift, at age 16. "The first show I ever played I wore a black kilt with knee-high combat boots and a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt. And makeup on.

"The happiest I am really is on stage. I'm such an attention whore. I love people paying attention to me."

Then he discovered the traditional country music of artists including Hank Williams Sr. "It's so simple and yet so raw: Here are the chords, my heart is broken, I'm drunk, that's it."

He had a band called The Six Horse (named after a Charles Bukowksi poem) for a while, but now he's the whole show. "I generally stand and just kind of bang it out. Like originals and covers. I throw in some Neil Young and some Modest Mouse."

"Goodnight" probably is Whalen's most popular original. "It's about being really tired and saying goodnight to everything you love. I have a lot of trouble sleeping.

"Everybody automatically assumes it means I'm gonna kill myself. Everyone thinks it's a suicide song. It's not a suicide song whatsoever."

After he recorded it, he put the song on Myspace and called his mom to ask her to let him know what she thought. "My mom calls me back: 'I don't like it. It's too sad. Are you going to kill yourself? What's going on?'"

The song is included on Whalen's CD, The Six Horse Suicide Demo.

The Six Horse performs at 9 tonight at Double Deuce, 577 S. Highland. Cover: $5 To see a video of this band, go to AppealTV on gomemphis.com and click on music. Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.