Brennan to appear on 'Fox & Friends Weekend'

Dec. 28—Owensboro native Jon Brennan has had a good year and is looking forward to capping it off in style.

Brennan, 48, who came to fame as the youngest cast member of the second season of MTV's "The Real World: Los Angeles" in 1993, reunited with his fellow ex-roommates on the Paramount+ series "The Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles," which premiered last November.

And while he's kept busy since the former show wrapped close to 30 years ago with ministry, leading music in church, and doing missionary work in Africa, Brennan finally decided to take a leap and pursue his music career once again.

Last year, Brennan released his first independent studio project "I Ain't Done Singin' Yet," a collection of three original songs and two covers tracks, John Conlee's number-one country hit "I'm Only in It for the Love" and Alan Jackson's top five song "Here in the Real World," and eventually secured a deal with CDX Records in Nashville.

"They actually loved my CD and loved me as an artist that they made me one of their artists," he said. "I signed a distribution agreement with them. It's kind of a reverse record deal because I already made the record, and they're putting their name on it. Normally they would sign the artist and make the record .... (It's) kind of a unique situation there."

It was not too long after that Brennan was able to achieve another life goal.

"Somebody played the John Conlee (cover) on that record ... for him — somebody that knew him and knew me ...," he said, "... and he loved it."

Brennan already had experience being on the same stage with Conlee in the past when Brennan opened for him at the former Executive Inn Rivermont.

Conlee ended up watching Brennan's appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend" in June where Brennan sang the national anthem live from Fox Square outside the Fox News studios in New York City.

Conlee was impressed with what he saw, according to Brennan.

"(John) called the guy back and said, 'Man, that guy is really great. I really like that guy,' " Brennan said. "And he said, 'Well, he's been a John Conlee fan for a long time and he would really love to sing (your) song on 'The Grand Ole Opry;' it's one of his dreams to be on 'The Grand Ole Opry' and he's always wondered if you would call him out to sing ...."

In July, Brennan made his Opry debut singing "I'm Only in It for the Love" together with Conlee.

"It was a dream come true. It was a milestone," he said. "For any country singer to step out on that Opry stage and sing a song is an incredible milestone. It's bigger than hearing your song on the radio; it's bigger than winning an award; I mean, it's the ultimate ...."

Brennan also focused on personal goals throughout the year.

"When I see videotape of the Opry, or when I saw 'The Real World Homecoming' and you compare that to footage from 30 years ago when I was 18 years old, I was like, 'Man, I was a skinny little kid,' " he said, "and now I'm — you know I wouldn't say fat — but definitely overweight .... I just didn't like my appearance ....

"...If you don't like what you see about your appearance, you have the ability to make some changes."

Since taking charge, Brennan has lost "anywhere between 35 and 49 pounds."

"I'm not gonna stop," he said. "I'm actually not gonna start my New Year's resolution on Jan. 1; I started mine back in September and I'm rolling. I'm gonna get down to about 210. I got about 15 more pounds to go."

Brennan will conclude his revival year with a performance at the Wildhorse Saloon on Dec. 31 as part of Fox News' "All American New Year Live from Nashville," which will include him singing self-penned songs "Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky" and "I Ain't Done Singin Yet," with the latter single to be released to radio on Jan. 3.

Brennan's set will be included in the pre-show prior to the televised portion which airs live from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

He will appear earlier in the day to promote the show on the live morning broadcast of "Fox & Friends Weekend" with hosts Will Cain, Pete Hegseth and friend and former "Real World" cast member Rachel Campos-Duffy.

Brennan said "a lot of things have fallen into place" within the last year.

"... At some point, you want to start making some money and make a living off of music; and I haven't really made any money," he said, "but just the exposure and the things and events that have fallen into place have been real positive."

And he has plans to continue aiming high.

"My big goal this year is to get my songs on the radio ...," he said. "I've always wanted to be a radio artist, I want to win awards, I want to tour — I want to do the thing I set out to do 30 years ago."

For more information, music, and updates on Brennan, visit his website at jonbrennan.com, follow him on Twitter @jonbrennan_com or visit facebook.com/jonbrennancountry.