Photograph By Jen Acosta

Yes, Brenda Gail has a van named Morrison.

“I make homegrown, Americana, rock, country, Latin music” says singer-songwriter Brenda Gail, who recently released a single for “Holiday,” from her self-titled debut album. “It’s written by me and produced right here in San Diego by Deane Cote and features some great local musicians.

A native San Diegan, Gail was raised in south Oceanside and was a watersports industry insider with the surfing apparel and gear company Rip Curl before moving to Los Cabos, Mexico in the 1990s “to surf uncrowded waves” and sing with Latin jazz trio Cambio de Corazon. She’s currently splitting her residence between Mexico and Encinitas, where she made the most of her pandemic-mandated isolation time by writing and practicing her guitar. “All of the songs on the album are basically observations of people and situations, and my interpretations of things I’ve seen and gathered along the way. Spending time as both bar patron and musician, you see and hear a lot that makes for good songwriting inspiration.”

She drew on those memories and experiences and contrasted them with the post-Covid world for that first rockin’ single. “Two years ago, who wasn’t dreaming about taking a ‘Holiday?’ While writing during the pandemic lockdown, all I would dream about was being able to get in my van named Morrison, and drive anywhere. The locations are fun, tongue-in-cheek: Reno, Vegas, Memphis. I just wanted to get out, play music, and escape the craziness.”

Nestled among the “old road and country bar songs” is “Intenciones Claras,” which is a love song sung in Spanish. “Having spent most of my adult years on the other side of the border, and being half Mexican, I’m very proud of my heritage and home. Writing and singing a song in Spanish was challenging, and I’m blessed to have had help from family and friends, and the fantastic voice of Johnny Valenzuela [Sleepwalkers] to bring it together.”