Jesse Brand

Jesse David Brand is an Academy of Texas Music Award winning Songwriter, Musician, Actor, and Small Business Owner. He was born in Ferndale, Washington, and is the youngest son of Steve Brand, former touring musician, playing drums and guitar for Country Music acts David Frizzell, Tex Williams, Rose Maddox, Rusty Draper, and Forrest Lee Sr, as well as touring with Rock and Roll bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival and Steppenwolf. His mother, Gail Brand, is an American Sign Language Interpreter and schoolteacher. Jesse spent five years in the MPFL (minor professional football league) with the North Texas Stampede (Fort Worth, Texas) and Northwest Avalanche (Bellingham, Washington). Jesse lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where he, in 2016, opened a local small business called Exhale Massage and Wellness. In late 2015, Brand made national news headlines when he reportedly had an altercation at a Nashville Waffle House restaurant, involving a disabled homeless United States Marine Corps Veteran, and employees at the restaurant. After playing a concert in Nashville, Brand and an unnamed companion stopped at a local Waffle House for something to eat, when he noticed a disabled homeless man walking across the parking lot. The altercation occurred when Brand invited the man to sit and eat with he and his companion, and were allegedly refused service by employees, due to the man's "dirty clothes". Brand allegedly became irate, when they were informed that the homeless man's wheel chair and sleeping bag had been thrown away by restaurant employees, and got in touch with Waffle House vice president of culture, Pat Warner. It was reported that the following day, Brand contacted WSMV, the local Nashville affiliate station of NBC, which is when the story went viral.