Brennan Gilmore

Brennan Michael Gilmore (born 1979) is an American musician and former United States Foreign Service Officer. As a musician and bandleader he has originated and performed in a number of musical groups. He was raised in Lexington, Virginia and attended the University of Virginia, where he studied international relations as an Echols Scholar, graduating in 2001. He currently resides near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Gilmore served as chief of staff for Tom Perriello's gubernatorial campaign in Virginia. He currently serves as senior director for Clean Virginia, and works in rural workforce development, bringing IT opportunities to "underserved communities" in rural Virginia.

Gilmore was present for a protest rally in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, that turned violent. His film of a car ramming participants led to accusations and threats,

Gilmore serves as executive director of Clean Virginia, an advocacy group established to counter the political influence of Dominion Energy.

Diplomatic career

Gilmore joined the United States Foreign Service in 2002, shortly after finishing college, including Tunisia. His service in Africa was curtailed by a closing of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Bangui in 2012 due to security concerns.

Political activism Brennan Gilmore's grandfather, John Middlemas, a 97-year-old World War II veteran, "took a knee" in support of NFL players protesting the national anthem, saying, "Those kids have every right to protest." Gilmore "knew it was a powerful image" of his relative kneeling, and posted it to his Twitter account. His grandfather's activism was inspired by his own New Zealand relative, a British settler "who spoke out against 'mean and nasty' treatment of the Maori 150 years ago." Gilmore's aunt Maile Auterson, who heads a community gardens organization in Missouri and descends from a long line of Ozarks farmers, claims "they are a family of Democrats".

Gilmore served as chief of staff for Tom Perriello's Democratic campaign for Virginia governor in 2017 and formed a musical group, Perriello's Pickers, with his friends to help deliver the political message. As Gilmore stated about legislation Dominion sponsored, "these are convenient ways to open the door to deregulation and overcharging the customer." He has also opposed two natural gas pipelines proposed for Virginia, performing with his group Wild Common at a protest event to block them, stating:

In his role at Wize Solutions, he promotes rural workforce development in the southwest region of Virginia. The college course Gilmore teaches at James Madison University as adjunct faculty, "Political Protest and Civil Engagement", looks at the role of protests in a democracy.

Charlottesville rally Gilmore was present at the protest rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, where he filmed the automobile ramming participants. He subsequently was the target of accusations and threats regarding his role in the incident. Gilmore says threats came in on Twitter and Facebook like: "You're a dead man walking. You're a CIA operative. You work for George Soros or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton ... we're coming for you. We know where you are."

Gilmore and his family suffered other consequences. Gilmore pursued damages from media outlets in court. The complaint was filed March 13, 2018, by Georgetown Law's Civil Rights Clinic on behalf of Gilmore, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia Charlottesville Division. Named as defendants were: Alex Jones of InfoWars, Lee Stranahan formerly of Breitbart News, Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit, and former Florida congressman Allen West (later dismissed from the suit). The complaint also named Free Speech Systems LLC, Lee Ann McAdoo, Scott Creighton, Derrick Wilburn, and Michele Hickford of Words-N-Ideas LLC as defendants. The related court order read in part:

Defendants Michele Hickford of Words-N-Ideas LLC and Derrick Wilburn reached settlements in June 2021 with Gilmore – the former admitting liability for the claims asserted in the lawsuit and the latter not contesting the allegation of defamation. Former U.S. Representative Allen B. West was dismissed from the suit.

The Gilmore suit opened up further successful litigation — with massive financial judgments determined — against Jones related to his reporting of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Music career Growing up in Lexington, Gilmore benefited from, and was influenced by the many other established musicians in the area, including Will Lee, Larry Keel, Mike Seeger, and Gary and Rooster Ruley. ) in high school, he has originated a number musical groups (while performing in others). As a songwriter, Foreign service assignments to Africa "have provided plenty of inspiration" for his original tunes. His "Kakuma" released in 2008 "delivers a chilling tale of a conflict zone in Sudan from a Blue Ridge front porch." which "built a loyal regional following for its high-energy hoedowns." As Gilmore states: "A couple of old fiddle tunes have now become oud and darbouka tunes." Kantara means "bridge" in Arabic. named for the provision of land by King George II of Great Britain on which Rockbridge County, Virginia was later situated, who appeared at the Theater at Lime Kiln in Lexington in September 2010 with Ryan Chiachiere, Zack Blatter, Rob "Rubs" Hubbard, and Bryan Holmes. The group fuses "melodic rock, traditional Scots-Irish ballads, and Stax/Volt soul."

Wild Common Brennan Gilmore (guitar) performs with Wild Common at Fridays After Five in Ting Pavilion, Charlottesville, Virginia. Gilmore's new group, Wild Common, appeared at the "Water is Life Rally & Concert" in Richmond, Virginia on December 2, 2017. The group earlier performed at a "welcoming Obama to Virginia" rally—where the 44th U.S. president spoke in support of Democrat Ralph Northam in "Virginia's high-stakes gubernatorial election" on October 19, 2017 (also in Richmond). Tom Perriello, whose campaign for Virginia governor Gilmore served on, expressed excitement at attending the February 17, 2018, Charlottesville debut of the "genre-defying New Appalachian band" with his "old bus-ride seat mate" Davina Jackson as lead vocalist. In addition to Gilmore on guitar and vocals, the group features: Davina Jackson (vocals), Nate Leath (fiddle), Dhara Goradia (bass), and Rob Hubbard (drums/percussion).

Wild Common performed Fridays After Five in the Ting Pavilion in Charlottesville on May 3, 2019 and on June 25, 2021. Fiddler Nate Leath and multi-instrumentalist Steve Hoke make guest appearances with the group.

Solo Gilmore's debut solo album, entitled My Name is Daniel Leek, is set for release July 17, 2026 on Concordia Records. With fiddle playing from Nate Leath and vocals from Davina Jackson, the thirteen original songs were recorded in Galax, Virginia at the home of co-producer Dori Freeman. "New Sudan", the first single from the new album was released in advance May 15, 2026.

Personal Gilmore lives in Cismont, Virginia. A rescue dog named "Jack," whom he adopted from Rockbridge County, Virginia, joined Walker's Run onstage in Little Washington, Virginia in 2016, "singing" along with the band "nearly note for note". The related video has been a hit online.

Astrophotography Originally started as a "COVID-19 lockdown project" for Gilmore had become a "passionate hobby" of astrophotography which he pursues in his backyard and elsewhere. His photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy was positively received, garnering over 70,000 upvotes on Reddit. He captured noted images of The Rotunda and Old Cabell Hall on the grounds of his alma mater, the University of Virginia, under astronomical formations. Riffing off the James Webb Space Telescope, he calls his the Brennan Gilmore Earth Telescope. Of his new hobby, Gilmore says: “I like the connection between humanity and the cosmos” as well as “the artistic aspect.” His favorite images “marry the celestial with the terrestrial and remind viewers that our home on this planet is just a small part of a much larger, deeply interconnected cosmic system.”

Gilmore captured noted images of the "green comet", whose official name is C/2022 E3 (ZTF). In May 2023, Gilmore had his telescope trained on the very galaxy where — and just days before — Japanese supernova hunter Koichi Itagawa discovered Supernova SN 2023ixf, the largest known supernova in a decade. Gilmore's images "show the before and after of an explosion that contained the energy of billions of average stars . .” His image of comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) taken from Cismont, Virginia on October 4, 2025 appeared in The Washington Post, Scientific American, and AP News.

Articles Gilmore, Brennan. "What I Saw in Charlottesville Could Be Just the Beginning: How a decade of war zone diplomacy taught me the danger of enabling a cycle of hate." Politico; August 14, 2017. Gilmore, Brennan. "How I Became Fake News: I witnessed a terrorist attack in Charlottesville. Then the conspiracy theories began." Politico; August 21, 2017. Gilmore, Brennan. "Alex Jones is a menace to society. I'm suing him. Conspiracist sites such as Jones's Infowars distorted the truth about me and about Charlottesville." The Washington Post; March 14, 2018. "See how the northern lights dazzled in skies across the U.S." by Kasha Patel, The Washington Post; September 19, 2023 (video). "‘Devil comet’ could soon be visible to the naked eye. How to see it." by Dan Stillman, The Washington Post; March 16, 2024 (image).

Honors, awards, distinctions In 2006 Brennan Gilmore won the prestigious Secretary of State's Award for Public Outreach from the U.S. State Department for "ground-breaking efforts to engage non-traditional audiences and promote Arab-American cultural understanding through music"