For over 20 years, Cole has been a fixture on the Chicago music scene sharing the stage with such greats as Uncle Tupelo, Smashing Pumpkins, Material Issue, Nicholas Tremulis, and blues great Joanna Connor. Cole was the principal songwriter and front man for several Chicago-based bands including Treatment, Psycholove and The Second Story and toured with NYC-based The Subscribers. Cole spent most of 2012 working in Nashville. Currently based in New York City, Cole tours constantly with band and solo.
Brad averages about 100 performances a year and has recently shared the stage with Ellis Paul, Dan Navarro, Shovels and Rope, Lisa Loeb and Amy Speace to name a few.
In 2011, Brad teamed up with producer Jason Harper and hip-hop artist Staff Johnson to produce an acclaimed video based on Brad’s song “Killing Your Brother”. The songs message is aimed at curbing gun violence and is used to raise awareness and funds for The Illinois Coalition Against Hand Gun Violence and CeaseFire Chicago.
In 2005, Along with singer-songwriter Jeff Libman, Cole is co-founder of Chicago based acoustic/soul trio Check With Lucy.
Cole has done a series of residencies in where he tries out new material and brings in some of his favorite guest artists. The series has been dubbed Acoustic Circus and has been performed at:
2008 – The Charleston – Chicago
2010 – The Elbo Room – Chicago
2012 – The Uncommon Ground – Chicago
In addition, Brad is a longtime member of The Old Town School of Folk Music’s “First Friday Songwriters Circle.