Check Out Our Exclusive Interview with rising star Brianna Lea Pruett!
This is the 15th post in our Musician of the Day series.
Interview with Brianna Lea Pruett
Brianna Lea Pruett is an amazing new musical artist making waves in California with her truly unique and emotional sound. We had the chance to take the time to get to know this rising star and really get the story behind her beautiful and provoking songs.
Click here to listen to Brianna Lea Pruett's song No Diamond Ring
[audio /2009/08/01-no-diamond-ring.mp3] (Download file.mp3)
How/when did you get into music?
I have been singing and playing music ever since I can remember, the first song I wrote that I remember is called "rainstorm," and I wrote it when I was three years old. It is a piano piece that describes a rainstorm with an audio experience. My mother listened to a lot of classical music when I was in the womb, and also watched a lot of Kung Fu with David Carradine. I was really into Raffi as a young person and I also enjoyed Handel's Messiah. I was exposed to Tom Waits at a young age, about three or so, and so I would sing "Clap Hands" at school and scare the other kids, probably. It's not really a kid's song. I have always, since I was young, loved many genres and styles of music. I've learned mostly by self education. age 11: Mariah Carey, Boys II Men, Ace of Base, REM. age 12: Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix. age 13: Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead. age 14: Daniel Lanois, Radiohead again, Sleater Kinney, Red Aunts, 7Seconds, Reel Big Fish. 15: Leonard Cohen, Billie Holiday. All throughout I was discovering new artists and always going back to the folk/bluegrass basics: Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, and that. And later, the older blues music, Mississippi John Hurt, and like that. Joni Mitchell later on too.
Who are your biggest influences?
Although you wouldn't know from the sound of what I do, the people of U2 because of their dedication, loyalty and spiritual power. My ancestors, I love genealogy and I feel extremely influenced by that. Musically, I suppose PJ Harvey, Dolly Parton, and Elizabeth Cotten, and Bonnie Raitt. Carole King as well. and certainly Bob and Daniel Lanois and the influence the entire Lanois family has on the music world and therefore the planet. Cocteau Twins. Tom Waits.
Chan Marshall of Cat Power - She's a musical powerhouse and no one should ever, ever be shy about mentioning what a genius she is, and how much she has affected women in music. She is a solid gold singer. Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Those are my influences in my head. And then of course the people I'm surrounded by - my labelmates on Tiger Friends Collective. My sister Keely. My friend and colleague Jocelyn Noir. My long time friend Ruebi who taught me my best songwriting secret. all of it. Brian Eno. M.I.A.
If you had to, who would you compare your music style to?
Well, I think I'm most known to myself for being able to bring different styles out and play around with that. So in that sense, that way of doing things, Prince, although my music doesn't sound particularly like his at all. I think Judy Collins has that too, that genre hopping ability that I admire and am immersed in.
If you had to pick, which of your songs is your favorite and why?
I have about 300 songs I like that I need to record and organize into records, and I'm in the process of doing that now, I'm building a simple small studio and I'm just about to lock myself in there and work for a year.
I like all my songs, I don't have a favorite unless I write a new one and then it's that for awhile. I like dirty delta blues. I have a song called "Will you or won't you" about being confused about love, the classic theme, and it's so raw and dirty and down and messed up. I can really let it out with that one and I enjoy songs like that. That showcase the dark side of life. There's a song that Chan Marshall just covered recently called "The Dark End of the Street." About meeting a lover and the pain of that kind of relationship, that cheating relationship. An acquaintance of mine, a comedian, introduced me to that tune when I was about 19, and I just cried and cried. It's a great song and I was glad to see Chan working that piece.
Which of your albums so far do you consider your favorite?
My favorite one hasn't come out yet as of 2009. I have a bunch of great ones waiting to be recorded. I have them all organized in binders, if you can believe that. It's pretty funny. There's an album I wrote called "Mrs. California" that I'm working on over the next couple of years, it's a pop record and I'm pretty excited about that. "Low Down Dirty No Good Dog" is a blues record I've written all the songs for that I like. I have a weird career, I stopped playing shows and wrote for like four years. That's what I've been doing and now I'm about to hit the studio hard on all that. I guess you have what you have, everyone’s career is different.
What is one of your favorite stories from producing your albums?
Two Stories: Well... that would be The Stars, the Moon, the Owl, the Cougar and You - my husband recorded it for me and our styles are different. I'm like, I need candles, I need it to be this certain way to record. And he's like, no, lets work. So that was interesting. 2: While recording Natural Fact in Portland with Jacob Golden we had coffee every day at Stumptown, it was fun. I took random people to breakfast for fun and got strangers to come and sing on the record. I mostly just was into having fun and I was so nervous and scared that it wasn't good enough, but I didn't really care, either, I just wanted to make something so bad.
Are you working on a new album now? What can be expected from it?
I'm finishing up the Stars, the Moon, the Owl, the Cougar, and You - it's a sad record of hard times. And I'm kind of working on a bunch of records simultaneously - Sea of Galilee, about the tosses and turns in life, and The Blues, Please, a record of the old old blues songs that have influenced me.
When not performing what do you like to do?
I like to research genealogy. I enjoy helping others authenticate their indigenous American ancestry, or native American or American Indian or whatever the heck you want to call it. I enjoy facilitating that gift of each precious person being a part of history and important in the lives of others. I am a great cook, I love to cook. I make little surrealist short films. I like to go on dates. A lot. I like participating in community, facilitating a project here and there, suggesting solutions and thinking up things for people that I care about. I'm like a connector, a facilitator, a conductor of ideas and energy. and I pass them around and they take on their own lives without me.
What do you consider to be your guilty pleasure?
Coffee.
What was it like growing up?
It was very difficult. Music was my escape. and Books. I read books like a fire eats newspaper.
Who is your biggest inspiration to succeed?
The other musicians I admire who I know are wishing well for me and hoping that I keep going and do whatever I'm going to do and become who I want to be. Creator and creativity itself - the energy of creation, the energy of movements, art, and seeing what other singers have been through, how a person can come out of any life circumstances whether self-inflicted or by others, come out of something really tough into the life that is good for them.
As an emerging artist what do you think about file sharing and musicians giving away music free online?
I think it makes it harder to make money as a musician, it's like you have to look for film work or make music to sell, which I want to do also, and wouldn't feel bad about doing. But then again I think I appreciate free songs. Not everything should cost money. Music is an expression - we don't pay the sun money to shine. On the other hand, the sun can survive without food and shelter.
Do politics/ current events ever enter into your music?
I prefer to write about love and relationships. I have written a few songs about history, the history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, but I'm not sure how they will be put together yet. But I have songs about daily life, and daily life is always political. For women, we are still working this issue as a society and can't just start lagging on that one. Who does the laundry at your house? Even if you live in a punk rock house, or especially if you do? The girls, probably. Who does the dishes? Who takes care of the little things? Which sometimes can be sweet but ladies got to watch out on that, to not let it take over their creative life, their dream of their own life.
To learn more about Brianna Lea Pruett visit her Official Website
