Holly Bernt

Artist Information

Biography

Holly was born in Minnesota but she moved to South Dakota at age five and then to Oregon when she was fourteen. She lived with her older brothers, baby sister, and her parents. Even when talking about her father now, Holly’s eyes brighten up. She recalls how he would just sit back and listen to her play piano for long amounts of time. At the age of six Holly would sit down at the piano and be able to play any song she had heard. At one point her mom signed her up for piano lessons but after getting rebuked about her form etc. by the teacher. Holly promptly quit and learned on her own. If you ask her now she would say that she is grateful to not have been stifled by music theory “my music comes through my soul not some notes on page”. Holly's music is characterized by soft melodic chords and the often blues/jazz influenced guitar songs that rip the listener out of their comfort zone. Her music could be related to those such as Ingrid Michaelson, Joni Mitchell, and even Taylor Swift.
Music for Holly hit an all time high when she was sent to boarding school at the age of fifteen. The one place she felt solace was in the chapel at the piano. Other kids would sit captivated for hours and at times she would hold counseling sessions for them while playing the piano.
Holly Bernt is now 23 and lives in Rochester Michigan and works as a dental assistant. She attends Oakland University and will be graduating in the spring of 2011 with a double major in political science and psychology. Holly plans on taking the next year off to work on more music and figure out what the next step is. She has a passion for current events and the start up of a “Peaceful Revolution” through music and self-sustaining practices.
She plays guitar and sings original songs with such a powerful emotion, captivating anyone who listens to them. Writing has helped Holly go through many hard moments of her life through her lyrics. She defines writing as her coping mechanism and her preferred method of expression through both dark and light times. More recently she has used to music as information and to wake up people.
She says in her song, ‘The Real Thing’, “When the world gets me no-where, I know I’ve got the real thing.” No matter what life throws at Holly, she has no problem taking it with a smile. You can tell just by looking at her that Holly Bernt definitely has “the real thing”.

Instrumentation

Holly Bernt
piano/keyboard
guitar

Discography

2009 "No Complain"
Single in 2010 "Its Your Soul"

Links

• Facebook
• Jango free radio

Audio

• The Felon's Blues
  Listen  
• Wake up Love
  Listen  
• there aint no love here
  Listen  
• Keeping time
  Listen  
• ITs Your Soul
  Listen  
• This isn't a love song
  Listen  
• Dream of me
  Listen  
• The Blue Masquerade
  Listen  
• final mix
  Listen  
• Artistic Catastrophe
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Artistic catastrophe
• its your soul
• The Real Thing
• Ode to Wisdom

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Holly Bernt Runner up in best song in the world contest [+ Show ]
  

  Holly was a standout early in my Sonicbids Song Competition. Her songs are personal stories of her ...Holly was a standout early in my Sonicbids Song Competition. Her songs are personal stories of her life experiences. If she was older I would think she grew up listening to the waif like female hippie folksingers from the Woodstock era, like Joni Mitchell. She sings and writes like the beat-poets of the sixties who discover their voice through their explorations and their singing becomes their instrument as well as a guitar.
  
  Holly seems to go it alone pretty much, singing and playing everything herself. The lyrics are clever and descriptive, and when she plays guitar, her fingers find these patterns which possibly express what words cannot. Holly's voice glides in and out of the often soulful, spare and unclutterd ultra clean arrangements. The tunes are poetic lyrically, challenging artisticly and exquisite musically. I'm a fan, where do I sign up?
  
  -Gary Allen (The Charlie Daniels Band/JJ Cale/Stonewall Jackson)

• first impressions and further ruminations [+ Show ]
  

  Casual precision. That describes what I saw tonight. What impressed me the most was that what and ho...Casual precision. That describes what I saw tonight. What impressed me the most was that what and how Holly performed seemed to be so natural, so innate, that she couldn't have made a mistake if she tried. Her picking & fretting on the guitar was flawless, accurate and perfectly appropriate for the song at hand. Not once did I see a stumble, no chord phrasing seemed contrived or inappropriate... it was just as it should have been. And her voice was just as flawless... With most singers in her position, I would have heard some weak pitches, or hesitation, or something that would indicate that they needed a bit more practice... but not Holly. Every song was perfectly accurate, completely undistracted, and absolutely natural. That's pretty amazing to me... I've seen a lot of performers over the many years I've been doing this... obviously Holly made quite an impression on me, as well as everyone else there.

• June Bug Fest [+ Show ]
  

  The unexpected surprise of the night was a young gal, singer/songwriter, Holly Bernt. Though few of ...The unexpected surprise of the night was a young gal, singer/songwriter, Holly Bernt. Though few of us had heard of her, it was quickly apparent that we were seeing and hearing something special. Everybody was instantly captivated by Holly’s smile and sexy, sultry voice that was equal to the effects of a whisper into a lover’s ear. Her finger style picking was precise and flawless, accenting the emotion of her songs. She thought she was going to get away with only playing two songs, but before she could even finish her first song, the crowd had made up its mind that they wanted to hear more. She humbly complied and played about six songs, asking if she should stop at the end of each one. Holly A. Bernt can be found on Facebook and Myspace.

• Radio Interview with Leasa Rosolino
  

  Radion interview link is below

Setlist

A usual set is about an hour or more of originals and maybe 20 minutes of covers.
Originals
The blue masquerade
This isn't a love song
dream of me
left him for dead
never make a lady cry
wisdom truth/the status
be here now
sabotage
artistic catastrophe
Its your soul
these little elves
Where they get me
ode to life
untangled
etc.

covers
while my guitar gently weeps
sweet dreams (marlilyn manson)
imagine (john lennon)
realize (colbie calleit)

Basic Requirements

Calendar