Brooke Parrott
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Brooke Parrott

Portland, Oregon, United States | SELF

Portland, Oregon, United States | SELF
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"Brooke Parrott featured as 2011 Portland artist to watch"

A native Oregonian, a Berklee College of Music graduate, and someone whom has some pretty awesome musical roots herself, Brooke is one of my new favorite local artists. I am having the opportunity to do an interview with her, and have so many questions to ask. I discovered her through the mirracle of twitter, and she seems like a wonderful human being. She has been in England the past few years performing and living, and now she has moved back to the Portland metro area. She will be recording a new album coming up in the summer-ish, hopefully (fingers crossed) it will be released in the fall. She is more than deserving to have all eyes on her right now, especially with her enormous amount of talent she unfurls in her incredibly poignant sound. Check out her tracks Rest and Fever Burns Fire. Get more info on her here! - Boy Meets Music (Portland blog)


"Brooke Parrott: It's All About Adapting"

“A devastatingly gorgeous debut”
“A warm passionate voice that is soft in approach and straight to the point in tone”
“Another song on the album, Rest, shoots sparks through the soul with its sentimentality and a story that is stirring”

Click title for the full feature scan. - Maverick Magazine (UK)


"'Another City' Review"

"A one-in-a-million artist."
"Haunting lyrics accompanied by a vocal that is laden with tension."

See link for full scan. - Maverick Magazine (UK)


"Another South Eugene Grad Embarks On A Musical Path"

See link. - Register Guard


"Traveling On A Song"

It seems that Brooke Parrott can't sit still. She has sung her way from Eugene to Seattle to Boston and back again. This week she's in town for a short while after graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston and before heading off to London. Before she takes flight to find more musical inspiration, Parrott is celebrating the release of her first full-length album, Another City.

Her music is a complex combination of powerful lyricism and bluesy pop. Parrott's lyrics impose themselves upon you in an endearing manner, but her musical talents are maybe even more impressive. The songs on her album feature a wide array of instruments from the cello to the fiddle, and Parrott not only concentrates on vocals but also plays both the piano and organ.

While music is undoubtedly the focus of Parrott's life, for the last couple of years she has also dedicated her time to raising funds for AIDS education in Ghana through an organization called LifeLovers. LifeLovers is working to fund a refuge and education facility for homeless orphans, and to help in this effort, Parrott will be holding a raffle at her release party.

The emotion Parrott feels for LifeLovers translates into her music through her new single, "Maybe She Just Doesn't Love You," and "In Any Light," which has a slow but resonating sound.

Celebrate with Parrott and support LifeLovers at her release party at 7 pm Friday, May 9, at Cozmic Pizza or at a free in-store set at 3 pm Saturday, May 10, at CD World. — Megan Udow - Eugene Weekly


"Happening People: Brooke Parrott"

"I started piano lessons when I was 6," says Eugene native Brooke Parrott, seated at the keyboard in her parents' home. "I've studied piano ever since." Parrott began writing songs as a middle-schooler, when she had a band with friends. After graduation from South Eugene High School and a year at the UO, she worked and played music in Seattle for two years. "I wrote a lot of songs," she says. "I got a scholarship to Berklee." In two-and-a-half years in Boston, she finished a degree in songwriting and piano. "The first semester, I started a group to play my original music," she says. In her second semester, Parrott launched the organization Student Musicians Against AIDS. "We did a lot of fundraisers," she relates. "I taught myself. It was a good experience." Back in Eugene since June, Parrott has been working to complete her debut album, Another City, recorded in Boston last spring. At 7 pm May 9, she will play "bluesy Americana" songs from the CD in a release concert at Cozmic Pizza. A wine raffle will benefit LifeLovers, an AIDS education program for children in Ghana. - Eugene Weekly


"Brooke Returns"

Harmonious melodies played by Brooke Parrott and other talented collaborators from all over the country are the background for the 24-year-old's impeccable voice. Blues, Americana and folk music genres heavily influence the lyric-driven songs on her upcoming debut album, "Another City." Parrott will release the album on Friday at Cozmic Pizza in Eugene.

Parrott's mission extends beyond just making beautiful music. During her second semester at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she has a degree in songwriting, the young musician founded Student Musicians Against AIDS. Organizing benefit concerts for the group, Parrott has helped it raise thousands of dollars for deserving AIDS organizations all over the world. This Friday's release show will benefit LifeLovers, an organization that funds HIV/AIDS education for children in Ghana. The organization's current project, the Circle of Life shelter, will provide refuge and an education facility for children who have lost their guardians to AIDS.

"LifeLovers is a cause that I feel very passionately about, and I'm glad I can support them through my music," Parrott said.

WHAT: Release show for Parrott's debut album, "Another City," and AIDS fundraiser
WHEN: Friday, May 9
WHERE: Cozmic Pizza, 199 West 8th Avenue, Eugene
COST: $5 suggested donation (Buys two raffle tickets for wine raffle). Fifty percent of proceeds go to LifeLovers, an AIDS education program for children in Ghana

The piano used for recording "Another City" is the grand piano she grew up playing at her parents' home in Eugene.

A graduate of South Eugene High School, Parrott attended the University of Oregon for one year before moving to Seattle for two years to pursue her music career. While in Seattle, Parrott re-auditioned for Berklee College of Music to see if she could increase her scholarship money. Berklee increased her scholarship and Parrott moved to Boston in 2005 to study music.

The lyrics of Parrott's songs are her pride and reflect personal experiences. She loves when her fans can relate to a whole song, a verse or even just one line in her songs. The personal nature of her lyrics adds the rawness and authenticity to the folkish instrumental sound. Parrott cites fellow singer/songwriters James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon and Fiona Apple as well as her many talented peers from Berklee as her greatest influences.

Parrott's MySpace page offers visitors free downloads. The spread of her music through online sources like MySpace excites Parrott.

"It is interesting to watch how music can spread through MySpace," Parrott said. "It started with people who knew me and has expanded out to a farther-reaching audience."

After graduating Berklee last May, Parrott returned to Eugene. She began working on "Another City" in Boston prior to leaving and made trips back to Boston to record over the past year. Eugene holds a special place in Parrott's heart. She knew she wanted to release her album here.

"Releasing my album in Eugene was very important to me because my family and friends are here," Parrott said. "When I play a show in Eugene, I always see someone I have known since I was about 8 years old."

Parrott will start the next adventure of her life in London when she moves there in two weeks. While in London playing shows, as well as some performances in Ireland, Parrott plans to focus on writing new music for her next album. - Daily Emerald


"From Playskool To Profession: Interview With Brooke Parrott"

Victory: Whatcha working on right now?
Brooke: I’m currently working on material for a new album, which will be recorded here in the UK. Since I really wanted to get people involved in the process, I’m using Pledge Music to raise funds and support for the album. Fans can get anything from a preorder of the album to a Skype video-call into a recording session, and when they pledge they get exclusive updates, videos, and songs throughout the entire process – from the first song to the final mix.

Victory: When and why did you start playing?

Brooke: I started singing into a Playskool recorder when I was four – my parents would take my brother and me on road trips to visit my grandma, and would give us the recorder in the backseat. I would press record and make up songs the whole way up about what I saw out the window. When I was six, my parents started my brother on piano lessons, and after he threw a tantrum, I was sent in his place. Little did my parents know that they would be sending me to piano lessons for the next 12 years!

Victory: Who do (or did) you listen to most? Now or growing up….or…..

Brooke: When I was young, I was kind of at the mercy of my parent’s listening habits, which included Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, and Bob Dylan. Those great songwriters were hugely influential to how my songwriting evolved. Today I listen to a lot of those same artists, but also more recent acts like Conor Oberst, Anais Mitchell, or Janelle Monae.

Victory: I love that you recorded your first original tunes on a Playskool recorder…. Besides the equipment you use, how has your music evolved since you first began playing?

Brooke: I’ve been playing and writing for so long now; it’s inevitable that my music has evolved from the places I’ve lived, the people I’ve met, the music I’ve heard. When I was really young and first began writing songs in earnest, it was a very insular thing for me. I was really shy, and to this day, many schoolmates of mine still don’t know that I’m a musician. After I moved to Seattle, I began playing more for other people, and my songs began to take on more structure. It was when I attended Berklee College of Music that I really had the resources and time to start developing my music in a deliberate way. During that period, I spent a bit of time in Nashville, which changed the way that I wrote and thought about songwriting in general.

Victory: What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?

Brooke: I think songwriting will always be my first and greatest love. I also really like playing shows and getting into the recording studio, but songwriting feels like home.

Victory: What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?

Brooke: Self-promotion. For me it’s the most difficult aspect of being an independent artist, which I think is only solved by surrounding yourself with a good team who believes in what you’re working on. Let’s just say I’m still putting together my team!

Victory: You now live in the UK -- In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music? How did you decide to make the move to the UK from the pacific NW?

Brooke: London has always fascinated me, so I moved here two years ago to explore the music scene. I’m somewhat of a nomad – I tend to move around a lot. I definitely draw a lot of inspiration from the cities I live in, so I think that songs from different periods of my life are reflective of the places I lived at the time. For instance, half of my first album, ‘Another City’, was written when I was living in Seattle, and the other half while I was in Boston, so the album embodies parts of both cities, as well as elements of the transition between the two. I like to write lyrics while I walk, so naturally what I see while I’m walking gives me ideas!

Victory: Tell me about your latest (or your fave) original song (written by you…of course)

Brooke: My favorite songs are usually what I finished most recently, so currently a song called ‘Can’t Because I Won’t’; a demo of which is up on my Facebook page. It’s about the small concessions you make in relationships that change you over time. I wrote it when I was walking home on a rainy day and imagined the street flooding. The idea of water rising – so slowly that you never really notice how high it's gotten – really spoke to me. So often it is the same with relationships; things change so slowly and minutely that it's often imperceptible until you look back with that infamous 20/20 hindsight: "Watching the tide as it keeps on the rise / Never can be sure it moves / Didn't know when you got up and you left / Cause you packed up all the proof".

Victory: I see that you have a heart for Musicians Against AIDS and founded an organization – tell me what got you involved and doing that work?

Brooke: My father is South African, and many years ago we went to a photography exhibit in Cape Town that profiled South Africans living with AIDS. It changed me forever, and when I was going to Berklee I founded Student Musicians Against AIDS; it was the perfect way to use music to raise money and support for AIDS organizations that were making a difference.

Brooke is playing at the Jewel Box theatre in Seattle on August 17 -- Brooke Parrott w/ Ehren Ebbage and May Stands Still, $5, 6pm - Victory Music


Discography

'Another City' (2008)
Sophomore album out 2011

Photos

Bio

Brooke Parrott can’t remember a time when she didn’t write songs. As a four year old in the backseat of a car, she sang her first rhymes about the passing Oregon scenery into a Playskool recorder with matching microphone. Her love affair with the piano began at six, when her twin brother threw a tantrum after attending exactly one week of lessons. She was sent in his place, and from then on practiced with an alarming studiousness. Add in a stride and blues piano-playing father, a jazz-theory education at Berklee College of Music, some time in Nashville, and influences ranging from Bright Eyes to Paul Simon, and you have Parrott’s understated and soulful Americana. And with a voice reminiscent of Carole King, it’s easy to hear the impact of the 60s & 70s-era songwriters on her melodic sensibilities.

A nomad at heart, Parrott’s music has pulled her through Seattle, Boston, and most recently London, where she lived in a disused pub (rumored to be an old haunt of both Charles Dickens and Karl Marx) and wrote songs on a disintegrating grand piano. This rootlessness has seeped into her music, fueling her songs with poignant storytelling and a disarming sense of loneliness in love.

Her debut album, ‘Another City’, was self-released on Ten ‘til Six Records in 2008, and the single ‘Maybe She Just Doesn’t Love You’ was recently featured on T-Mobile phones worldwide. Parrott has shared the stage with the likes of Lauren Pritchard, Darrell Scott, The Wooden Sky, Kimmie Rhodes, Madi Diaz, and Kim Richey. 2011 will see her working on her sophomore album in Portland, Oregon and touring around the US and UK. She was recently featured as a 2011 Portland artist to watch on blog Boy Meets Music (http://bit.ly/gsctNO).