InvasiveThoughts.com

While sitting at a chaotic airport gate, awaiting once again to board a plane for a stressful business trip, I decide to turn on Pieta Brown’s latest album remember the sun. The slow, steady rhythm and moody vocals and keyboard in the opening song “Innocent Blue” began to ease my tension and transport me to an abstract calm, an “innocent blue.”

Pieta’s album, a blend of optimism, fantasy, realism, and emotion, travels through time and place like the trains that roll through her rural song settings. Experiencing the album, one can become enveloped in the mood and sentiment of the music and the characters that Pieta reflects within each song. At times I feel as though she were singing directly to me; at other times her guitar seems to channel its own soul. Yet her presence on the album is so solo, I see her dancing through her own scene like a picture on a movie screen. It’s a pleasant trip, through dusty roads and dark bars, living rooms and unknown space. And each time I come out at the end feeling as though my emotions have been cleansed. 

I first discovered Pieta Brown’s music when my dad picked up her debut self-titled album at a book sale and mailed it to me because he thought it seemed like something I might find interesting. And though I’m not always a fan of music that I consider mellow or droning, I was immediately hooked on her sound, its dreamy aura and confident yet unimposing style. The songs on her first album mostly feel as if they’re directed at one person, someone in her own life, a lover perhaps, or maybe herself, whereas the songs on remember the sun feel like they’re directed at everyone. Maybe she was in a very different place in life when she wrote the two albums. Though her sound is distinctly similar on both albums, remember the sun is a little more electric and upbeat.  Somehow I missed her second album and then recently heard her name on NPR during a review of remember the sun on All Things Considered. I’m now experiencing a personal Pieta revitalization, and loving it more than the first time!

The following interview with Pieta Brown was conducted via email and though I never spoke with her personally, a warmth and kindness seemed to resonate from her responses and I feel that it was an interview gone well.

Interview Questions:

I am always impressed by a musician who can play multiple instruments, sing well, and compose good songs. Can you share briefly your music history? What inspired it and how did you get to where you are today in your career? What other singer-songwriters most impress you?

-music is one of the first things i "remember"...i've played the piano...freestyle...since i can remember...so my own music started on the piano...along with singing and making up songs...

at some point i got obsessed with poetry...and turned to that...

sometimes, as a teenager i wrote songs on the piano...but i always felt very protective and private about all of it...

it wasn't until i picked up a guitar in my early 20's that it all became one big thing...some kind of inner hurricane...that drove me to actually try to capture songs that i could offer to other people...

so i've been following that hurricane ever since...

my biggest source of musical inspiration outside of what came through my family has been old country blues records...so many to name...those  singer-songwriters are a constant source of inspiration to me...sonny boy williamson comes to mind...but outside of that big field ? as far as singer/songwriters go ...loretta lynn...hank williams...chrissie hynde...tom petty...mick jagger...keith richards...george harrison...tom waits...neil young...bob dylan...lucinda williams...will oldham...joe price...they all have inspired me in different times and ways and places...i'm sure i  could name 20 others on a different night...

i don't think much in terms of career- only when i really have to...but i think i'm here at this place because of drive, some waves of patience and many good friends i've made along the way...

The songs on this album are very moody. When you write songs, what is your process? Do you start with a mood? A concept? A tune?

-every song is its own thing...they start in different places...i would say melody often pushes to the front first...sometimes a few lines with a melody in the distance...almost always i have an instrument in (or on) hand...

The mood of the music and the descriptions of the people and scenes in “WEST MONROE” are so vivid, yet so fantasy-esque. Is the song inspired by real people and places in West Monroe or is it metaphorical?

-i wrote that song on a old gibson country and western and i swear the guitar was telling me a story...the man i bought it from said he had gotten it from an old man who lived in chicago but who had moved there from the south...the old man had had that guitar for quite a while...i went home and i sat down with that guitar right after i had gotten it and put a capo way up high on the neck for some reason...and out tumbled the song...that guitar has a lot of magic in it...west monroe could be just about any town, USA i reckon...

Throughout this album appear many references to the current state of our information society---ex: “it’s a TV nation and you can’t turn it off…” and “computers are running the human race and walking is just a waste of time…”---and you appear nostalgic for a simpler time. What is your overall perspective/attitude about the current state of our society in this technology age and time of war? How do you think music has been affected by these changes? How powerful do you think music is in affecting change?

-i can't answer the overall perspective/attitude question very simply...i have a lot more questions than answers right now about the current state of our society...

one question i have is if people realize how big and essential music is?...i reckon it is much bigger than technology...i think music is very powerful...it has a history of often being a part of change...small and big...inside and out...

In the song “ARE YOU FREE?” and in other songs throughout the album your lyrics discuss the need to be free and the things that hold us back. Do you feel that you are free? How can we “get free”? (I’m trying, but it’s hard amidst the constraints of jobs, limited time, illness, and responsibilities!)

-what a beautiful question you've asked!

The album ends on an optimistic note with “REMEMBER THE SUN.” Do you feel mostly optimistic?  

i do feel optimistic...hope is a key to survival for me...

Feel free to add anything??..

thank you for your questions...PEACE and LOVE- pieta