Nell Brydon - Interview

  by Lisa Torem

published: 29 / 4 / 2010

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Article

Fresh off the heels of a myriad of UK gigs, four international tours this year alone, and two overseas concerts to benefit soldiers earning her the title “Forces Sweetheart” Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Nell Bryden proves she can captivate those on the home front and across the pond as well as in Iraq. Her front-lines concerts attracted documentary maker Susan Cohn Rockefeller, whose film ‘Striking a Chord’, to be released later this year, chronicled how the troops responded to Bryden’s performances. Bryden’s last single ‘Not like Loving You’ spent six weeks on the R2 A List. 'What Does It Take', her debut album, is an album of extraordinary depth, and her original songs touch the far reaches of the heart. It was initially released in 2008, and then two more songs were added. In its final form, it charted 7 weeks on the BBC R2 A-list. Besides having a voice that is blissfully warm and rich, Nell Bryden’s stories foreshadow life lessons that could only be learned through ardent self-reflection. She spoke to Pennyblackmusic about selecting and composing the material for 'What Does It Take', her favourite influences, the art of surviving the music industry and much more. PB: Let’s talk about the new CD 'What Does It Take'. The cover has this retro look, first of all. Then, your single 'Tonight' which is also on the album, of course, has that poppy girl-group feel. Were you inspired by some of the earlier pop singers; say, Dusty Springfield? NB: I love Dusty Springfield: I think she’s got this warm, timeless soulful voice that still thrills after all these years. My biggest heroes are singers from the past that put it all out there for their audience: Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin. PB: I also have to say that your vocals sound really R & B and set against this poppy arrangement, it’s pretty riveting. So, let’s talk about the track selection. David Kershenbaum, one of your producers, has worked with Tori Amos and Tracy Chapman. John Hill, your other producer, has worked with Shakira and Nora Jones. Did you find yourself comparing your work to those other artists during pre-production? Were there any hard, fast rules that you three agreed upon before getting started? NB: John Hill and I started the record together in New Orleans, before he worked with Shakira, Norah Jones, MIA or Santogold. So we were figuring it out together as we went along. Then David came on board to finish the record and, while I loved Tracy Chapman and Tori Amos, I knew the style I was going for was more R & B vocals, as you say, so there wouldn’t be a lot of crossover. The main thing was just to get the coolest sounding instruments with the best performance I could manage at the time. We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of bourbon consumed. PB: The opening title track has this rockabilly feel, really kicking the album into high-gear. Songwriting-wise, I have to say that this tune and ‘Not Like Loving You’ suggest that Ray Charles style of songwriting; very direct and immediately engrossing. Are you influenced by that era or Ray Charles? NB: Absolutely. I was obsessed with Ray Charles’ forays into Country and Western. I loved the idea of a gospel-inspired soul singer crossing over into this world of country, where the song is king. Country songs are timeless, like a Tin Pan Alley song. Soul singers are equally timeless, like the immediacy of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin’s voice still hits with the same power all these years later. I borrowed liberally from this sentiment and style. PB; ‘When the Pavement Ends’ starts out like this: “People swore I would end up here/But no one tried to interfere.” Later, we hear, “He took me where the pavement ends.” That’s a stark metaphor and I won’t reveal the ending of the song other than to say that it makes one think about those forks in the road and how our decisions affect others so greatly. What made you write this one? NB: That song is pretty dark lyrically, even as it’s an uptempo song. I kept driving past this road sign in the county where my mother lives in America, that said “Pavement Ends.” It was right on the edge of town where the concrete ended and became a dirt road, and there was a dilapidated old house with the shutters hanging off that looked run-down and forgotten. I loved that sign as a metaphor for getting struck somewhere on the periphery of life, unable to break free. I’ve had such a different experience, having travelled around the world so much and been so lucky to see what I’ve seen. What would my life be like if I’d instead been a prisoner in that old house on the edge of town? PB: Now, with ‘Helen’s Requiem’ you’ve written about some more tragic moments. “Helen Royal died in her attic, 11 long weeks from yesterday.” Do you ever consolidate the characteristics of people you’ve met to create these profiles? In other words, how personal are the lyrics in your repertoire? NB: I’m sure it’s my accent that threw you, but the lyric is actually “Helen Royal drowned in her attic.” It’s about a woman in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The water kept rising and rising, and eventually she had nowhere else to go. I didn’t know her personally, but her story stuck with me. New Orleans is a city dear to my heart, because musically it gave me the freedom and inspiration to write this album. I was blown away with categories. That’s so refreshing for someone operating in the music business, where you have to compartmentalize yourself constantly. PB: On 'Only Life I Know' you sing, “She deserves much better than the only life I know/I hope I never find her in a truck stop.” That suggests a deep fear of regret; wasting one’s life or feeling responsible for someone vulnerable whose dreams may have been derailed. Have you felt that “tug” in your own life or with someone close to you? NB: Again, (this was) another character from New Orleans. This was a woman I met in a bar, who’d left her husband and two year old son to go for a vacation in New Orleans, and then she just fell off the map and never went home. Tragic, and yet the guy back home probably deserved a song written from his perspective even more, so that’s what angle I took. I’ve certainly felt the “tug” of regret in my own life, even as I am so lucky to pursue my dreams. Touring and the road offer an exciting and yet lonely life. For every new adventure you move towards, you leave something or someone else behind. PB: Back to the tracking ‘Second Time Around’ completely changes the mood. There are those irresistible handclaps and piano runs. It’s a woman-done-wrong song with no apologies, right? NB: The first line is, “You still owe me money; you don’t return my calls.” The best revenge: a hit song on the radio. Believe me, girls. PB: ‘Green Dress’ clocks in at 4:16. It’s the second longest track. “I don’t think it’s fair that you’re moving to LA,” is how it begins. I get the feeling this song is very personal. NB: Well, sadly, friendships do wax and wane. I was on the verge of losing my best friend, and I suspected we’d never be as close again. You say, “Oh, I’ll call all the time, it will be fine.” But I was right. I didn’t want to be, but I was. PB: ‘Late Night Call’ is the closer and it is the most scatological…”when you’re at the end of a long, hard day/Let me be your late night call/The bar is closing/you need company/I’m at home with a perfect remedy.” You end on a lighter tone than what came earlier. That said, by the end of this album, you’ve covered many different aspects of personality and relationships. Some seem to be romantically based and a few seem like they could involve warnings to children or siblings. So, essentially, “what did it take” to select these tracks and how confessional are these songs? Are there a few that may end up in another album? NB: None of these songs will end up in another album. I’ve rinsed them now! I’m all about writing new material. And yes, I think the songs on “What Does It Take” reflect many different aspects of a person’s life, certainly mine. I’m hardly all serious. I’m hardly all play. I love a little booty call here and there, and yet I fall in love way too easily. The songs are confessional, but not in a diary entry kind of way. I’d rather present the most cohesive and interesting song, rather than stick to the facts and nothing but. Characters fascinate me: having a narrator really frees you to tell the most interesting story. And it links the songs with the country music tradition, where there’s always a narrator and a hard-luck story. PB: You met a US colonel at South By South West and this meeting resulted in an opportunity to entertain the troops in Iraq, twice, in 2009. A documentary ‘Striking a Chord’ by Susan Cohn Rockefeller will chronicle your visits. How did the troops react on your first trip and what motivated you to return a second time? NB: There was nothing more moving than playing for people for whom live music is a visceral experience. A song brings them a slice of home, a little reminder of the people they have waiting for them and the loves they used to know. I think music is a side door into people’s emotions, when they’ve otherwise trained themselves to shut off so much. The premise of the film is how music helps with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the troops. We went by helicopter to the remotest little Forward Operating Bases we could get to. Sometimes I’d just be playing acoustic guitar by a campfire with some soldiers, and we’d pass the guitar around. PB: Which songs seemed to move this audience the most? NB: I learned a lot of covers – Elvis, Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd – that everyone could relate to. But they were far more appreciative of my originals than I thought they would be, especially because I’m not a celebrity with all these Top 10 hits they can sing along to. PB: What does it take to survive in the music business currently? NB: Perseverance. Don’t ever give up, and don’t wait for other people to help you. Learn by trial and error, and operate on a DIY level. The only way you’re guaranteed not to make it is if you hide in your bedroom and don’t try. I think most people are ultimately more scared of success than failure. PB: I believe I read that you discovered a valuable painting which helped provide seed money for your career. Can you shed some light on that story? NB: I was staying with my dad, Lewis Bryden, who’s a wonderful painter. I was in between tours, broke and demoralized that I’d be looking for yet another waitressing job: back to square one. I went through my dad’s attic one day to clear my head and accidentally came upon a dusty box with a painting that wasn’t one of his, signed Milton Avery. I asked my dad about it, and he said he’d gotten it for me when I was a little baby, that he’d known friends of the artist and had supposedly gotten a good deal but had no idea what it was worth now. Because we have so many of my father’s paintings on the walls (and he’s the best there is, in my humble opinion), this one painting stayed in the box and was forgotten. I took it to Sotheby’s and sold it by auction for an amount which far exceeded any record contract an artist like myself would be offered these days. With the money I was able to finish my album, and tour over in Europe and the UK, which is really when things started cooking for me. Cash in the attic does exist! PB: Let’s say you were asked to write and perform a one-woman show about any singer in the history of pop music. Who would it be and what would be the challenges? NB: Oh boy, there are so many fascinating women out there in the history of pop! It’d be tough to choose between Patsy Cline, Dusty Springfield, or Billie Holiday (Janis Joplin has already been done). The running theme is a woman with a voice; that’s her ticket out of obscurity. In the past, women only survived in a man’s world by single-mindedly pursuing their passion. Most of these women were made of contradictions: vulnerable and tough, confident and insecure, well-loved and lonely. The challenges involved in presenting those complications are obvious. You wouldn’t want a caricature, not just the sound-byte version, but would want to show the true breadth of their lives. Not an easy task. PB: Is there a particular quote, song, book or film that keeps you moving ahead, no matter what? NB: Jimi Hendrix “Little Wing.” I want that played at my funeral. PB: Thank you, Nell.

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