Britti
Jim Herrington/Artist Provided
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Jim Herrington/Artist Provided
Britti
Jim Herrington/Artist Provided
The period leading up to the release of her debut album has been a whirlwind time for Brittany Guerin, simply known as Britti.
There was a time when the New Orleans singer-songwriter wasn't even sure if her voice and music would reach the masses. But after a lot of her sweat and tears, and her chance encounter with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, Hello, I'm Britti. It came out into the world.
I hesitate to call this a straight country record. Produced and co-written by Auerbach, the record is peppered with elements of R&B, soul, and pop.
Britti spoke to me. world cafe About the path to recording your debut album. Watch the conversation below.
Please tell me the top line of Hello, I'm Britti. What story did you want to tell when you debuted?
The title is an homage to Dolly Parton's album. I've always loved Aunt Dolly, but she fell down the rabbit hole of how many albums that woman had…
That's crazy.
That's crazy!I mean, at one point she was dropping them like every year, and you don't usually see a lot of artists do that these days… I went down the rabbit hole and… When I went there the first album, I saw her cute little face, and saw Hello, I'm Dolly. I thought, “The world doesn't even know what they're going to do.”
Let me introduce what I came up with. myself To the world. I worked on my work. It has evolved. I have lived and truly lived as a human being. Let me work, write these songs, be vulnerable and put them out into the world. So this album is a personal love letter that I want the world to read.
The album has a very diverse sound, but I think what brings it together is your voice. It's very distinctive. When did you start developing it as a musical instrument?
I don't even know if its development as a musical instrument has ended. It is a continuous and progressive journey. I always tell the story of my mother telling me that she would sing gibberish before she could speak. So, I've always been singing since I was a baby… I think I started singing when I enjoyed hearing my own voice — not necessarily the way I sounded, but the way I heard myself when I sang. It was fun to see how it felt. After that, I was a member of the choir in middle school, high school, and university.
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What kind of music did you listen to growing up?
I grew up with different genres of music. There wasn't a day that went by that my grandmother didn't have music playing in her house. She was drinking blues or zydeco. My grandfather also played classical music.
I was everywhere. And in high school, I remember being teased for singing R&B and soulful music because my voice sounded country-sounding. I just hugged you.I remember entering O brother, where are you?movie soundtracks, and diving into Americana music, discovering Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Has family always been a big part of your musical journey?
Everyone in my family has one thing in common: they all have big hearts and are very loving, but they all have different personalities, so each one sticks to a different musical style. It takes a village to raise a child, so I was kind of in between different musical genres.
I would like to go into your birth story. That includes being discovered by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. First of all, could you tell us about your time studying music performance at Loyola University? What was your vision at the time? Your Plan A, so to speak.
I think I just wanted to play music. I danced in high school, so in my dream world I would either be a dancer or a singer. I remember. At the time, I told myself that if I went to Nashville and worked at Guitar Center and naturally sang melodies, I would get noticed. Someone was going to waltz in with the resources and time and ears and heart to help me succeed. That didn't happen.
In that version, some kind of Eventually it becomes reality, right?
I was discovered in a very unconventional way. The pandemic hit and the world stopped. I was furloughed from Buffalo Exchange for two months. I had recently just gotten over a breakup and was devastated and heartbroken because I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with that person. Then the world paused…
But I remember running up the levee and saying, “What if I just believed in myself?” Because doubts kill more dreams than failures. So I started running 15-20 miles a week. I started meditating. I started reading. I started talking to friends and doing all the nourishing things I could do to heal and become my best self.
Did you also buy a guitar and start posting your performances online?
I started playing, treating myself as work, and taking myself more seriously. There were a lot of times when the arrow moving forward didn't hit the board, so there were a lot of failures when opportunities presented themselves.
Then Tom Osborne, who runs Easy Eye Sound for Dan Auerbach, finally stepped in and it became a reality. What's interesting is that I think record companies these days are looking for people who are already talented because it's less of a risk financially…I feel very blessed and I think Dan Auerbach… I am very grateful. I'm so grateful that he not only took the opportunity, but helped shape what we already have.
What kind of person is he as a producer?
I like him because he has the perfect balance of giving artists autonomy. So he hasn't changed anything about me. I have always been me, am still me, and will always be me.
To be honest, I can't hear my voice the first time like other people. Because I've been making the same sound for about 32 years. What's interesting is that sometimes we don't realize our talents because they have become so commonplace in our daily lives. So he's really good at saying, “This is a gift. This is special.” He's great at adding sparkle to things that are already sparkly.
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I wanted to ask you about “Keep Running” because I think it's in my favorite subcategory of country. It's a song that feels like a wide, spacious sky and makes your heart swell from within. Can you tell me about when you wrote that song?
It's a very fun melody, but it also has a melancholy feel to it. I would say this is one of the most vulnerable songs for me. It is important not to stop and use the path you are on as a safety net. I think we humans think, “If I just keep going, I don't need to stop and look at what needs to be fixed. If I keep going, everything will be fine.'' This is another way to hide things.
But the song ends like this: “No, I'm going to take flight and risk falling. I'm going to stop, and I'm going to fall in love and stay in love. I'm going to be optimistic and have faith.” ”
