Beth Brown navigating Nashville: The Gretsch-signed Aussie calling Music City home
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04.02.2022

Beth Brown navigating Nashville: The Gretsch-signed Aussie calling Music City home

beth brown
Words by Talia Rinaldo

Amidst the challenges of the past two years, Beth Brown is continuing the Road to Nashville to record her highly-anticipated debut album

Making a name for yourself as a local musician can be hard enough at the best of times. But moving more than 15 thousand kilometres away to a city as entrenched in music history and culture as they get, being signed by one of the more popular guitar manufacturers associated with said city and your music scene, and then gaining acclaim on top of that. Well, that’s just incredible.

This isn’t a hypothetical. This is happening. This is Beth Brown’s story.

Read all the latest features, interviews and how-to columns here.

Playing Nashville’s prestigious Blue Bird Café and becoming the first female Australian artist to be endorsed by Gretsch (welcomed personally by Fred Gretsch), the talented singer-songwriter has been progressively making creative strides in each of the past few calendar years which will culminate in a spectacular fashion with the release of her debut album, due to drop in the US summer of 2022.

Blending the dulcet tones of Eva Cassidy and the ethereal guitar styles of Jeff Buckley, Beth Brown has been captivating audiences with her earthy, grounded and infectiously joyful tunes since first studying voice at 16 years’ old in her home town of Newcastle.

 

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Learning from the likes of Dr. Greg Arnold (Things of Stone and Wood), Mark Seymour (Hunters and Collectors), Charles Jenkins and Peter Farnan (Boom Crash Opera) in Melbourne, Brown has developed an exquisitely ethereal quality to her vocal performances, with her stunning voice serving as the perfect vehicle for her engrossing lyricism for music that spans across the spectrum of indie-folk, country, and pop, to blues, soul, and RnB.

Garnering much-deserved acclaim over the years, it was her move to Nashville to develop her songwriting and catalogue in 2015 that solidified Brown as an artist to watch, whole-heartedly embracing the Music City and the challenges that came with it.

With a whole lotta soul, a love of old vinyl and leading voice of silky honey, the Aussie artist is continuing the Road to Nashville to record her debut album at Fame Studios, despite the challenges of the past two years.

Partnering with Grammy-winning Producer Shannon Sanders (John Legend) Brown’s first single ‘Baby Blue’, lifted from the debut album, is due to drop in the US Summer of 2022.

“I came to Nashville on the Australian Council of the Arts Grant to develop my songwriting and catalogue in 2016 and fell in love with the music scene here,” she says.

“I was blessed to sign with Gretsch Guitars within my first week and ever since then I knew it was the future for my music career.”

Covid didn’t stop Brown’s determination as she expresses it has been one of the most productive seasons of her artistry to date. She was signed to Integrity Music in Nashville on a songwriting deal, signalling a dream come true for the artist.

“It’s been a long road to Nashville and releasing my album, but I’ve always wanted to produce something of excellence that will be around long after I’m gone. It was important to me to partner with creatives that understood my genre, Gospel Soul with the album being recorded at Fame Studio Muscle Shoals.”

With a distinct vocal delivery, honest lyrics and a debut album en route, expect Beth Brown to keep bringing her A game as we move further into ’22.

Keep up to date with the latest from Beth Brown here.