By DJ Dave Hoffenberg
If you haven’t seen Breanna Elaine yet, I recommend doing so. I’ve seen her twice now, at The Foundry and Still on the Mountain Distillery, both places she’ll play again in the future. She plays mostly originals with some covers mixed in. I heard her do Jewel’s “Who will Save your Soul” and I bet Jewel herself would’ve enjoyed it as much as I did. Her next local gig is Wednesday, June 29 at the Woodstock Farmers’ Market from 3-6 p.m. She’ll then be at the New American Grill in Londonderry on July 2 solo and on July 4 as part of a Women’s Choice Event, where various artists will play to raise awareness for women’s rights and planned parenthood. Her next Killington gig is July 22 at the Distillery, 6 p.m. You can find more information about these shows at: breannaelaine.com as well as links to all her socials, some videos and get info about her Kickstarter. Breanna Elaine is a singer/songwriter who also plays guitar.
She is trying to record her first album and that process is not cheap, thus her Kickstarter campaign, that you can donate to but only until July 9. She hopes to have the album out at the end of this year or in early 2023. It’s titled, “Seedlings.”
Breanna Elaine
She’s doing some recording at A Sound Space in Rutland but most of the work will be done at The Underground Recording Studio in Randolph with owner and engineer Vince Freeman. This is her first professional album. So far the vocals and acoustic guitar have been recorded but she has a long way to go. Aaron Martin of The Garcia Project will be providing percussion. Rutland’s Jared Johnson of The Samples will be playing some bass and assisting with the recording. Johnson owns Magnum PA so he’s both a great bass player and great sound guy. Breanna Elaine said Aaron Martin is a magnificent drummer and called Jared Johnson, “extraordinary.” She’s really gotten to know George Nostrand (owner of A Sound Space) over the last 6 months while he’s mentoring her on the business side of things.
Elaine, 25, has been playing music for most of her life. She lived in Brattleboro until she was 12 and that’s when she taught herself guitar and started writing. Her parents were a big musical influence on her. It was her mother’s guitar she first learned on. Elaine said, “I would always sing and write songs, without a melody but I got bored one day and decided I should learn an instrument.”
At the time she was listening to her Mom’s CD’s like Jewel, Alanis Morissette and stuff like that. She said, “Jewel really shaped a lot of my sounds.” She moved to Northampton to live with her Dad in her teenage years. Her Dad was always listening to classic rock. She added, “He was always blasting music, always singing, wherever we went. In the car and at home. I was surrounded by that my whole life.”
In Northampton, she got into the music scene. She was in a few bands and started playing at some open mics. When she was 18 she moved back to Vermont and into an apartment with her blind grandmother to become her caregiver She was an LNA. She continued with open mics here in Vermont and those led to real gigs. In January she quit her LNA job to become a full-time musician. She’s been booked every weekend since.
Elaine has a busy brain, with creative juices flowing all the time. She said, “I have hundreds of songs and I write more all the time. I have an endless flow of material. My whole brain is a constant whirlwind of creative thoughts and ideas. Poems, lyrics, melodies. Photo shoot ideas, music video ideas, visions of all kinds of creative stuff. I just thought of a music video the other day. I have the whole thing mapped out in my head but I have to write down the script for it. I was driving and thought of more pieces. I tried to go to sleep and thought of more. I usually just pull out my phone and record my thoughts.”
Later she’ll take all that and write a song until it’s finished. As you can tell, ideas are always flowing and with the right help, her visions will become realities. That’s where her Kickstarter comes in, so she can make this amazing album and more.
She named the upcoming album “Seedlings” because it’s her planting the seeds of her future and her music out into the world. She said, “It’s just the beginning of my whole career and it’s going to grow around this. It has some of my favorite songs I’ve written and have been playing more recently that people seem to really like.”
Elaine loves sharing her art with people while playing live. She said, “That’s what it’s all about. Tuning them in to the experience or the story, the feelings that I’m sharing. Connecting with them in different ways. Life is all about experiences. It’s interesting to share my experiences with them.”
Recording is not her favorite. She likes the art part. She said, “I like to write, make the songs and decide what instruments are needed. Recording is a different animal but the best part is seeing it all come together in a cool way, maybe different than I originally thought. I’m not a dictator, I let everyone put their own creative sprinkle on there. I give them the song and ask them to play from their heart whatever they feel their part should be. We’ll decide together which direction the song will go. I like everyone else’s magic dust they put on there with their own flavor and having it all come together to make something really epic.”
