Brooke was born and raised in Louisiana to a musically-inclined family. She started playing piano at age 4 with her mom. Her passion for the instrument led her deeper and deeper into the realms of classical music. She wrote her first song at age 9, after her mom taught her how to play Heart And Soul and showed her how most pop songs stemmed from it.

This early introduction and love for music built a strong foundation for Brooke's musical sensibilities. She attended Louisiana State University and earned a degree in Music Composition under the tutelage of Greek composer / professor Dinos Constantinides. After graduating, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue a career in music.

The move proved to be beneficial to her career. Aside from being a performing artist, she recorded an EP titled Fresh Pair Of Eyes, released under Swoon Moon Music in 2007. The 6-track EP reflects Brooke's strong aptitude for classical music. The EP was given away as a free download on her website at the time of its release. It is now on sale at music stores and Brooke's website in digital and physical CD forms. Fresh Pair Of Eyes succeeds in continually drawing in fresh pairs of ears, and would form the start of a strong fan-base for Brooke.

One year later, Brooke released her debut full-length titled Heal For The Honey. Continuing the playful reverie of Fresh Pair Of Eyes, Heal For The Honey is a combination of both serene and lively pieces of musical delicacy. The instrumentation, especially the piano arrangements, are epic and orchestral-sounding. This album easily made its way into KGRL's Best Albums of 2008.

Even more intricate and complex compositions are to be found on her latest opus, Go Easy Little Doves. The new record, released digitally on October 6 and physical CD on November 3rd, represents what she always wanted to do musically. It is a collection of songs written over the past 10 years that masterfully demonstrates everything she's learned about classical music. Brooke is currently signed under Fly South Music. She recently finished a string of sold-out shows all across the country.

KGRL is very proud to present our December 2009 Flower-Powered Artist, Brooke Waggoner. Nashville-based singer/songwriter Brooke Waggoner joined KGRL in the studio for an exclusive live performance shot in high-definition video and audio. Check out our CD review of Go Easy Little Doves and fantastic photos shot by our good friend Jeff Koga. There's also a comprehensive interview with Brooke Waggoner in video, audio, & transcribed form.

Don't forget that you can request a FREE copy of the FPA live session DVDs!

As a prelude, we are served with two one-minute instrumental tracks titled Query and Ruminate. These two instrumentals sound like something that would perfectly fit into a movie score. Query flawlessly transitions to Ruminate and eloquently introduces the title track Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine. The effect is that we are gently eased into the first track that features the soft and dreamy vocal work of Brooke.

Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine starts out with a gentle breeze of "oohs" and gently played piano background, and blooms with the accompanying string section as it reaches the climax. There's no denying how intricate this particular piece sounds and yet, it remains accessible. Perhaps this is what Brooke learned and easily mastered from her mom's pop lessons. While Brooke's music is a little hard to classify, I'll file this one under mellow classical-pop.

Continuing the classical sensibilities established by the previous tracks, Meek; Wild travels a more intimate and gloomy musical path. Brooke's restrained vocal work heightens the emotional tension of the song. The string-and-piano arrangement takes a back seat to the vocals on the first two-thirds of the song and takes over in the remaining third. The thing to note is the complete absence of the usual pop structure, and that's a great thing as we seldom hear any deviation from other indie artists.

Chromates Soft Love brings us back to the topic of movie scores. Brooke has long been wanting to do a movie score and in this song, her expert ability to craft such is demonstrated. The introduction part of this song brings us back to the '60s. It's like being suddenly cast into a musical, like The Sound Of Music. It's simply majestic.

Beats and strings take center stage in the next track, Femmes. It serves as the album's invitation to dance and let loose. The track's two-minute-and-twenty-second length boasts an impressive string arrangement that somewhat overshadows the main melody. Not that it matters much as the beat and string arrangement in itself never failed to mesmerize us.

Godwin starts out with a chant. I imagined heavy jungle beats would follow, but instead we get something better: gorgeous piano and acoustic guitars. It's still a classical piece but it sounds oddly like it came out of a western movie. The ending of Godwin transitions smoothly to the intro of the next track.

Although it ties in closely with the previous track, Find Her Floods is probably one of the tracks on the record that can stand on its own. It has the usual complete structure of a pop song but it also brings unique quirkiness. The full orchestral arrangement is so exceptionally grand that it may alienate some of the more "mainstream" listeners.

On the other hand, the next track Body is more classical pop with a melody that will sweep you off your feet. Following the grandeur classical formula of the previous tracks, this one too never fails to impress with its blissful vocals and playful notes from the ivory keys.

More classical string arrangement is presented in the song Wish For Bridges. Sadly, the wistful melody and vocal presence is second to the strings and ultimately gets buried in the midst of the powerful background music. In stark contrast, the song Burden Of Our Courage deservedly flaunts its brilliant melody. Like Wish For Bridges, Burden Of Our Courage is heavy in the string section but it does not overshadow the rest of the song. If I were to pick a song on this album that would fit nicely on Heal For The Honey, this would be it.

The third and final instrumental track, titled Get Too Close, closes the album with a serene and meditative melody. This three-minute piano instrumental punctuates this wondrous musical journey. Whether you enjoyed the ride or not, it's like Brooke put this track on for you to ruminate on the essence of what you've just heard.

Go Easy Little Doves is a tough album to sell to everyone. It's not your typical indie release. There's a reason this album is only 35 minutes long: this is a record that offers a holistic listening experience. It's not designed to be listened to on a bit-by-bit, track-by-track basis. It is a bold move for Brooke to create this project and we applaud her for that.

Go Easy Little Doves is a musical landmark for Brooke Waggoner. It proves just how talented and mature she is in both songwriting and orchestration. For Brooke fans this one's a no-brainer, although don't expect the same structure as Heal For The Honey. If you're a listener who enjoys sophisticated music then you need to add Go Easy Little Doves to your collection right away. If you're someone who loves musical scores with sweeping melodies and elegant flair, look no further Go Easy Little Doves is right for you. For everyone else, give Go Easy Little Doves a try but remember to approach it with an open mind.

Heal For The Honey 88.43Mb

Hush If You Must 98.81Mb

*WMV-HD videos require WMV codec for Mac and Linux.

WMV Codecs:
For Mac - Flip4Mac
For Linux - http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/

Listen to Brooke Waggoner's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:




Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: We know that you were formally educated in music. What course did you take?

Brooke: What course? Well, Composition [is] the actual official title. You just learn music theory and the fundamentals of music, and how to piece together different things. And you learn all the instruments in the orchestra and how they function together as a whole, and you learn counterpoint. It stretched me a lot. I learned crazy avant-garde techniques and what instruments can do that you normally wouldn't think from a traditional perspective. It was really great. It broadened me a lot.


KGRL: How much does your degree in music affect the way you write your compositions?

Brooke: I try not to pick music apart too much, especially when I'm writing it, because that can kind of rub the initial good feeling you get from a song you just love. I love pop music. I love catchy tunes and hooks and things that stick, in a three-and-a-half minute song. I love it. So every time I write, I just sit down at the piano and just mess around with melody and just see what sticks. Rhythms come all at the same time and then you go to record, and it's fun to add all the icing, which is other instruments and orchestra.


KGRL: Heal For The Honey is deservingly one of our Best Albums of 2008. Compared to the new record, Heal For The Honey is a crossover of genres. How differently did you approach the songs you wrote for Heal For The Honey vs the ones written for Go Easy Little Doves?

Brooke: The new record was really different than the one I did a year ago. The older one—the one from last August 2008—was just kind of this hodgepodge of songs that I wanted to continue on and let each song stand on its own. But [with] this record, I had a story to tell as a whole, and I wanted it to be really seamless from track to track so you could just play it like you would a film. Yet there are moments—songs—on the record that I feel can stand on their own, if you just want to skim through [it]....It's not a concept record, but [is] in that vein of "just hit Play and go."


KGRL: The songs from Go Easy Little Doves are richly-layered, complexly-structured and interconnected. Now that you have toured with the new songs, how well do you think they stand individually in a live setting?

Brooke: It's different. There are about four or five songs on the record I can just play, or get a group together [to] just play them, taking breaks in between them. I knew it was kind of risky when I made this record for that reason. The live performance will be different. I'm doing a release show in November and we're just going to play it from start to finish. So it takes a lot to pull this record off, but I was excited for the challenge. Some won't stand on their own. They're just part of the framework.


-> READ the full transcript along with high/low quality mp3 of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-