Brooke Parrott

Brooke Parrott can't remember a time when she didn't write songs. As a four year old in the backseat of a car, she sang her first rhymes about the passing Oregon scenery into a Playskool recorder with matching microphone. Her love affair with the piano began at six, when her twin brother threw a tantrum after attending exactly one week of lessons. She was sent in his place, and from then on practiced with an alarming studiousness.

Add in a stride and blues piano-playing father, a jazz-theory education at Berklee College of Music, some time in Nashville, and influences ranging from Bright Eyes to Paul Simon, and you have Parrott's understated and soulful Americana. And with a voice reminiscent of Carole King, it's easy to hear the impact of the 60s & 70s-era songwriters on her melodic sensibilities.

A nomad at heart, Parrott's music has pulled her through Seattle, Boston, and most recently London, where she lived in a disused pub (rumored to be an old haunt of both Charles Dickens and Karl Marx) and wrote songs on a disintegrating grand piano. This rootlessness has seeped into her music, fueling her songs with poignant storytelling and a disarming sense of loneliness in love.

Her debut album, ?Another City', was self-released on Ten ?til Six Records in 2008, and the single ?Maybe She Just Doesn't Love You' was recently featured on T-Mobile phones worldwide. Parrott has shared the stage with the likes of Lauren Pritchard, Darrell Scott, Kimmie Rhodes, Madi Diaz, Kim Richey, and The Wooden Sky. 2011 will see her working on her sophomore album in Portland, Oregon, and touring around the US and UK.