Sparkle

Folk singer/songwriter Cynthia Brando is a shining example that it’s never too late to start your music career.  Fear was holding her back, but her desire to do music professionally just kept growing until she realized she had to conquer her fear.

Brando began with overcoming her stage fright by doing public performances for a couple of years, eventually honing her performances to a higher level.  She then took control of her career which gave her more confidence. By the time she moved to Los Angeles four years ago, she no longer had any expectations of being discovered. Once there, she received guidance and listened to many songwriters which helped her to feel confident about her music.

She has received honorable mentions in the Songdoor International Songwriters Competition as well as the American Songwriter Magazine Lyric Contest.  Brando enters the NPR Tiny Desk Contest every year for fun and plans to continue entering her songs into competitions. She is also the 2017 recipient of a Hermera Foundation Fellowship Award.

Brando also gives her support to other independent artists. Her project, Music Emerging (www.musicemerging.com) provides emotional support to music industry people through meetups, links, and writing. Also, she has created a successful songwriter series/concert series with all proceeds going to the artists.

Her forthcoming album, ‘The Treehouse Trio Sessions’ is set to be released in June followed by a tour in the western U.S.  Brando also has various projects planned for this year including working on a new album, her first crowdfunding venture, and a book for musicians.

I interviewed Cynthia Brando recently about her forthcoming album, first tour, her project Music Emerging, creating her own concert series, and much more.

Congratulations on your forthcoming album ‘The Treehouse Trio Sessions’ to be released next month (June 2018).  What is the concept/theme of the album? How did you come up with it?

In the past, I tried all these different genres as I explored my musical tastes. I was always interested in all kinds of music, but it took me a long time to develop the clarity of what I felt my true sound was; not that artists should not explore outside of that, but I was all over the place, from more of a pop sound to country. I developed a lot of clarity moving to Los Angeles in late 2013 and got a lot of support from new fans and people in the industry that really encouraged and supported me on the journey to discover my sound. The concept and theme of this album that started to become clear to me in the process was, “starting over,” but with that newfound clarity and acceptance about not trying to “be something” and just accept and highlight my natural sound through my music. It’s a stripped down version of my songs, showcasing my rhythm guitar work, upfront vocals, and lyrics. My boyfriend, Ed Tree, who engineered and co-produced, suggested I do this album and that he would help me, which was such a huge and unexpected gift.

“Sparkle” is the first single off the album. When is it due to be released? What is the theme?

Sparkle was the song I chose from the project to be released to press for streaming that showcases the feel of the album. Sparkle is one of the few older songs that I put on the album and it is a very simple song about a special person who has a real magical depth to their soul and lifts you up with their sparkling personality. It was debuted on episode DE 161 of the Dharmic Evolution podcast which is on iTunes.

This album will be your first full-length one since 2010. Why the 8-year gap between albums?

When I made my first album back in 2009/10, which doesn’t even exist anymore, I had been doing my music for a long time, mostly in isolation. I moved to Los Angeles from a small town in Northern California where I lived for seven years. During those years, I never really sought any mentors or advice from anyone and I honestly wasn’t born with a bunch of musical talent — that came much later after working tremendously hard at it. It became very apparent to me after that release that I needed guidance but I didn’t have the skills to try and find help because of various reasons. I would play my music way too fast and over complicate it, and sing in the wrong key. After my first album attempt, I worked on my music all of the time. I also got a college degree during that time but ended up taking low paying jobs that did not require a lot of responsibility so that I can focus on getting good at my music. I did some more recordings during that time; a couple of EP’s and singles, but not a full album. I also started performing out a little after a long time of not playing music in public because of stage fright, and then I moved to Los Angeles where I really stepped it up and got guidance and listened to many singer-songwriters which helped me feel confident about my music. 

 

Explain your production process.

As far as recording goes, I really like a relaxed atmosphere when I’m producing music, probably because I am really very uptight, self-critical and full of doubt — issues I am working on and doing better at. In the studio I love to use humor and laughter to break up the sometimes stuffy atmosphere of being in a confined space; often with time and money pressures. You still take it seriously, but for myself — I need to laugh and be open to magical collaborations and creativity which can’t happen if you are closed off.

The co-producer on your new album, Ed Tree, has recorded/toured with some big artists like Spencer Davis, Rita Coolidge, Dusty Springfield, and Juice Newton, to name a few.  You also recorded a single with him previously. How did the opportunity to have him co-produce your album come about?

Ed is an established and busy engineer with a studio near Los Angeles and completely surprised me by wanting to help me create an album of my songs. As I mentioned previously, he suggested that we do a simple stripped down album that showcases my process without all the bells and whistles of a lot of added instrumentation, but then he thought we should add bass and suggested Dickie Chandler. Ed is also an amazing lead guitar player and decided to add some flavor to a still stripped down sound. I’m very lucky.

What festival did you recently play at? What was that experience like? Do you think you’ll be playing more festivals in the future?

I just recently played the Eclectic Festival and had a spot in a beautiful church on one of the singer-songwriter stages. I played with my accompanist John O’Kennedy who is another excellent stringed instrument player. It took place in South Pasadena outside Los Angeles. It was wonderful playing to new people and getting an exuberant response. Now that I will have an album out that truly represents my sound, and have built up quite a bit of live performance videos, I am going to start applying to more festivals. I would like to play at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, where I was born and my sister lives.

What would you like your audiences to experience or feel when you’re performing?

I want them to feel what I feel when I go out and listen to live music. When I come across an interesting performance or music I really enjoy; I sit there in an experience of total immersion and awe; as if in a trance. It’s hard to explain. I can’t even really say that I get lost in any kind of stories, and I am a lyric-focused person. For me, it is more about the music itself and the enthusiasm and depth of being that the performer exudes — their passion…sometimes someone has a tremendous amount of skill and I can appreciate that, but I really enjoy performers that are vulnerable, and

 

Explain how you overcame being afraid to pursue a music career until later in life.

I’ve always been really obsessed with time — lost time and the future, and am still grappling with the fact that I didn’t start to pursue a music career until my late 30’s. But recently I was thinking about “what if I had moved to Los Angeles a long time ago when I was not yet strong enough or a more developed songwriter?” I was younger, but I was also naive and shy and had a lot of emotional issues. I probably would have developed a bad reputation with my music. In the seven years before moving to Los Angeles, I lived alone in a beautiful location and did a lot of personal work to heal some emotional traumas. I decided with my move to be very motivated but without expectations. I had been wanting to do music more professionally for a very long time, and it was gnawing at me until I reached that breaking point to overcome a lot of fear that I had stored up inside of me. I worked through it by simply focusing myself to do many uncomfortable things like performing. For the first couple of years I played in front of people totally terrified, but then it got easier and I was able to change my goals from just trying to get through a performance without running off the stage, to really being there and exploring the “in the moment” sounds and energy forces of myself and the environment. I began to be able to move my performances to a higher level. I say yes to a lot of things now, where before I would say no and offer a lot of excuses. I also accept the fact that a lot of the things I say yes to scare me, and so I sit with my scared emotions instead of running away.  I think I also gained confidence by taking charge of my career by doing and starting projects for myself and not having the expectation that I would move to Los Angeles and be “discovered”. Through that, 

 

You received honorable mentions for your music in the Songdoor International Songwriters Competition and the American Songwriter Magazine Lyric Contest. How did it feel to receive them? Do you have any plans to enter more contests/competitions? Why or why not?

Contests and competitions are a real mystery to me. This year I entered a few that I have been entering for years and a new one. Usually I just enter whatever song I have been working on or recorded recently that I think is good, but this year was the first time I entered a song that, hands down, a lot of people say it’s my best song and it really moves them, and for the first time in awhile — I received not even an honorable mention. I think that so much is dependent on who is judging that year, the musical climate, the mood of the people judging; who knows? Most contests say they are looking for that “formula” that makes a good song, which seems to be a standard idea, but then people will give you different feedback, so it gets pretty confusing. I enter the NPR Tiny Desk Contest for fun every year, but they seem to favor pretty eccentric music. I still plan on entering songs to contests in the future. It’s not too expensive and it could be an amazing platform for indie artists.

Your project, Music Emerging (musicemerging.com), that provides emotional support to music industry people through meetups, links, and writing. How did you come up with the idea? What are your plans to expand it?

Music Emerging started out as a magazine that I eventually had trouble keeping up with. I was going out and doing all the interviews and transcribing them and getting them out there on the website and social media while working 30 hours a week at the day job and the same amount of hours on my own music stuff. I put out the last issue recently and then decided that I wanted to do something with music that spoke to me on a deeper level. I really enjoy writing and I always included a blog post of my own for every magazine issue and I have also been a guest blogger on other sites.

and that was when I decided to move Music Emerging into a more expansive direction to a site that is devoted to providing emotional resources to folks in the music industry by offering workshops, writings, resources and more. I definitely have ideas to expand, and now have some people that want to be involved and help. I want to get the blog up and running and start posting regularly, do an emotionally inspiring video series, write a book and offer one on one affordable coaching.

Tell us more about the successful concert series that is part of Music Emerging.

Starting my own concert series was a protest against the many venues in Los Angeles and beyond that expect you to play for free for “exposure” and in return don’t do anything or very little to promote you or the music series at their own establishment. I also noticed that there is not much thought put into many of these showcases; where you can be a folk act and have a heavy metal band play before you and a calypso band play after you. In between, they often play loud music that doesn’t fit with your vibe and there isn’t a host that is greeting the audience. The series started small in a living room and has since expanded to a really nice listening room and teaming up with Erick Weiss of Honeysweet Productions.

I split the door with the artists who perform and do a lot of promotion. I put a lot of detail into the atmosphere to try and return to how shows used to be when someone would walk around and talk to you; and the musical acts were carefully curated, and there was an atmosphere of a real event taking place where you get to also meet and talk with the artists and make new friends.

What are your expectations for your first tour?

I put a lot of pressure on myself to maximize the opportunities that are possible on a tour, so I hope to work on a book about touring that would be helpful for other musicians, do a tour diary though Bon Journal and do some radio promotions in different cities. On a lighter note, I expect to just have a great time seeing new places, meeting new people and making new fans and connections.

You are a 2017 recipient of a Hemera Foundation Fellowship Award. Can you tell us what it is? How did you feel when you received it?

The Hemera Foundation is a spiritual organization that gives fellowships in the forms of funding retreats to artists and musicians. I had applied before but was awarded one in 2017. I chose to take a ten-day silent retreat at Spirit Rock, one of the great spiritual centers of the west. I was excited because I have been a practicing Buddhist for many years and wanted an opportunity to go on an extended retreat to further develop my meditation practice.

Tell us more about the musical based project in the healing arts which is based on your fellowship experience.

I started to form an idea in my head at the retreat that was inspired by one of the teachers at Spirit Rock, a qigong master, and recording artist, Teja Bell. I got to meet with him and discuss my music and the blocks I was going through. He gave me very simple instructions that inspired me to create a workshop for Music Emerging which is in development that connects you deeper with your instrument and musical experience; to explore the aliveness that makes up your chosen instrument and your environment, and to honor the relationship we have with them; whether it is an “inanimate” object or the instrument is ourselves. It would basically be a very simple meditation and exploration with a supportive group of people.  We spend so much time with our instruments that I feel there might be a deeper connection there that is untapped for artists.

How do you think women artists in the indie music industry can be supported?

I recently got invited to a party where it was all women and women musicians performing music; and it was so different because mostly in the music industry, you are generally around more men. I think specific support groups for women in the music industry are important and they do exist, for instance, Indie Women Music, your enterprise — also, Female Frequency, Women of Substance Radio, WIM (Women in Music), and many more. If you run an event, you can have an equal amount of men and women working. For my music series, I strive to have performer balance. Recently the booking worked out where I had two male performers in a month, and to balance that, I booked two female performers for the next month. Sometimes I speak up in a friendly way to other bookers when I see that there are predominantly male performers. Sometimes people don’t even realize it; they are not thinking about it. The last issue I released for Music Emerging was the “Women’s Issue.” Awareness is key and

It is also important to make sure you create a climate at your business or event that is ALL inclusive.

What advice would you give to women who are thinking about or actively pursuing a career in music?

I was shocked recently when I attended a talk by a famous female musician who was asked the same question and responded with, “I would tell them to choose another profession”. I don’t find that kind of advice very helpful. Her excuse was that it was a “very difficult industry”, and “male-dominated.” All true, but offering negativity in the form of a reality check doesn’t hold up, because if you have talent and you put yourself out there with your passion, it is not impossible. It all depends on what your idea of success is. My advice would be to find those female fronted support groups that I mentioned above and get involved or start your own. Speak out against mistreatment, which so many brave women are doing now. Find a female music mentor who is positive and can support you. Stop apologizing or feeling bad that you don’t know everything, and don’t feel that pressure to learn something you are not interested in.

What are your tour plans in 2018 in addition to the shows planned in the western US?

I am thinking about a shorter tour in the spring of 2019 and a repeat western tour that summer. I am going to be quite busy working on my next album after I get back from my tour, but may try and do a short tour in the late fall of this year.

What other projects do you have planned for 2018?

I’ll be working on my next album and doing my first crowdfunding venture; a couple of projects that are tour related; I am also working on a short memoir to accompany my next album, and another book I am halfway through, specifically for musicians. I will also be busy with more projects for Music Emerging.

Thank you, Cynthia, for the opportunity to interview you.

Get updates on Cynthia’s tour, music, and more on her website.

Follow Cynthia on Social Media:

Facebook: cynthiabrandomusic

Twitter: @CBrandoMusic

Instagram: @cynthiabrando

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