Brianna Lea Pruett, the gifted and sensitive singer-songwriter, has passed away. Prior to the news making its way to our office, we took note of a curious spike in readership for her “First Date” feature from 2013 of which we were delighted to publish then—and with which we recall her fondly today. —Ed.
“Falling in love with vinyl was something that happened for me in the early 2000s as a teenager when I rummaged through the family garage and found Leonard Cohen’s Songs From A Room, early Doors, a large Moody Blues collection, Linda Ronstadt, a spotless Roberta Flack in the shape of a black piano, and bands I had never heard of like Sopwith Camel.”
“Playing these and Billie Holiday on many repeats was my romance, respite, and delightful discovery. I really felt cool talking about all my new music knowledge to my friends.
The act of putting a record on, the time it takes to attend to changing it from side to side, the crackle and occasional cleaning that’s necessary, all create a loyalty and feeling of relaxation for vinyl enthusiasts. I love shopping at the smallest, boutique record stores on tour. You see some very interesting places that way. Sometimes they have tea, or pets, or wifi, or good stories.
Nowadays, I buy an occasional CD or digital download, but most of my music purchases are vinyl if it’s available. Recent new purchases include Chris Brokaw, Phil Elverum, Iron and Wine, and Jennifer O’Connor.
I love the whole package, the size of the artwork, the time and effort that goes into it. Vinyl is back and as far as music is concerned, it’s here to stay and growing.
My album Gypsy Bells, out October 1st on Canyon Records, is Canyon’s first vinyl record they’ve worked with in 30 years. I brought that to the table as part of my signing with them. Hey, I planned to do this album on vinyl, so that’s part of this release.
Gypsy Bells has some guts to it, electric sounds, solid songwriting, experimental noises. 33 1/3, 180gm black vinyl.
There’s a Kickstarter to pre-order fund the vinyl portion of the release…”
—Brianna Lea Pruett
