Brooke Parrott

For all of you Europeans and American expats, I have a little treat for you!

Recently, my debut album “Another City” was added to Spotify’s catalogue, so you can now listen to it for FREE if you are in the UK, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain or France.  For those that are unfamiliar (if you live in Europe, I’m not sure how that would be possible) Spotify is a music streaming service which allows you to listen to anything on demand without having to download mp3s or pay any money.  Great, right?

Go here to download Spotify and then here to listen to my album.

Happy listening!

Brooke

At the end of last year, international cell phone manufacturer HTC licensed the song “Maybe She Just Doesn’t Love You” from my debut album “Another City” to go on up to a million cell phones worldwide.  It was very exciting when it all happened, but enough time has lapsed since then that I actually forgot about it!

Now, to my delight, the song has finally been released on a T-Mobile phone.  No, it’s not a sythensizer version of my song, not a truncated cell phone ring, but an actual full version of the song that goes out as one of 10 pre-loaded songs on the phone.  Not only that, but everytime they play the song, my album cover shows on the screen.  How cool!  Thanks again to Ben for making it all happen.

Now I just have to go track down a T-Mobile store to see for myself!

Brooke

Last weekend I went to the End of the Road Festival 2009 with my colleagues from Songkick - it ended up being a great weekend full of good weather, good food, and amazing music!  Some of my personal highlights were Tallest Man on Earth, Neko Case, Fleet Foxes, Loney Dear, Alela Diane, and far too many others to name here.  Suffice it to say that it was a busy weekend!

(Neko Case at End of the Road Festival)

The venue of the festival, Larmer Tree Gardens, was absolutely idyllic - peacocks wandering the grounds, a hidden library in the forest, fairy lights draped from the trees - it was truly magical.  One of the highlights was a small stage in the woods that didn’t have any scheduled acts, just a little (out of tune) piano in a space that looked like half of a living-room.  Throughout the weekend acts would come out and play secret shows there, which was amazing to see these great bands in such an intimate setting.  As my co-workers and I were waiting for Okkervil River to come play a few songs, I was pushed onto stage by my co-workers, who insisted that I play a song on the piano so that I could say I had “shared the stage” with Okkervil River!  It was quite funny, although I don’t think I’ll be using that as a claim to fame.

(Tallest Man on Earth at End of the Road Festival)

Fleet foxes headlined the weekend, and it was the first time I’d seen them live.  Jake, Gideon, Dara and I pushed our way down through the crowd and waited for quite a while - however, it was well worth it, since we were in the 3rd row with 5000 people crushing behind us in an over-capacity stage area!  They were amazing to finally hear live, and Robin Pecknold seemed to be truly humbled by the crowd and the beautiful setting.  Throughout the set, there was an entertaining exchange with the audience when they began to shout at him between songs - at first, he didn’t understand, but finally realized that they were telling him to take his teabag out of his tea - it had been in for too long.

(Fleet Foxes at End of the Road Festival)

All in all, a wonderful weekend!  Head over to Songkick’s blog to read another review I wrote of the festival, and see some amazing photos taken by my friend Anika.

Brooke

What an interesting week it’s been.  I played another gig on Tuesday for my good friends Rough Sketch, who, I have to say, are among the best promoters I’ve come across in London.  It’s been strange adjusting from the venue-run music scene in the US to the promoter-run lay of the land in London.  For many promoters, it’s really just an excuse to put on a night, cram the line-up full of local hopefuls, and make some money off of the best friends and grandparents that come out to support.  Disgraceful!  Kirsty and Alex at Rough Sketch have booked me for a few different nights, and genuinely seem to want to make playing out a good experience for the artists (how revolutionary!).  Also playing the gig was Ana Silvera, a local artist managed by my friend Allison, who was phenomenal.

The week ended with a very rainy Saturday spent over in Hackney Wick at the artsy Hackney Wicked festival, and a sunny Sunday at the Arnold Circus Bandstand nearby my flat.  The first Sunday of every month an event called Bandstand Busking is hosted at different disused bandstands around London.  My favorite (only partially for it’s proximity to my residence!) has, unfortunately, been burned to a crisp since I was last there.  The bandstand, which used to be a lovely shade of faded green, has now been painted black to partially disguise it’s charred nature.  No matter, it still is a great place to go see bands, and Sunday was no exception.  Playing an early show was David Thomas-Broughton, whose bizarre antics while playing included trying to sing with a piece of chalk between his teeth, attempting to wipe chalk off a blackboard with a cloth draped over the end of his guitar, and making squeaking noises with a straw wedged between his mouth and forearm.  Strange, indeed!  Micachu & the Shapes followed, fresh off playing Field Day Festival the day before, with a lovely, albeit slightly more normal, set.  Later in the afternoon my very talented friends, Treetop Flyers, played a few songs, then the beautiful songbirds First Aid Kit.

That’s it from me!  No gigs booked currently, but don’t forget to check my MySpace for updated information.

Brooke

I am so excited to announce that I am opening up a gig for legendary country songwriter Kimmie Rhodes at the Borderline in London (one of my favorite venues!). Thanks to Michelle from Lojinx for booking the gig!

Kimmie has done a lot of amazing work with the likes of Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, and Waylon Jennings, to name just a few. I am honored (and nervous!) to be her opening act tomorrow night.  Londoners should come out and show their support!  I’ll be sure to post some photos of it, and let you all know how it goes.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Brooke

It’s taken a long time (years?) for me to get this up and running, but it’s finally happened, through the miracle of Wordpress and some very nice people that helped me.  Thanks to Steve and Ben for helping me get it off the ground!

I’m slowly updating the site to include all the bits and bobs (yes, that’s right, I’m allowed to say it because I live in London now) that are scattered all over the worldwide web.  In the meantime, check out all of my links on the bottom of the page — there are new YouTube videos, Tweets (for non Twitter users, that’s an update on what I am doing), and a Facebook artist page (BECOME A FAN!!!) to explore.

Brooke