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An Interview With Laurel BraunsBrauns' Folk-Rock Sound Has Her on Brink of Indie Music Breakthrough
Brauns' career echoes a liberal's electoral map: bicoastal success, but disconnect with the heartland's Wal-Mart mentality. She's proud of her artistic path, but weary.
Laurel Brauns epitomizes the do-it-yourself approach necessary to indie folk success: busking in Belfast; self-producing her first CD in the basement of her college music building (financed by waitressing and living in a tent in Alaska); driving over 100,000 miles between her native New Hampshire and her Oregon home to build a following; hosting coffeehouses, teaching snowboarding, anything to promote her brand of literate folk-rock, with its Celtic influences, acoustic warmth, and far-ranging lyrics. It’s paid off: she has three acclaimed CDs and fans throughout the US and Canada. What’s eluded her is a record deal that would lessen administrative costs and free up energy for her art. Laurel Brauns’ on Path to Indie Folk SuccessWhere does an average year’s tour take you? I usually do a month-long tour in the Pacific Northwest. I book college shows as anchor gates (they pay well) and get creative filling the time around them, playing at coffeehouses, bars, even a grocery store. How do you produce your CDs? My first was produced with 15 other students in the basement of Lewis and Clark College’s music building in Portland, Oregon. My second, also produced in Oregon, was professionally recorded. Jon Nolan of Milltown Studios (Newmarket, NH) produced my third. Can digital technology build careers, or is a record deal still the goal? Technology levels the playing field, but the market is oversaturated. Anyone can use GarageBand and upload songs onto MySpace and be a rock star in their own mind, overnight. You can solicit fans, build a website, send out press kits, and remain completely independent. That trendy approach, however, creates the expectation that you can do it all, and that detracts from creativity. As online promotional opportunities grow, the Internet has also become a black hole that can suck an artist’s energy. I need to concentrate on writing good songs. What accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? My favorite performances have been opening for Matt Costa at Higher Ground in Burlington, Matt Pond PA at the Stone Church (Newmarket, NH) and Patty Larkin at the Music Hall (Portsmouth, NH). I felt the most successful, though, the night of my Closed for the Season CD release party at the Red Door in Portsmouth: I was really proud of that album and of the way I built the Red Door's reputation. Your first two CDs each sold about 3,000 copies—what did that net you? On the first one, I only had to pay to press them, which, with miscellaneous costs, totaled about $3,000. The CD sold for $12, so in an ideal world, I should net about $9,000 per 1,000 copies. It seems like I should be rich, but I don’t know where it all goes. What does it take to “make it?” The ideal situation is to get signed by an independent label with a national distribution and media infrastructure that can reach your audience. Another route is getting a booking agent prior to a record deal and touring to build a following. I love to tour, love to write songs, but am getting a little tired of being independent. I’ve become a great businessperson; I have to be, but I don’t want to be. Brauns sometimes tours with the Sweet Harlots, a band she formed in the summer of 2008, but is now home in Bend, Oregon writing songs for her fourth album. Laurel Brauns DiscographyClosed for the Season, (2007) Periphery, Red Trail Music (2003) Swimming (2001)
The copyright of the article An Interview With Laurel Brauns in Indie Music is owned by Andrew Leibs. Permission to republish An Interview With Laurel Brauns in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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