Jonatha Brooke

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #124 (June/July 2006).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Jonatha Brooke

A Steady Pull in a New Direction

by Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.

Jonatha Brooke starts to talk about the possible title of her next album, then thinks better of it. "One of the songs...," she begins, then breaks off. "Well, I can't tell you yet," she joked. "I'd have to kill you."

All she reveals for sure is that the album -- possibly ready for release this fall -- will not be anything like the low-key lyricism of 2004's Back in the Circus. Instead, she promised that the new album will be loud. "This one will be a little more rocking than the last one, perhaps a little more bold and adventurous in terms of the arrangements and the personality of the songs." Sharing the producer's chair once again with Bob Clearmountain, Brooke is determined to push herself in new directions. "Part of what makes me so happy about music and what I do is that it's different every time, and I revel in that. I love not repeating myself, and I try very hard not to repeat myself."

Besides a new album, Brooke has "a million" other projects lined up, two of which may come to light this year. The first is a concert DVD taken from two shows taped at the Public Theater in New York City in March of 2004 and scheduled for release before the new album. Another potential album would collect the odds and ends she's recorded for disparate projects but have never showed up on an official release. "I have this idea of putting out a record of all the stuff that I've written for film and television over the years, calling it Plan B."

For those impatient souls who can't wait until fall for the new album, Brooke's website (www.jonathabrooke.com) is a great place to download fairly recent work, such as a re-mix of "Steady Pull" and a song that's elicited quite a bit of controversy, "War." The re-mix of "Steady Pull" is more adventurous than the album cute, while "War" is the type of song that will, depending on your political point of view, push your buttons. If nothing else, both songs -- adventurous R&B and protest folk -- will leave fans puzzling over Brooke's multifaceted nature.

With a résumé that includes the folk duo the Story, a series of divergent solo albums, two recordings for a Disney soundtrack, and a commercial for Goodyear Tire, one might reasonably ask: Who is the real Jonatha Brooke? Obviously, she's a singer who doesn't believe in replicating her previous successes, and a musician who doesn't mind trying something just to see what will happen. Through all the changes in record labels, styles, and recording methods, however, one thing has remained true about the singer behind the guitar: Brooke, come what may, has followed her own musical vision wherever it's led her. The changes, she noted, "…evolve out of touring constantly and finding new things in live performance."

[cover #124]