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“A work of brooding soul eloquence, alt-rock wiriness, atmospheric pop sweetening and folk-infected naturalness.” –NPR
Gospel and blues, melodic sensibility, and honest emotion…
Based in Minnesota, with roots in Tennessee, Chastity Brown grew up surrounded by country and soul music. In the gospel church of her childhood, she played saxophone and drums and found her singing voice and a passion for music. She’s been featured on NPR’s Favorite Sessions, CMT, American Songwriter, the London Times, Paste Magazine and others. Chastity has toured the U.S. and abroad, appearing on the U.K.’s Later…with Jools Holland.
Like so many artists who endured the uncertainty of the 2020 lockdown, Chastity’s instinct was to turn inward, at first out of self-preservation, and then because the new songs kept coming and coming. Since finishing her last album, 2017’s Silhouette Of Sirens, she estimates she’s written nearly 100 new songs, ten of which found their way onto her latest, 2022’s Sing To The Walls.
Sing To The Walls is a sonically expansive album; it mines the roots of Americana, folk, and soul music, but Chastity’s stories are delivered in a style that feels remarkably timely, modern, and forward-thinking. These songs unfold with Chastity’s expressive voice and expansive melodies, leading the listener through intertwining tendrils of atmospheric sounds.
Between writing sessions she’s been vibing to chilled-out, forward-thinking artists like Leon Bridges, H.E.R., SZA, and Daniel Caesar, taking their cue to expand beyond genre and her folk/roots history to encompass her appreciation of all Black American musical art forms. “I also want to poke at what the blues is,” Chastity reflects. “It has a lot of stereotypes like it’s mostly only played by blue-eyed white guys now. But what about Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey? I feel so closely connected, in a pure, undeviating lineage, to the heritage of being a Black, queer blues woman. I want to share this music with them, to say that I’ve listened, and I’ve done something new.”
After a chance meeting over a decade ago, The Laurels String Quartet fell into being and quickly became a staple of the Minneapolis music scene. Their enveloping blend and collective instinct for tuning into the emotional frequency of a song has amassed the group, and collaborators near and far. Artists like Belle & Sebastian, Father John Misty, Lucius, Jeremy Messersmith, Macklemore, Dan Wilson, Jason Mraz, Rogue Valley, Motion City Soundtrack, The New Standards, Ondara, and Semisonic have sought their company on stage and in the studio.
The quartet has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, PBS, The Current, NPR and has performed on stages across the country from the celebrated outdoor festival Rock The Garden at The Walker Art Center, to the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn NY, to the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis and everything in between.
Recommended for Fans of H.E.R., Rhiannon Giddens, Valerie June and Brittany Howard.
Learn More: https://chastitybrownmusic.com/
