Back in the 90s when we were flooded with CD submissions on a daily basis, I received an album called Plumb by Jonatha Brooke and The Story, an act out of Boston. I played the album over and over and couldn’t understand why Jonatha wasn’t a household name. Her lyrics were sung with a passion that only the person who had lived them could summon and the songs were perfectly formed. I hadn’t really kept up with her career until recently when I received a request out of the blue from an American publicist to interview Jonatha about her new album The Sweetwater Sessions. Of course she has gone on to a successful career with songs featured in Disney films and TV shows and written and performed her own off-Broadway show etc.
It was with great pleasure that I got to chat with Jonatha via Zoom about her brand new album The Sweetwater Sessions, her career, gear and life in Covid isolation.
Formerly of the New England-based folk-rock duo The Story, Jonatha Brooke has been writing songs, making records, and touring since the early 90’s. After four major label releases, she started her own independent label in 1999 and has since released eight more albums including her most recent: 2019’s EP Imposter, Jonatha has co-written songs with Katy Perry and The Courtyard Hounds among others. Jonatha Brooke has carved a unique musical path as a singer/songwriter for the better part of four decades. She established her own independent label in 1999 and has released more than thirteen albums, along with song placements in TV series such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse and films such as Disney’s Return to Neverland, she has built a reputation in the industry as a consummate craftsperson able to wed poignant lyrical storytelling to memorable and affecting melodies.
Her pursuit of her craft and her openness to share it with others has taken its latest form with her new project, The Sweetwater Sessions. The album finds her reimagining eleven songs from her rich catalogue in a live studio setting. The songs were recorded by producer/engineer Mark Hornsby during a series of Master Class Sessions at Sweetwater Studios.