Nell Bryden
Encyclopedia
Nell Bryden is an American singer-songwriter. She was born and raised in Brooklyn
, to parents themselves a singer (Jane Bryden) and artist (Lewis Bryden).
A classically trained musician (she studied the cello for ten years), Bryden dreamed of becoming an opera singer before hearing Jimi Hendrix
and Janis Joplin
for the first time.
After some time spent in Australia honing her craft, Bryden attended Wellesley College where she graduated in English Literature with honours. It was during this time that she began performing her songs live.
Bryden was living in Greenwich Village in New York during 9/11, an event that had a "profound" effect on her. The following year she recorded an album in Nashville,[1] and toured the US to support the album. Disillusioned with the music business, she travelled to New Orleans to write a new album, inspired by the jazz, roots and blues influences of the Crescent city. Bryden began recording with producer John Hill, but after the project ran out of money they returned to New York with a half-finished album. Two weeks later Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, displacing many of the musicians on the record and destroying much of the town.
Bryden began touring the UK and Ireland by self-booking her tours, playing up to 250 shows a year abroad, opening for artists such as the Counting Crows and KT Tunstall. After coming across a Milton Avery
painting during an attic clear out (a gift from her father when she was still a baby), Bryden auctioned the piece and received a substantial amount for it.
She then used the money to re-record her album, but this time around bringing on board Grammy-winning record producer David Kershenbaum.
The resulting album What Does it Take came out on 12 October 2009 on Cooking Vinyl
in the UK and Ireland, and has enjoyed considerable critical success.
In 2008, following a chance meeting with a US Army colonel at SXSW in Austin Texas, Bryden flew to Iraq to play for the Armed Forces. Her second tour there in 2009 was documented by Susan Cohn Rockefeller for her film Striking A Chord. The film is about the healing power of live music for combat-related stress, which can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, to parents themselves a singer (Jane Bryden) and artist (Lewis Bryden).
A classically trained musician (she studied the cello for ten years), Bryden dreamed of becoming an opera singer before hearing Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
for the first time.
After some time spent in Australia honing her craft, Bryden attended Wellesley College where she graduated in English Literature with honours. It was during this time that she began performing her songs live.
Bryden was living in Greenwich Village in New York during 9/11, an event that had a "profound" effect on her. The following year she recorded an album in Nashville,[1] and toured the US to support the album. Disillusioned with the music business, she travelled to New Orleans to write a new album, inspired by the jazz, roots and blues influences of the Crescent city. Bryden began recording with producer John Hill, but after the project ran out of money they returned to New York with a half-finished album. Two weeks later Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, displacing many of the musicians on the record and destroying much of the town.
Bryden began touring the UK and Ireland by self-booking her tours, playing up to 250 shows a year abroad, opening for artists such as the Counting Crows and KT Tunstall. After coming across a Milton Avery
Milton Avery
Milton Avery was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City.-Biography:...
painting during an attic clear out (a gift from her father when she was still a baby), Bryden auctioned the piece and received a substantial amount for it.
She then used the money to re-record her album, but this time around bringing on board Grammy-winning record producer David Kershenbaum.
The resulting album What Does it Take came out on 12 October 2009 on Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl
Cooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986. Its original orientation was toward contemporary folk music—notably Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, recorded on a Sony Walkman, one of its first releases...
in the UK and Ireland, and has enjoyed considerable critical success.
In 2008, following a chance meeting with a US Army colonel at SXSW in Austin Texas, Bryden flew to Iraq to play for the Armed Forces. Her second tour there in 2009 was documented by Susan Cohn Rockefeller for her film Striking A Chord. The film is about the healing power of live music for combat-related stress, which can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).