Country music has always at its root been about telling a good story. Though some artists are better than others at painting full pictures in under three minutes, Brennen Leigh proves to be a master at the concept on her latest album, Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet.
Leigh will perform along with Summer Dean at The Heights Theater on Thursday, July 20 for an evening of strong, female singer songwriters with both artists celebrating new albums. Dean released her fantastic new album The Biggest Life this summer as well.
“That’s something that’s really been a big deal for me too, especially in recent years,” says Leigh of the opportunity to support and tour with other female artists. “I don’t know what I would have done over the last couple of years without my women friends. We just have to have each other’s backs, there’s just no room for unhealthy competition between us. Women are powerful, we have special skills and we need each other.”
On Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet, Leigh continues to prove her strength in songwriting and a rare ability to create country songs that while obviously rooted in a time where storytelling was key, manages to do so without becoming some kind of purist relic.
Leigh never seems to be attempting to recreate the past but instead offers a fresh take on classic elements in music, incorporating modern aspects of life. “Our intention was to tap into a similar vibration of creativity that I feel was going on in the city around 1967,” she says, referring to the golden age of songwriting in Nashville at that time.
“I feel like every creative art related to country music was just at an all time high. You had these great pickers, best songwriters and singers in the world, some of the best recording technology and producers in the world and all of these things collided. It was this brief window in time where country music was still very hillbilly and yet we had the recording technology to capture it in all of its splendor.”
Her track “Carole With An E” combines all of these sentiments as Leigh sings the story of a petite and surprisingly feminine yet authoritative, elegant but rough truck driving lady who doesn’t take any lip from anyone.
Listening to Leigh’s songs it’s clear that while she is creating characters there are bound to be elements of truth as the stories play out like short films with each track filling the listener with vivid images and characters.
“A lot of people tend to assume that every song is autobiographical and true to my life and the fact is that there are threads and shreds of my life in each song. As far as them being pictures, that’s pretty spot on for what my intention has been. My favorite songwriters are narrative, descriptive songwriters who tell stories about people,” says Leigh, citing Dolly Parton and Tom T. Hall as inspiration. “They don’t tell as much as they show, and that’s a really significant point for me,” she adds.
Leigh, originally from North Dakota, relocated to Austin and then in 2017, she moved to Nashville when she was offered a publishing deal which led her to writing most days of the week alone and with various writing partners amassing a large stockpile of songs to choose from for this album.
“I wasn’t even aware I was making an album when I wrote a lot of these,” says Leigh of the tracks on her album. “These are all songs I had sitting in the house.” Her experience writing for others provided Leigh with a great opportunity to flesh out the difference between writing with someone else in mind versus writing for herself with Leigh leaning strongly into the latter.
“I’m a little more genuine when I’m not trying to pander to anyone so for me, there’s really no longer a distinction. I never try to write for another person, I just write from my heart to the best of my ability and ironically, those are the songs that people end up interested in and that people end up wanting to record.”
Leigh evokes greats like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell who she cites as influences. Asked about pushing quality, classic country songwriting into the future, she says: “I hope so. Because it’s so beloved by me and so many.”
Brennen Leigh will perform with Summer Dean on Thursday, July 20 at Thursday, July 20 at The Heights Theater, 339 W 19th. Doors open at 7 p.m, $20-224.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
