NEW ENGLAND BASED SINGER/SONGWRITER
BRETT TERRY DRAWS ON HIS PASSION FOR
VINTAGE SOUNDS AND VOCAL HARMONIES
TO MAKE ‘INSTANT HISTORY’

It’s too bad they don’t make LPs anymore, because laid-back harmony-driven vintage pop rock never sounded as cool or as inviting as it does in the musical world of Brett Terry, who makes Instant History on his latest high spirited retro minded album. Building on the foundation of heartfelt songwriting and organic production he laid with his well-received 2007 debut Retrospective Lives, the Mystic, CT-based singer/songwriter ups the creative ante on the ten tracks of his new collection, brilliantly evoking the classic 70’s folk rock aesthetic down to the dusty Hammond B3, vintage Rhodes and Wurlitzer keyboards and period synthesizers.

Although he has been playing music and recording his songs since he was a teenager in the mid-80’s, Brett feels that we’re currently in one of the richest and most diverse periods of folk rock since the golden era of 1965 – 1977. Pointing to the recent slew of Grammy Awards for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (“a primer on vocal harmony”) and the current popularity of artists like Fleet Foxes, The Wailin’ Jennys, Jenny Lewis, Bon Iver, The Indigo Girls, The Weepies, Dr. Dog, My Morning Jacket, Blitzen Trapper, Ryan Adams and Wilco—Brett remarks that, with all this alt-folky greatness going on, the challenge is to sound both familiar yet distinctive. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than on the one cover song on the album, a dreamy, transcendent reinterpretation of George Harrison’s If I Needed Someone, featuring rich vocal harmonies in an arrangement that recalls Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

Like the late Elliott Smith before him, Brett’s first musical love is clearly the Beatles, and Brett admits that the title Instant History was meant as a tongue-in-cheek double entendre in the spirit of Rubber Soul. Though it could mean an instantly ephemeral work or an instant classic, anyone who listens to this album will know he’s quickly heading toward the latter. The singer has also built a growing internet buzz with his song-a-month email list and his popular YouTube covers of songs such as “We Can Work It Out” and “Me And Julio Down By the Schoolyard”.

Brett has been building a following with frequent performances as the leader of his classic acoustic rock cover band 28 Strings as well as well-received solo performances at regional showcases for original music such as Jitters Coffeehouse, the Bean & Leaf, and the Fiddleheads Cooperative. Lately, in addition to songs from his first two albums, Brett has been featuring a number of songs that will appear on his next album You And Your Tribe—scheduled for a fall 2009 release. This CD will feature an even fuller production, complete with more electronic sounds and a five piece woodwind ensemble.

“I’ve always been drawn to the kind of music you want to play when you get a couple of musicians together in a room with a few guitars, music that’s fun and funky and full of people singing harmony with each other,” he says, continuing that “probably my love of harmony also comes from the fact that, growing up, I got to play and sing with my parents in both our family bluegrass band and the a cappella choir (specializing in Renaissance music) they founded. As I started working with different bands myself, that love of harmony just became part of the music I made, and influenced what I did as a songwriter.”

Like the legendary bands that inspired his own artistic evolution, Brett has always been open to the spirit of collaboration. The emotional power of Instant History starts with his songs, but he created the unique sonic architecture of the set with multi-instrumentalist Eric Lichter of Dirt Floor Studios—a well known local producer who specializes in working with up and coming indie artists. On the album, Lichter plays the electric guitar and the drum kit, with the two taking turns with the keyboard and bass parts. Over the course of the album’s 42 minutes, the songs span a broad and soulful range from the crunchy guitar licks of the opening upbeat rocker (“On Alexander Street”) to a melancholy acoustic ballad about falling in love with a friend (“Baby”), and from a playful blues-soaked parody of the rock and roll lifestyle (“Rock Star”) to a lushly orchestrated meditation on enlightenment and personal fulfillment (“Peace of Mind”).

“The problem many people have with today’s music is that with digital technology, it’s easy to create a production that’s polished but devoid of soul, space and warmth,” says Brett. “So we tried to give every song a lot of lyrical character and musical personality, recording what actually happens without a lot of editing or post-production. It’s refreshing to make music this way, and that combined with the type of background harmonies we created results in a very timeless feel. My main goal in writing and recording Instant History was to capture that energy and make a great and fun sounding CD filled with songs I really like.”