Huffington Post interview and premiere of "Patience"

​On 9/22/15, The Huffington Post premiered the song "Patience" from the forthcoming album, The Simple Fear.

Check it out, and share it!

Also check out the interview by the Huffington Post in this article...

​A Conversation with Brooke Annibale
​Mike Ragogna: Brooke, your new album The Simple Fear will be out on October 2nd. Beyond its single "Remind Me," can you tell us anything about it?
 
Brooke Annibale: I found the album title The Simple Fear within the lyrics of the first song on the album. It really summed up the themes of the record for me. I was going through a lot of changes, and realizations about life. In my writing I found myself tackling the expectations of life and the fear of not finding those expectations met. I think that's a fear that we all have in common at some point. Putting it into perspective makes a pretty complicated thing like fear, seem very simple.
 
MR: What's the story behind "Remind Me"?
 
BA: This song ended a bit of a writing drought for me. It wasn't that I wasn't writing but I just wasn't writing things I liked enough to even finish. I wrote this song start to finish all in one day. It helped me build back my confidence in writing, and opened the door to writing the rest of the songs for the album. Even though it was written so quickly, when I was writing it I didn't actually know what I was writing about necessarily. My writing was almost completely subconscious about a situation I had been in months before. It was months after I wrote it before I realized how deeply it related to that experience in my life.
 
MR: You started songwriting at 15 back in Pittsburgh, and you released your first album, Memories in Melody by 17. What put you on a musical path?
 
BA: I started writing lyrics at a really young age, sometime in elementary school. I really loved writing lyrics, and when I got to my teenage years I wanted to learn an instrument to be able to put those lyrics to music. My maternal grandfather played the guitar and started a retail and live sound company that is still owned and operated by my family here in Pittsburgh. It seemed like the natural choice for me to dive into guitar lessons. As soon as I knew enough chords I was throwing songs together.
 
MR: You lived and worked in Nashville. What happened during your time there?
 
BA: I moved there in 2005 to attend college at Belmont University. I majored in Music Business, participated in school showcases and interned at a few interesting places in the industry. When I graduated, I moved back to Pittsburgh for about 2 years, before moving back to Nashville. I've made three records in Nashville since 2010 (2 albums and an EP) all in the same studio. I started recording at The Smoakstack--the studio I recorded all of these in--because my friend from college and now producer, Justin March, worked there as an engineer. A lot of the people I work with in Nashville stemmed from relationships I made in college with people who are working in the industry now. I've been living back in Pittsburgh since early 2014.
 
MR: Your music has been in many television shows. Have you seen how they're used and what're some of your reactions?
 
BA: Yes, I've watched every time it's happened...or I find it online! With the most recent one, I actually watched the placement of my song "Silence Worth Breaking" on the TV in the studio where the song was recorded, while I was making this new album. It was kind of one of those full circle moments... I was in the place where we made the song, and worked so hard on the details and the mix, and then there it was playing on the TV.
 
MR: Having had a music career from an early age, in your opinion, what's changed about the scene and what's changed in your own life as you've matured? What have you learned?
 
BA: Well there are the obvious things, like the fact that when I started out, Spotify didn't even exist or that MySpace was the main way to promote music online. But adapting to new platforms has always been the norm while I've been making music. Sonically, there's been a pretty obvious shift in the "scene" towards more electronic sounds, but I like to try to find the balance between the more organic, acoustic instruments and the new technology that makes any instrument electronically available via a keyboard or computer. I've definitely learned a lot since I first started. Being 17, and making a record in a studio teaches you a lot, but it took me until I was 23 to find the recorded sound I was really looking for with my own music. I think I'm better now at knowing what direction I want to take a song when recording.
 
MR: Who are your favorite contemporaries?
 
BA: Some of my favorites include, Brandi Carlile, The Swell Season, Elliott Smith, Lisa Hannigan, Ben Howard, Kathleen Edwards. The Beatles are probably my most cliché favorite and longest running influence, as my aunt and uncle introduced me to them at a really young age and I've loved them ever since.
 
MR: What would you have done if music hadn't been successful for you?
 
BA: It's really hard for me to tell or picture what else I could be doing right now if I never picked up a guitar. I have a business degree though, so I suppose I might be doing something in business. However, if you consult my 3rd grade journal, which I found a few years back, my answer to, "What do you want to be what you grow up?" was, "I'd like to be a singer, an actress, or a real estate agent." I have no recollection of wanting to be an actress or desire to be one now, but I would definitely delve into real estate! Very odd answer for an 8-year-old though!
 
MR: What is the best advice you were ever given?
 
BA: Back when I was trying to decide where to go to college, it was between a few rural colleges outside of Pittsburgh for business, and Belmont University in Nashville for Music Business. I wasn't considering going that far away for school. Nashville is about 8-9 hours by car from Pittsburgh. My older sister said to me something like, "This could be your only chance to choose to live in another city and experience another place." And also something along the lines of my hometown always being there to come home to.
 
MR: Did you follow it?
 
BA: Yes, as I ended up going to Nashville for school. There were lots of reasons of course, besides this advice, but I always remember how encouraging it was. I can't imagine where my career or my life would be in general if I hadn't gotten out of my hometown for a while and explored. It fostered my independence and my curiosity about traveling and experiencing other places. I've also met people from all over the country that I still work with now just because I went.
 
MR: What advice do you have for new artists?
 
BA: Well, even though I've been making music for about 11 years now, I still feel like a new artist! But this is what I'd have to say to people starting out: Be wary of who you let represent you. You don't want someone speaking on your behalf if they are doing shady or pushy business, or are not kind to people. Also, I'd have to add if you're considering spending time in a city full of the music industry, do it for awhile! You don't have to stay forever but you'll most likely make relationships that will change your music and career for the better. But above all else, my advice would have to be genuine in everything you do with your music. If you can't be genuine about it, maybe you shouldn't be doing it.
 
MR: Beyond the new album, what else will be happening in your immediate future?
 
BA: I will be playing a lot of shows this fall, in New York, Chicago, Nashville, DC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and a few house concerts in between.
 
MR: Are you satisfied with what you've achieved to this point? Do you feel you should be doing more?
 
BA: It's hard to say I'm satisfied, because there are so many things I still want to achieve. But every day that I'm able to make music for a living is an incredible opportunity, regardless of how many ups and downs I experience. I certainly hope to be doing more in music in the near future because I'm not sure I've ever had or ever wanted to have the choice of doing something else.