We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Burnett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.
Brandon, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is probably my most recent single release. It’s the first song with new members of my full band and a realization of a project years in the making. My songwriting craft is, most often, concept driven. The new single “Coyote” was written in the summer during the 2020 pandemic as the seed to a greater overarching story. It tells the tale of a train hopping drifter who begins receiving very disturbed visions. He discovers his nightmares are real and he is seeing through the eyes of a deadly gunslinger in the gothic west. The song follows our main character as he must become the “Coyote” to face the ultimate evil. Not only is the song an anthem for the character’s transformation, it’s an anthem for my determination to see the thing through. It’s made all the more meaningful with a hand made stop motion music video that fleshes out the concept. Animated by Jared Popescu under The Greylands Studios.
Brandon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I grew up in a suburb of Fort Worth, TX. I have no doubt that the culture of the North Texas area inspired me to start writing music, though, I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I picked up the guitar at 15 years old. At that time I was fully submerged in the origins and history of punk rock music. I love to explore the roots of genres so as I got older it all came full circle, coming back around to old school country and folk music. My experience being in bands in different genres has only added to my love of the simplicity of crafting a song.
I broke into the Fort Worth music scene playing open mics and eventually putting together bills of diverse genres. Now I play shows with my band under my stage name, Broke String Burnett. I earned the nickname breaking strings on stage and it’s a testament for my passion to perform my own original music. I’m most proud of the hard work my band has put into our live set in the past year. We continue to bring our storytelling to life through dynamically driven live shows inspired by our Texas roots.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
As everyone knows, each family had their own experience during the pandemic. Being a gigging musician, I have learned how to roll with the punches, but between gigs drying up and health crisis within my family, It was a difficult time. Resilience means finding what inspires you to keep going and one of my strengths is, luckily, I always have something to say.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goal driving my creative journey is the mission to make the next show better than the last. It drives me to practice more and write as much as I can to get better at my craft overall.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brokestringburnett.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokestringburnett/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokestringburnett
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Broke_String
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/MG1HYdTvga4
- Other: https://brokestringburnett.com/coyote
Image Credits
All Photos by Brooks Burris Photography