BriaRose: More Harmony Than Heartache

By Chris Manson November 29, 2007 Issue

“You know what’s really cool? I played with these guys at Spinnaker’s last night,” Sabrina McKenney says, clutching the Nov. 15 issue of The Beachcomber. McKenney, half of the acoustic duo BriaRose, is talking about Newfangled Theory, the band I wrote about last issue. “My best friend’s best friend is Derek (Givans’) girlfriend, and I told him I could put harmony on top of him.”

For the past four months, McKenney and Angelique Knight have been harmonizing Sunday nights at Theo’s Pizza Pub in Miramar Beach. The two met at Ball’s Out. Knight was singing Something to Talk About, and McKenney jumped in for vocal assists.

Knight, who looks a little like actress Scarlett Johansson, is originally from Mount Vernon, Wash. McKenney comes from Lexington, a small Tennessee town halfway between Memphis and Nashville. Despite the geographic and age differences—McKenney is 15 years older than Knight—they click on stage. “We have old souls,” Knight says. “I was raised on old rock and roll.”

BriaRose—“the name just flows together,” Knight remarks--have a repertoire of 100 or so songs, ranging from Willie Nelson and Nancy Sinatra to newer music like Tonic’s If You Could Only See, as well as originals penned by Knight. “She’s a great writer,” McKenney says of her partner. Tami Reinhart, who serves as guitar tech for the duo, often collaborates with Knight.

“I’ve been writing since I was six years old,” Knight says. “A record player was my babysitter. I memorized every word of every song I ever loved.”

McKenney sings harmony with the aforementioned Newfangled Theory a couple days a week, while Knight works as a karaoke DJ. No “I’m a real singer” snob, Knight says the karaoke experience primed her for public performances. “I don’t have the stage fright,” she says.

Their harmonies are appealing right from their opening numbers, Neil Young’s Love Is a Rose and Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman. Knight sings lead most of the time, as McKenney strums an acoustic guitar. “We always want to convey what we feel — peace and love, the blending of our voices,” McKenney says. “People love our harmonies.”

“I wrote this song about my childhood,” Knight says, introducing her A Simpler Time. The song is sweet and unashamedly nostalgic. I didn’t think the Santana-Rob Thomas hit Smooth would work as an acoustic number, but BriaRose pulls that off, too.

There’s also John Prine’s Angel from Montgomery, which Knight says she and McKenney do “kind of Bonnie Raitt-ish”, Miranda Lambert’s Bring Me Down, the Willie Nelson perennial Whiskey River, Van Morrison’s Wild Night, and another Knight original, Trigger Happy (“I’m a loaded gun”). These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ is delivered with defiance by Knight. She is a fun performer to watch, not content to just sit there and sing, pumping a fist in the air when the mood of the lyric fits.

Having just gotten my hands on a German import box set of Phil and Don’s early stuff, I’m a little disappointed that they haven’t performed anything by the Everly Brothers. But I am quite pleased to see that the BriaRose songbook contains lots of early rock and roll, Chuck Berry included.

Knight says her own songs—she’s penned about 50—are inspired by life experiences. “It’s my outlet,” she says. “If I didn’t have it, I’d probably be institutionalized. It’s my sanity, my sanctuary, all of it.” During a break, Neil Young’s Down by the River comes on. “I love this,” she declares, and she’s singing right along.

Friends of The Beat:
• Rick Coleman. His excellent book Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘n’ Roll recently received an ASCAP award for best music biography of the year. This just after the Fat Man made a rare appearance on NBC’s Today show.
• Brian Davis was the guitarist for now-defunct Crestview hard rock band Krank. Check out www.garageband.com, where you can still find Krank tracks as well as a link to the story of how these “Battle of the Bands” winners got ripped off. Davis informs me he’s looking to join a band or start a new one. “I’ll play anything from country to classic rock to hard rock,” Davis says. Contact him at bdd112@cox.net.

The Beat Recommends:
• Stanley Turrentine: A Bluish Bag (Blue Note) 1967 sessions, many previously unreleased, find the tenor sax great putting his touch on compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim and the unexpectedly hip Henry Mancini.
• Charles Mingus Sextet: Cornell 1964 (Blue Note). Recently discovered concert features Eric Dolphy, surprisingly good audio, and more bass solos than a Yes box set.
• The Hives: The Black and White Album (A&M/Octone) Strong third effort from the Swedish garage rockers, with a few detours into weirdness and a couple of inspired collaborations with hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams.
• Aretha Franklin: Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul (Atlantic/Rhino) More unearthed treasures spread across two CDs, with liner notes by Jerry Wexler. Inexcusable, however, is the lack of composer and session musician credits for many of these tracks.

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