BIO
“Cosmic”- Bobby McFerrin, 10-time Grammy award winning artist
“Mind-blowing.” - George Massenburg, engineer for Earth, Wind & Fire, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Toto, Dixie Chicks, Herbie Hancock, and more.
“Brilliant” - Simon Cowell
Elana Brody, as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and celebrated vocalist, brings a sound to the world that crosses genres and bends expectations.
Her first release “Stars Out of My Eyes” is an Americana tune, harkening to her Appalachian roots. Raised up by “back-to-the-land” homesteaders, in the mountains of Virginia, she was readily exposed to the sounds of country, bluegrass, and folk music traditions. In a home with “hippie” consciousness, Elana also had her fair share of exposure to the folk music from the 60s and 70s, where the poet-lyricist speaks to the shadows of our American culture and the times. This current release of Elana’s brings a unique blend of the two - Americana and Activist-Folk - and you almost can’t know if this is a song that celebrates or subverts the traditions of the Fourth of July. In this way, her music reaches audiences on both sides of the divide.
Though much of her music now is being released in the folk-genre, with comparison to Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell, much of Elana’s musicality has been expressed as a pianist and vocalist. With some songs, she can take you back into a vaudevillian time, and has been compared to the theatrical-pop piano composers such as Kurt Weill, Kate Bush, Regina Spektor, and Amanda Palmer. She also has been compared, vocally, to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Jeff Buckley, Barbra Streisand, Jill Scott, and even new pop artist Halsey.
Elana stretched some of her muscles by studying at Berklee College of Music for several years. There, she was awarded the opportunity to sing and study with 10-time Grammy Award winner Bobby Mcferrin, and members of his vocal group Voicestra. In addition to this, she was exposed for the first time to a wide spectrum of jazz, world music, and songwriting possibilities there. After leaving Berklee, Elana joined a touring orchestral electronic band, which led her to settling in NYC.
Early NYC life for Elana was one of performing, and busking on streets and subways. This experience, “on the ground” with folks, was one that, actually, elevated Elana’s musicianship to a higher level. In the unique rooms of the underground, she was able to find the nooks and crannies of the acoustic space and the emotional needs of the crowds, and improvise music that might provide some kind of healing, transformational experience for the people in front of her. With the ever-changing crowds of the subway station, Elana was able to hone her ability to quickly connect and draw folks in to the musical experience.
Audiences of all ages are consistently mesmerized by her voice and musicality. Her ability to connect to the heart of the universal person, is also what has led Elana also to the role of prayer-leader. Her voice was “discovered” by musician & Rabbi Shir Yaakov Feit in 2014, and she has been hired to lead musical prayers for mostly Jewish congregations and events, all over the country, since then.
Elana’s next musical release is her song “To Hear Your Voice,” written in response to the riots & uprising in Minneapolis in May. By touching into her own vulnerability, and relationship to loss, she is able to convey a sense that many of her listeners also are feeling in this time. This release is slated for later in July, and will be followed up by another single release of her song “You Are the Sun.”
Much of Elana’s music and a variety of her performances from the years - can be found on Youtube.
Interview with Nick Horner of Porch Stomp, about video for “Stars Out of my Eyes”:
Tell us about your life before New York and what brought you to make your home in the big apple?:
I was raised on the mountain in rural western Virginia, about 60 miles from the nearest grocery store, and 2 miles from the nearest neighbor. My parents were back-to-the-land homesteaders, and chose to live far from civilization to be with good soil, clean air, and fresh water. Being so "far out" and secluded, our family kept ourselves entertained by playing and singing folk and theater music. My father was inspired by flat-picking greats like Norman Blake, and my mom inspired by folk songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King. My sisters and I were singing and playing along at an early age. Growing up in a musical environment such as this, it was no surprise when I began writing songs on the piano as a pre-teen.
We moved off the mountain while I was in high school, and I began a more formal musical education at an Episcopalian school in Staunton, VA. It was there that Berklee College of Music came on my radar, and I was encouraged by my music teacher to apply. The following year, I went to Berklee to study composition and songwriting, and this little bird from the country flew far far from home. After a few years at Berklee, where I was exposed to jazz and world music for the first time, and learned of deep musical possibilities from many sophisticated teachers, I left to play music in the real world. I joined a band who was gigging and that brought me to NYC!
Let's just say! After 3 years in quiet Boston, NYC, as a city, was much more like the biodiversity of the forested mountain I grew up in! All kinds of people, ethnicities, personalities, musical styles, artists, and it was clear that the wildness inside me had found a home! I fell in love with the grind of going out to meet musicians, playing with all kinds of strangers, and I fell into a routine of busking out in the subways and on the streets. The raw realness and depth of exchange in NYC was constantly inspiring and feeding my writing as well, and I loved having so many opportunities to share my music and be heard. I did leave NYC for several years, and got a bit more earthy and grounded in places like a farm in the Berkshires, Boulder CO, Asheville NC, and Midcoast Maine, but I always knew I'd come back to NYC and join the party again!
What are your songwriting influences and how do you find your West Virginian roots affect your musical identity?:
I am very inspired by female artists, primarily, and I'm happy I get to be one! I think it's obvious in my writing that Joni Mitchell is a primary influence. Her way of painting lyrical images, while singing with full depth of emotion and storytelling prowess, has been a huge teacher for me. The next artist I did a deep dive into was Ani Difranco. I also was inspired by Jewel and Sarah McLachlan as a young person. All of these artists, with the exception of Ani, were introduced to me by my music-loving Mom. I also fell into wonder at the musicality of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Irish-Americanband Solas, the rock and roll freedom of Led Zeppelin, and indie-rock like the Shins and Death Cab for Cutie. At some point, Kate Bush showed up, then My Brightest Diamond, then Regina Spektor, then The Decemberists and Of Montreal. Being a pianist, of course, I had to touch into Fiona and Tori too. And being from the south, I also was moved by the beautiful melodies and voices of newgrass and pop country artists, like Nickel Creek, Mindy Smith, and the Dixie Chicks.
As for my being raised in Appalachia, I was exposed to roots music styles like bluegrass and the blues from an early age. For several summers, my Mom took my sisters and I with her to Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, WV to hang out with blues and swing musicians. And my father, who's interest was in bluegrass and old-time, took us to Clifftop and to old-time music camps. In fact, the fiddle was my first instrument, but it was so squeaky in my ear I couldn't handle it!
Being in NYC, these days, I find myself needing to enter into the folk scene, even though I don't play a string instrument (well!), because it feeds my country soul! I am now writing songs that have a bit more twang in them, because it just makes me feel good. The music helps me to recall my roots, and the beautiful energy of the land, flora and fauna, and maple sweetness of where I am from. Much like the way you would turn a radio on when you are down south and right away, hear folk and country music, I am turning on my own folk radio station, you might say, while walking down the street in NYC. And creating a bit of a nature-bubble around me, as I write. It's fun to show up to porchstomp or to a jam and sing songs that I grew up playing with my Dad. I am happy paying homage to him, as I wouldn't be a musician if it weren't for him showing me his pure love of playing, for the sake of play - not acclaim or attention or competition - but simply to create a more joyful and lively life.
You often write and perform on the piano -why the decision to incorporate strings on this particular shoot?
Truth be told! I wrote this little country-inspired ditty earlier this year and really wanted to release it for the Fourth of July, and not wait for another date, or year in the future to do it! So! It felt right to honor the style of the music by gathering string musicians to play it! And I decided not to play guitar, which is the instrument I wrote the song on, because there are much better guitar players hanging out in the city!! I am so incredibly grateful for the dudes who learned and played my song, as they are all such talented artists independently and I have been so pleased to get to know them out and about at jam sessions. If I could, I would sing in a country act more regularly with a string band, and plan to incorporate more of this into my act as I move forward.
The next song I release will undoubtably be a piano-based song. So don't worry, my piano-playing self will show its face one day in the near future!!
How long have you been involved with Porch Stomp, and tell us about your Porch stomp 2019 experience?
Nick and I met in a subway station at 1am waiting for a train that never came. We decided to share a taxi and the rest is history. Weirdly enough, I've been living on the very corner in Brooklyn where Porch Stomp has its biannual events, but I'm always in some other neighborhood during that time and have never been to one damn Porch Stomp! This year on Governor's Island was my first and it was the most glorious day of the year yet! I can't imagine not being at another one. I'm so happy and proud that Nick and Theo are able to put together something SO grassroots and that it is blossoming into such a big event, that makes artists and spectators alike feel good. Roots music everywhere on an idyllic island, somehow unbothered by, whilst being a part of NYC, is a dreamy dream too good to be true!!
What one piece of advice would you offer to songwriters and musicians looking to get their feet wet on the NYC circuit?
oy! This is hard! New York City requires a WHOLE LOT of consistent showing up, and CONFIDENCE in yourself. If you are a songwriter, who plays and writes mostly solo, and want to meet musicians to play with you, you HAVE to go out and meet people at jam sessions and check out other artists' shows. I have found that it's super hard to get together with other musicians, if you are purely interested in them on a musical level. This can be tempting because NYC is filled with such good technical players and most likely your ego wants to be playing with these top dogs. But, at the end of the day, you just have to create or commit to a community, and play with people you genuinely connect with, and who respect you, on a personal level. It's probably like any other town in that way. That being said! What's amazing about NYC is that there's always room for growth, and when you're playing with all kinds of musicians, your quality will get better and better! Play out as much as you can, say yes to pretty much EVERYTHING in the beginning, and never lose sight of your deepest artistic dreams, even if they take FOREVER to take off. And stay humble. There will be many ups and downs, dramatic failures, and flops, but don't despair, you are just questing on your mythic journey. Also. If you happen to be a woman, it’s hard to be a woman in the music world. Most musical men want to have romance with you, not play music with you. I have had more than enough experiences in this department and it hasn’t lent itself to any productive work. But mindset is powerful, and choosing to hold strong and intentional boundaries when interacting with musicians is important in order to orient yourself to your goals primarily. I have much more to say and sing about this, but that's all for now.