Meet and hear more from Brittany Kennell of The Voice Season 10

The Voice

Meet and hear more from Brittany Kennell of The Voice Season 10

March 10, 2016 By Mark Franklin 0

Her audition: Brittany Kennell, 26, of Montreal, Canada, auditioned with Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough.” Her strong performance prompted an early chair turn from Blake Shelton. Pharrell Williams joined him at the last moment. Blake called Brittany’s vocals “magical.” She decided to join Team Blake.

Her background: Brittany says her first concert was watching fellow Canadian Shania Twain, an experience that sold her on music. She says she’s been writing songs since she was 7 or 8 and considers herself a folk-rock, singer/songwriter type of artist. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, then moved to Nashville where she lives in an apartment she calls The Birdhouse. “It’s a very peaceful place for me to write,” she says. “Being so far from my family, I definitely have a lot of homesick days.” She’s been performing at country clubs and admits it’s more background music than anything. “I feel like I’ve constantly been on the sidelines — the kid that’s not getting picked to play. And I want to play.”

What the show didn’t show:

According to her bio on The Voice website, Brittany came from a sports-oriented family and played soccer, hockey and softball as she was growing up.

She was also a synchronized swimmer for 10 years.

She studied songwriting at Berklee and moved to Nashville primarily to pursue a career as a songwriter. When interviewed by the Montreal Gazette in December 2014, she said she was performing four or five times a month, but co-writing on a regular basis and had helped pen 100 to 150 songs that year alone.

In her Facebook bio, she says her music is influenced by artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Carole King & Bruce Springsteen.

That said, Brittany has released a good deal of music, including EPs in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Then, in September 2015, she released her first full-length album called “Motions” following an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the project. “After four years in Nashville … I am finally ready to tackle a full length album. My goal is to create a high standard, quality record that will take me to the next level in my career<" she wrote as part of the campaign pitch. Standout tracks include "Switzerland" and "Wallow." The album is classified as singer/songwriter, traditional folk on iTunes.

Oh, and the name of her apartment came from a chance meeting with Mike Reid, who co-wrote Bonnie Rait’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” a song she and her friends used to sing in high school. “He asked me how my career was going, and then he offered me this bit of advice: to just slow down and be patient,” she said in the Montreal Gazette interview. In fact, he suggested she get a birdhouse. “That was his advice,” she said. “To slow down and enjoy the birds.”

On iTunes: A five-track debut EP from 2010, a six-track “After My Heart” EP from 2012, a five-track “Up in Smoke” EP from 2014, a single called “Be You” from 2014 and her 10-track “Motions” album from 2015. Plus her performance from The Voice.

Keeping up with Brittany:
Twitter: @bkennellmusic
Facebook
YouTube

“Wallow” (from her 2015 Motions album)