Brooke Waggoner is debuting a new track, “Widow Maker,” from her fifth studio album, Sweven, due out Jan. 15.
The classically trained pianist, songwriter and arranger self-produced and recorded her new album in Turquoise Noise studio in her hometown of Nashville.
Waggoner handpicked a close group of musicians and family members to work on these recordings and created music throughout the latter half of 2014. She had a self-imposed deadline for the recording saying, “My only goal was to finish it before my son was born. It came down literally to the day.”
While creating the music for the album, Waggoner found herself drawing on her present while revisiting her earliest work. She sought to continue an ongoing theme started in her debut EP, Fresh Pair of Eyes, which the London Sunday Times called, “One of the most exciting releases to come out of America in 2007.”
She wanted to tackle directly a conversation about aging, of which she says,
“The beauty that lies within every notch on your belt, the good ones and the bad.”
The Texas native has worked with a wide collection of artists, such as Jack White, playing piano on his solo projects Blunderbuss and Lazaretto, plus orchestrating strings on the new DeadWeather album Dodge and Burn.
Waggoner was also a member of the all female touring band The Peacocks for White’s Blunderbuss.
Notably, she has also played piano on Beck’s song “I’m Down” and arranged for ABC’s “Nashville.”
Her album Originator debuted at #1 on iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts and was heralded by Entertainment Weekly as a “bold step forward.” That same year, she played festivals including Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. Her songs have been widely used in television licensing including programs such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Pretty Little Liars.”
