Singer/songwriter Brandi Shearer crafts a distinctive blend of folk, pop, country, and jazz as a sultry vocalist whose performances convey deep emotional resonance. Growing up on an Oregon farm, she drew early encouragement from her grandmother to pursue singing and music-making, an influence that prompted her father to give her a guitar. During adolescence she pursued formal training in classical guitar and voice, earning an opera scholarship at a nearby college. An exchange program took her to Hungary, where exposure to iconic American jazz and blues figures such as Billie Holiday prompted her to leave school and begin performing in clubs across Hungary and France.
Shearer relocated to San Francisco in 1998 and issued her first solo album, Museum, which included contributions from jazz guitarist Ted Savarese. She also joined Savarese’s ensemble Drizzoletto on rhythm guitar, sharpening her skills in composition and live delivery within a jazz framework. In 2003 she put out Music of a Saturday Night and Sycamore in quick succession, both releases strengthening her regional audience. That support reached Amoeba label head David Prinz, who arranged a live session with the gypsy jazz Robin Nolan Trio in 2005. Subsequent tours and shows, among them a joint appearance with Nolan at Austin’s SXSW festival, paved the way for her 2007 Amoeba debut Close to Dark. Two years later Love Don't Make You Juliet appeared, its sessions shaped by Norah Jones producer Craig Street’s atmospheric touch.
