Cary Brothers

Wry, introspective singer/songwriter Cary Brothers first reached a wide audience through the single “Blue Eyes,” a richly detailed ballad he placed on the Grammy-winning Garden State soundtrack in 2004. Born in 1974 to a watercolorist mother and a surgeon father, he turned away from the music scene of his Nashville upbringing and instead gravitated toward Britpop acts such as the Cure and the Smiths. While studying at Northwestern University in the early 1990s, he formed a friendship with Zach Braff, the future writer, director, and star of Garden State. After graduation the two relocated to Los Angeles, where Braff continued building his acting credits and Brothers joined a collaborator in launching a modest production company responsible for the Freddie Prinze, Jr., feature Sparkler.

By 2002 his urge to create music had eclipsed any interest in Hollywood networking. Having by then come to value the country-folk traditions he once dismissed during his Nashville youth, Brothers began performing at Los Angeles clubs including the Hotel Cafe, a favored spot for emerging singer/songwriters. The sets helped shape the material that would attract more than 10,000 purchasers to his reverb-laden spring 2005 EP All the Rage. Prior to that release, an appearance on Scrubs—arranged with assistance from his friend Braff—brought his work to television viewers. Momentum also grew through digital metrics: “Blue Eyes” entered the Top 100 Songs chart on iPods and reached the top of the folk ranking. Brothers further expanded his reach with a 2004 initiative offering a free weekly downloadable track via his website, inviting listeners to comment on his moody, Coldplay-meets-U2 style.

The strategy proved effective; by fall 2005, when his second EP Waiting for Your Letter appeared on the Procrastination Music imprint, website traffic had risen noticeably. Supported by this growing audience, Brothers issued his first full-length album, Who You Are, in May 2007.