MusicRowPics: Brooke Eden Brings Country Soul To Her ‘Weekend’

Brooke Eden with MusicRow owner/publisher Sherod Robertson.

Florida native and Red Bow Records artist Brooke Eden just might be one of the most soulful country vocalists to come out of Nashville in some time.

“I didn’t even know there was another kind of music other than country until I was 15,” Eden says. When she turned 18, she discovered the music of soulful songstress Etta James. “I became obsessed with her music,” says Eden, who recently performed the James classic “At Last” during a performance on the Grand Ole Opry.

Eden melds those influences on “Act Like You Don’t,” the first single from her Welcome To The Weekend EP. She co-wrote the track with Jesse Frasure and Cary Barlowe.

“I brought them the idea because I was going through a breakup,” Eden says. “[My partner and I] never had one really big blowup fight. It was like, ‘I’m not the one for you and you’re not the one for me,’ and we both knew it, but we still were ‘friends.’ We did this thing where we would breakup, then hang out, get back together and then it would happen again.”

Finally Eden had enough. “I told him, ‘I can’t do this anymore. If you ever loved me at all, I need you to act like you don’t love me anymore, because I can’t move forward.’ The song helped me get through that time.”

During a visit with the MusicRow offices, Eden performed the single along with another track from her EP, titled “Silence Speaks,” and a rendition of “At Last.” On her EP, Eden collaborates with writers including Brett James, Chris DeStefano, Ingrid Andress, Justin Wilson, and Will Weatherly.

Brooke Eden with MusicRow staff.

Eden comes by her love of music honestly. Growing up, she was performing alongside her father in a country band by the age of 5.

“I had sequin chaps and a cowgirl hat with rhinestones and cowboy boots that my mom had bedazzled. I sang ‘Any Man of Mine’ that night,” Eden recalls her first time performing onstage. Her mother, who dressed mannequins in department store windows, still helps Eden with her fashion.

Eden’s strong vocals and transparent songwriting are backed by an intense work ethic. For two years before fully moving to Nashville, Eden split her time writing in Music City and working the stage in a regular circuit back in Florida.

“I would spend two weeks in Nashville networking and recording, then fly home to Florida. I would spend two weeks there performing four hours per night, five nights a week, so I didn’t have to have a 9-5 job in Nashville. When I was in Nashville, I could focus on music all the time.”

Eden became a full-time Nashville resident in 2015, writing 100 songs that year. She says those intense years focused on writing paid off.

“Before I moved to Nashville, I loved English and loved writing stories. I got to come here and take all of those ideas and melodies and turn them into real songs. It was a great way to learn who I am as a writer and as an artist.”