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Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Musician nurses singing career

Published 2003-09-17T00:00:00Z”/>

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Drew Harden<br>Staff Writer

A quirky, introspective singer/songwriter has turned the fantasy of many young people into her own reality.

Somewhere in between classes, work and maintaining a social life, Chico State student Laura Brimberry has accomplished something few have ever attempted.

During her first two years in Chico State, she has managed to write and record two albums all by herself.

Brimberry, 19, is a second year nursing student at Chico State. She grew up in Carmichael and came to Chico State because it wasn’t too far away from home and it offers a good nursing program.

“I’ve always leaned toward the sciences,” Brimberry said. “It’s a great place to start and then specialize in something else.”

She said she has found “quite a warm welcome” in Chico and that it’s a positive place with friendly people who are “open to new sounds.”

Brimberry learned how to play the guitar more than three years ago and began recording her music last year as a freshman in her dorm room in Konkow Hall.

“I just picked up a guitar and fell in love with it,” she said.

Brimberry writes all of her lyrics and music. She hears the music in her head, creates it and makes if fit with the rest of the song.

“It just comes out,” she said.

She completed her first CD, “Fall to Your Knees,” with an extensive album of 19 tracks, in February 2002. Brimberry sells her CDs at her shows and through her Web site.

She estimates that she has sold more than 100 CDs so far. Her second album, titled “Backyard Projects,” has 16 tracks and was completed in July.

She describes her music as lots of finger-picking on the guitar, soft and relaxing music with lyrics that make you think. Many of her songs are about love, unwanted or unrequited.

“People ask if I’ve ever been in love, but I haven’t,” she said.

Besides her music, Brimberry stays grounded by reading, engaging in a variety of athletics and her job on the student leadership team at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Catholic Center, a church near campus.

She also enjoys hanging out in local coffee shops. Some of her favorite haunts include The Naked Lounge and Moxie’s.

Laurie White, a junior majoring in nutrition and food science, said Brimberry is quirky with a good sense of humor and describes her friend’s music as serious, introspective and honest.

“She doesn’t hold back,” White said. “You can see everything she is and everything that is going on with her.”

Brimberry always enjoyed singing but never thought she was any good. Then last year she played at a retreat for the Newman Center and those who heard her encouraged her to start performing.

“I still don’t think I sound that good,” she said modestly.

Those who hear Brimberry tend to disagree.

One of White’s favorite parts of the concert is watching the audience members’ faces when Brimberry starts singing.

“She can make a room still like nothing else,” White said. “There’s something about her voice that quiets people.”

Brimberry has played at Moxie’s, Bean Scene, Has Beans and a few other venues in Sacramento and Davis.

She’s currently working on her stage presence and still gets nervous during the quiet time between the songs. She said she feels more comfortable blending into the outside edges of a crowd.

“I’m still growing as a performer,” she said. “I don’t like being the center of attention.”

Jenny Sweeney, senior liberal studies major, met Brimberry at the Newman Center two years ago.

“She’s definitely her own person,” she said. “Very unique, insightful, talented and caring for others.”

Sweeney said that Brimberry sings from the soul and captivates all of her listeners.

Brimberry’s most prized possession is a book with lineless pages that includes every poem and song she’s ever written. The book is almost full now.

During the summer, a fallen oak tree ruptured a gas main in her family home igniting three explosions that destroyed the house.

Luckily, Brimberry and her family were out of town on a camping trip and the musician had taken her book with her.

But it hasn’t always been so tragic and her family has helped to explore her musical talents.

When she was five or six, Brimberry started playing her grandmother’s piano. She quickly learned the chords and started making her own music.

She continued with the piano for nine years and also played the saxophone for two years. But once she found the guitar, it just felt right.

Brimberry doesn’t feel any unwanted pressure right now to make it big in the flavor-of-the-month world of the music industry.

She wants to be a professional musician, but doesn’t want to set her expectations too high. She would rather just flow with it and see what happens.

Brimberry hopes to collaborate with other local musicians at some point and would like to be in a band one day.

Her musical inspirations include a varied list of artists and styles that reflect in her gentle style of lyric writing and music.

Her influences are folk music, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, James Taylor and the Dave Matthews Band. A number of listeners and friends have compared her sound to McLachlan and Joni Mitchell.

While these artists inspire her songwriting, her latest album features soulful vocals more along the likes of Canadian crooner Amanda Marshall.

She took a do-it-yourself attitude, and produced and later mixed her two albums at home. She hooked up a microphone to her computer and laid down separate tracks for both the vocals and her guitar playing.

To record her songs, Brimberry used a program called Guitar Tracks that she downloaded from www.cakewalk.com for $30.

The program let Brimberry record her music, add sound effects like drumbeats and combine her own vocal tracks, so she is also her own backup singer.

The Guitar Tracks software wasn’t easy to learn. She said it takes a creative ear to predict what it should sound like.

In a few months, Brimberry hopes to have her Web site www.brimmusic.com up and running.

Until then people interested in purchasing one of her albums can email her at <a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>. Her next performance will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bidwell Perk.

Whatever the future may hold for this songstress, she is sure she will always make music.

“It’s probably the biggest form of therapy,” she said. “You can forget about everything and play.”

<em>Drew Harden can be reached at <a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a></em>

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