All Photos: Alan Mercer
If you ask Bri Bagwell where her current “home” is, you’ll most likely get a chuckle and a sigh. The Las Cruces, New Mexico native will always be in love with her hometown, but she is in a 15-passenger white van or on an airplane more than she is anywhere else. The highway truly has become her home.
With more than 120 tour dates per year, Miss Bagwell describes performing as her “ultimate passion” in life. She also somehow finds the time to write for her publishing company (Sony ATV), by flying back and forth to Nashville during the weekdays for writing appointments. She started her band, awesomely titled “The Banned”, in 2011 after a top 10 finish on CMT’s Next Superstar, a singing competition and reality show.
She released her first album “Banned from Santa Fe” in summer of 2011, and a self-titled EP in September of 2013. Both have sold through multiple printings, and she has had impressive success on the Texas Music Chart, especially for a female. She has been named Texas Female Vocalist of the year for 2013 and 2014, but she says her biggest accomplishment is a full calendar of tour dates and a growing fan base.
She is booked by Red 11 Music out of Nashville, but she operates with no management or record label. Her popularity is 100% word-of-mouth and self-promotion. Not to say she isn’t hopeful for both of those in the future…
If you haven’t heard her before, check out her breakout singles and videos for 'Whiskey,''Half As Good,''My Boots' and 'Crazy.' She has an earthy tone with tons of sass. Traveling non-stop, she has earned respect in her scene and is ready to rise to the next level of country music stardom.
Alan Mercer: Bri, you are such a professional working woman. How long have you been performing with a band?
Bri Bagwell: I’ve had this band for six and a half years, which is crazy. I’ve been playing music for 15 years now.
AM: So you started as a young teenager?
BB: I started as a teenager with two older brothers who are identical twins. They were 21 and I was 14 when we started our first band because they were in college and that was the cool thing to do. We would play in bars. I’d play on a Thursday night and get up and go to school on Friday morning.
AM: Wow, and you still did good in school?
BB: Yes, I came in fourth out of 550.
AM: Very impressive.
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BB: Thank you, that’s how I got to come to Texas. I got accepted to UT.
AM: What was your major?
BB: Marketing.
AM: Does that help you with your career now?
BB: I feel like it does. You need to apply business to everything. Of course, I could have done without some of the micro economic classes. (Laughter) But I loved all my friends and everything else I learned. I wouldn’t take back going to college for nothing, even though it makes me a little older than a lot of the singers out there.
AM: Tell me about writing music. It’s a specialty for you.
BB: I love to write. I actually love to write even more than I love to perform. I had a deal with Sony for a while. I wrote with people I didn’t know every day for three years. It was so neat and a great experience!
AM: So you liked it.
BB: I did like it. It taught me a discipline instead of waiting to feel inspired. Some of my favorite songs were not inspired but I went in and wrote anyway…and I got a salary to write songs. There’s nothing better.
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AM: You must be working on a new record by now.
BB: This next record is half way done. I chose a girl to produce, which I thought was really cool.
AM: That is awesome!
BB: Her name is Rachel Loy. She’s an amazing bass player and married to a guy named Brian Keane, who is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. She agreed to produce my record. I’m just so excited. She brings a lot of Nashville players.
AM: How involved are you in the production?
BB: Initially I didn’t have any confidence in the studio. I think you have to build on that. Now I’m to the point where I can say, hey I don’t like that tone or that sounds too busy. I can have more input now which is nice. It took me a long time to get to this point. I can hear while songwriting but I rely on a producer to hear in the studio.
AM: You definitely have opinions now.
BB: I’m there the whole time. It’s a fun process. I wish I could take a couple weeks off and really put in the time needed but I don’t have that luxury. For this last record I have been up to Nashville three times on a Sunday through Wednesday to make the five songs happen. That’s coming off the road and then going straight back on the road.
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AM: That sounds kind of rough.
BB: It’s trying but I’m used to it. I’ve was doing this while working at Sony.
AM: I love your song about Las Cruces. Was that something you were commissioned to do by the city?
BB: Yes, the city got this great new head of the convention and visitors bureau from Florida and he thought Las Cruces was amazing and wanted to do something to promote it. They had this huge Country Music Festival that had 5,500 people show up. We worked together and he asked if I wanted to write a song for the city.
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AM: Was it hard to write the song?
BB: It took me a long time because I wrote it and kept throwing away each draft.
AM: Did you feel more pressure compared to writing something for yourself?
BB: Yes, a lot more pressure. I wanted it to be right.
AM: Well, the city has a great commercial with your video.
BB: I’m the official ambassador for the city. The song came out so good, we ended up doing a video. It was an afterthought. I’m glad we did because we had so much fun filming that video. I’m so proud of my city.
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AM: Bri, I see your star quality in all your videos.
BB: Thank you, I always wanted to be an actress and I dream about it all the time. However, I must have a little champagne before filming to get in my zone. I don’t know how that would work for acting.
AM: Since you were performing so young, did you have a good idea of who you were?
BB: No, I didn’t have my songs and my voice yet. It took me a long time to feel comfortable in my skin and my sound.
AM: Well your latest album, 'When A Heart Breaks' showcases you in top form.
BB: I appreciate that. I wanted my last record to showcase all I had been doing in Nashville and Sony for three years.
