BRIT DEWEY

“My momma was in a band when she was pregnant with me. She used to say I would kick to the beat- I don’t know if she’s pulling my leg or not, but I think music’s fuckin’ ingrained in me!”

There’s a tangible moment during every set Brit Dewey plays where this becomes not only evident, but an understatement. A moment where whatever expectations the audience had had for the friendly, laid-back girl from Ashland City are blown clean away like so much shattered glass. She’s turning 33 this yearand in her prime. She commands the stage, dressed in hiphugger bell bottoms and a widebrimmed hat, her gold glasses framed by Farrah Fawcett bangs. Her left arm bears a Waylon Jennings tattoo, alongside a rendition of the Ryman Auditorium’s stained glass windows. But it’s her voice-rising pure and powerful from her chest like a Sunday morning choir, only to dip into a lusty, black-blues howl- that captivates the audience.

From songwriter rounds to recording studios, Brit Dewey is one of the most recognized female musicians in Clarksville. Just as comfortable covering Led Zeppelin as Gillian Welch, her incredible vocal range is matched only by her talent for masterfully capturing the struggles and joys of life in her songs.

“I know this is going to sound cliche, but music is literally everything to me,” explains Brit, in her warm, Tennessee drawl. “There's not a minute in the day I'm not listening to it, thinking about it, or making it. I’m a firm believer that there's a song for everything.”

Brit credits her mom, Annette Greaves, for her love of music. “We moved here from Indiana in ‘96 because she wanted to be a country music singer. I used to spend every weekend watching her play The Nashville Palace,” Brit recalls. “My parents were divorced, so I lived with her. So I was, you know, with her at the waffle house on McGavock Pike at 2:00 in the morning. I grew up around performing country music.”

Itwasn’tlongbeforeBrithadher handsonaninstrument.“My Grandmaboughtmeaguitarat athriftshop,andIusedtomess aroundonit,butdidn’treallyknow howtoplayit.Thenmy mommetLarry(LawrenceGreaves, nowmarriedtoAnnette)whenIwas 14,andheshowed mehowtoreadchartsandplay chords.He’sthereasonIknowhow toplayguitar,withouta doubt.Hewasabiginfluenceon me.Iloveallkindsofmusic,butI REALLYlovemetaland hard rock, and Larry is obviously a huge metal head, you know?” Guitar wasn’t the only instrument she was learning.

“When I was in band in middle and high school, I played clarinet,” Brit remembers. “That’s where I first really learned to read and play music.”

Even as a teenager, Brit was seeking out places to play other than school. “I would do open mics as a teenager, like around 2009. I had a show once at the Coup, and Larry would accompany me on guitar. Mostly covers, a few originals.”

After high school, Brit pursued a degree at Austin Peay State University in music education on a vocal path. “College Choir was the first time I sang with a big group of people. That’s where I first learned how to use my voice to project. APSU was also where I met Henry Rives,” says Brit. “Henry and I were both music education majors. We had a class together called fundamentals of music education. There’s a homeschool music program, and they get kids who are 5-11 years old and the college kids teach them a music class. Me and Henry got partnered up.” Brit laughs at the memory. “Henry always seemed way too cool for me to hang out with- he was doing the jazz band thing, and in class he was a little obnoxious, you know? A little out there! So for this project we had to write a lesson plan and teach it. I ended up doing all the fucking lesson planning, and on the day of teaching, I’m a little aggravated at Henry cause I’ve had to do all the legwork.” Brit felt like she had been left holding the bag. “I was so nervous. But Henry just walks in and starts rocking it with these kids. He was very good with kids, and he had this cockiness and just owned it.” After that assignment, they went separate ways, until ultimately playing together in No Curfew years later.

By 2017, Brit had graduated with a degree in Music Education. Her mom, Annette, and Larry were in a band at that time called EZ Street, and invited Brit to start singing harmonies with them. That’s when she first met guitarist Matt Dewey. Brit and Matt soon fell for one another, and they ended up branching off from EZ Street and forming a new group together. “The way me and Matt fell for each other was sending songs back and forth. That's how we got into this mess,” Brit laughs. “He sent me Brokedown Palace by the Grateful Dead.” Matt and Brit married in 2021.

The new band, called No Curfew, was Billy “B.B.” Bolster on drums, Kenny Buchanan on bass, Preston Tackitt on guitar, Matt on guitar, and Brit. Henry Rives later joined on sax. “I remember thinking Henry was too good for our band, but Matt was set on having him, and he kept showing up to play with us!” Brit laughs. Describing the sound of No Curfew, Brit says “We’re like if Parliament and Tedeschi Trucks had a baby. It’s like a jam band, blues and rock and roll.”

“My musical taste has always been all over the board, I’ve just been exposed to so much in my lifetime,” Brit says when asked about the kind of music she enjoys listening to. “Growing up, there were always two sides of the coin: my mom has always been very into country music, I mean Randy Travis is her favorite artist. That’s what she was performing, 90’s country. Now it’s more classic rock. My dad loved U2, Hootie and the blowfish, AC/DC. We’d ride around in his Camaro with the T-tops off, listening to George Thoroughgood.”

Brit describes her two biggest vocal influences as Aretha Franklin and Patsy Cline. She also counts Susan Tedeschi as a hero. “She’s a badass guitar player, a great songwriter, and a fucking powerhouse vocalist.” Songwriting wise, Brit names Patty Griffin as a major influence. She also loves the Dixie Chicks- “It’s those harmonies!” Brit also credits Matchbox 20 for helping her to really learn to sing harmony parts. “My favorite album of all time that taught me how to sing harmonies was Matchbox 20 ‘Yourself or Someone like You’- that also got my mom through her first divorce, so maybe that’s why I like it so much.”

In 2018, Brit by chance met long-time Clarksville musician and songwriter Daniel Ledbetter. “Me and Daniel are twin flames. The way our process, our brains work is just different. I saw him playing at Scooters with Floodwaters, and I remember just being floored! Daniel is a powerhouse vocalist, and he was singing Deep Elem Blues, a Grateful Dead cover,” Brit remembers. “Me and Matt were just geeking out over that. I went up and introduced myself to him, and a couple months after that No Curfew played our first Clarksville gig at the Revel House.”

Ledbetter showed up, and when he heard Brit singing, the admiration was mutual. Two days later, Daniel called her up to come sing on a Floodwaters track “I’m Not Going Crazy” they were recording at Daniel Walker’s Cumberland Sound Studio. Before long, Brit and Ledbetter had started writing together. Flood Waters soon broke up, and Ledbetter formed a new group, now known as PanAmerican Hayride: Brandon Wilson on steel guitar and mandolin, Kirk Sumner on Drums, Daniel Walker on bass, and Ledbetter playing guitar and sharing lead vocals on different songs with Brit. PanAmerican Hayride’s hard-driving sound is very similar to the Red Dirt music coming out of Texas and Oklahoma. “Alternative country,” Brit says, “Like the Turnpike Troubadours and Restless Kelly.” The band is currently recording a new album produced by Isaac Frost, with Brit and Ledbetter co-writing all the songs. They plan on releasing it later this year.

With her diverse musical interests, what it is that steers Brit’s sound when she writes? “I guess the music that’s most meaningful to me is singer-songwriter stuff- I just listen to lyrics first, the story. For me, when I’m making music, I’m trying to get something out and say something, and that’s the type of music that moves me as a writer. Americana, folk-style music.”

“I can’t write something I or a friend haven’t experienced,” Brit says. “I mean creatively I can put myself in positions and write from that perspective, but I’d say all my songs are autobiographical in some sense. I write a lot of songs in the morning. I’ll get up, have a cup of coffee, smoke a blunt and end up writing something,” Brit laughs. “ I’d say 70% of my songs were written on a wake-and-bake with coffee. A blanket over me, Matt’s guitar, and a cat!”

When asked about which of her songs is her favorite, Brit points out “My favorite song and my most meaningful song I’ve written are different. My most meaningful song is Grandma’s Bible- but my favorite is ‘Hole to China’! That’s one of those where the melody and the words came together simultaneously. I like the line, ‘Surrounded by my friends, but I know how this ends, tomorrow morning blues are here to stay’. That one will be on the new PanAmerican Hayride record.”

Brit’s incredible range and vocal control have landed her some great opportunities to work with other bands as well. She recorded harmonies on “Waves” and “Devil in the Shadows” on Still Moves new album, “Until”. Last September, Isaac Frost reached out and invited her to work as one of three back-up singers with the touring Pink Floyd tribute band, American Floyd.

Brit’s incredible range and vocal control have landed her some great opportunities to work with other bands as well. She recorded harmonies on “Waves” and “Devil in the Shadows” on Still Moves new album, “Until”. Last September, Isaac Frost reached out and invited her to work as one of three back-up singers with the touring Pink Floyd tribute band, American Floyd. “The day Isaac Frost called and asked if I could sing with American Floyd I felt like I hit the big time,” Brit laughs. “ I get to be a-what does Richard Glass call them?-A Floydette! Great Gig in the sky is the most challenging song I’ve learned since college. Pink Floyd was my most listened to band on my end of the year Spotify ranking and I didn’t start learning the songs until September, so yeah, in three months…There’s just a lot of moving parts, man. On Great Gig in the Sky, Clare Torry improvised it. It’s like 40 measures, a minute and a half, of improvisation. It isn’t words, its just ooo’s and ahhh’s,” says Brit.

What kind of advice does Brit recommend to up-and-coming songwriters and singers? “I feel like the best advice I could give anyone trying to write songs is to write down anything you think is clever. When you have one of those moments where that song is just flowing out of you, like when I’m driving to work - put it in your voice notes on your phone, or write it down right then. That would be my best advice. And just write true to yourself. If you’re quirky, write that way,” says Brit. “I really feel like I’ve gotten to where I’m at by going out and supporting other people in town. I’ve met so many people at the open mic at Revel house. Go watch Lucian Greene play at O’Neal's, you’ll meet people. Or go to Poorman’s Country Club if you want to come talk to some musicians,” Brit points out. “A lot of people say this around here, but it’s true: there is a weird sense of camaraderie in the music community here. I have never felt like I’m competing with anyone, or that anyone was out to get me down. We’re all kinda doing our own thing, or doing things together- As a singer, if you want to get jobs, either performing with a band or singing on record, learn to sing harmonies. And be confident. Learn how to find intervals, like a third above the melody, or a fifth above the melody.”

Where can you catch Brit playing these days? “Most of the shows I’m playing now are Great Divide.” Great divide is the acoustic duo of Matt and Britt. “We play O’neals about once a month on Saturdays. We play at Revel House some too. No Curfew is on a hiatus since losing Henry Rives last year along with bass player Tyrell, but Brit hopes they will make a comeback later this year. “I’d really like to get a horn section going with that, so if anyone plays trumpet or trombone, come talk to me!” Brit got a new Fender Squire Mustang electric guitar for Christmas, and plans on playing that instead of acoustic guitar when No Curfew starts back up. “Her name is ‘Mustang Sally Jesse’,” says Brit with a giggle. When asked about where she’d like to be in five years, Brit pauses and thinks. “Let’s see, I’ll be 38. You know, I’m just gonna speak it into existence- I’d love to be able to support myself financially making and performing my own music. Writing for other people, too. But working for myself, performing and writing as much as possible. I’d really like to get PanAmerican Hayride out on the road, and play like, Texas, you know?” Brit pauses, lost for a moment in the idea of road-dogging the open highway. “I just want to experience that!”