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Brooke Waggoner: From Jack White's Peacocks to New LP 'Originator'

SKH Music

Brooke Waggoner has had little time to catch her breath over the past 12 months. The 28-year-old musician spent most of 2012 crisscrossing the globe, playing keyboards in the Peacocks, the all-female backing band Jack White used on his extensive Blunderbuss tour.

"It's been a crazy year," Waggoner says, speaking to Spinner a day after appearing with White on "Conan." "It was a heightened level of touring and live playing that I haven't ever had to experience."

The classically trained Waggoner fell into White's orbit in 2011 when he was tracking Blunderbuss at his Nashville studio.

"It was a very word-of-mouth thing," she remembers. "It was through a friend of a friend. He was specifically looking for females to play on that record and especially one to fill the piano player role. It was very casual and organic. And because of that I just kept coming back."

But even after a full year that saw Blunderbuss hit No. 11 on the U.S. charts and the Peacocks appearing everywhere from "SNL" to festival stages all over the world, Waggoner is giving herself little time to rest.

Early in 2013, she will release her third full-length album Originator, with tour dates and promotion galore to come along in its wake, especially once critics and bloggers get a listen to the new record.

The 11-song collection centers on Waggoner's piano playing and vocals, which can evoke deep wells of sorrow and forceful joy as needed. It also exhibits a more straightforward approach to songwriting than what can be heard on her earlier efforts. Gone are the fitful tempo and mood changes mid-song, replaced with unbroken lines and an emphasis on slight shifts in volume for emotional effect.

"We definitely took a more live approach to the recording," she says. "That maybe added to it feeling a little more cohesive, not going quite as cinematic."

Originator does have a dramatic pull to it, thanks to the addition of a small choir of singers on several tracks. On top of that, the lyrics exhibit a tone of empowerment and defiance tempered with humility and a willingness to give oneself over "To Love", as the final track on the album is titled.

"It seems like it's been a hard year for a lot of people that I'm really close to," Waggoner says of the inspiration behind these songs. "A lot of good and bad, and digging through the reality of growing up and learning how we can continue to live life fully."

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