Why We Write with Kim Ruehl, Eps. 25: Chastity Brown

In 2019, Chastity Brown went to Sweden to record what she thought was going to be her next album. But then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, followed by a summer of intense protest in the wake of high-profile police violence toward Black men, and she started to realize the songs and the album were changing.

When she finally went back into a studio to record what actually became Sing to the Walls, there were new songs and new takes on old songs. So I was interested to learn about her songwriting process in the context of all this, as well as how she got to this place as a songwriter.

We dug into her feelings about George Floyd, Gillian Welch, what “folk music” means, and how one of the songs on her new album wouldn’t exist without Whoopi Goldberg, Lauryn Hill, and a close friend of hers in London.

Press play and enjoy this latest episode of the Why We Write podcast.

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