Brick by brick

Sheridan Brass began performing in his late teens

Growing up in an Anglo-Indian family of musicians, influenced by country music, Sheridan Brass, 33, remembers hearing pretty much nothing else. He'd wake up to the songs of Kenny Rogers playing in the living room, as his parents hummed away. Having led a peripatetic life as a child - he was born in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, and moved between the hills of Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud and Coonoor, before settling in Bengaluru - country music, in a way, remained a constant. Yet, at some point, drawn towards the force that was hip-hop, he "swore not to listen to country again". But, it would only be a matter of time, somewhere in his late teens, when Brass would find himself crooning in clubs in Bengaluru, singing with his trademark cowboy hat and beard, looking no less a country singer himself.

Brass is now egging his 8,000-odd fans on Facebook - most of whom started listening to him during the pandemic-induced lockdown - to crowd-fund his dream to head to Nashville, Tennessee in America, which he describes as the "mecca of music". "I have been dreaming of going to Nashville since I was 18. It's a huge part of why I do, what I do," says Brass in a telephonic chat. "Many people think that Nashville is only known for country music, but it offers a solid base for musicians across genres. That's where all the talent is. I feel that I need to be there, in that pond, to grow as an artiste. In India, because country music is not so popular, there's no real benchmark that has been set, or someone I could compete with or look up to, as a musician," he feels. At Nashville, he has a six-month plan of recording some of the original pieces he has written and composed, and putting it together in an album, which he will then promote and market in the American city. The end goal, he says, is to become "the first Indian to be inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry". The Opry is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, first founded in 1925, as a one-hour radio "barn dance". The Opry today showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, Americana, folk, and gospel music.

What Brass is also hoping to do is to introduce Indian influences to his music. "I think the values that country songs represent, are quite similar to what we see here in India, like the hark-back to simple life, family, your roots. So, I feel it would be quite easy to incorporate both the worlds. At the same time, I'd want my compositions to have parallels to the Indian way of life," he says. Brass says that the most clichéd example would be John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads, where the singer talks about "West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River." "Most Indians love this song, but do we really know about this river, Shenandoah?" he asks. "I'd like to talk about Old Monk rum, our real world that we here, as Indians can relate to. I also hope to incorporate Indian instruments in my songs." Most country musicians use a pedal steel guitar, which produces a weeping sound. "I think the sarangi is similar sounding, and will be a good replacement."

As part of the crowdfunding initiative, one which he says, he was most reluctant about doing until before the second wave hit, Brass has been encouraging fans to buy a "virtual brick", each costing about Rs 2,000. He has a target of collecting 3,750 of them, which he says, will help cover his accommodation, food, sessions with musicians, studio hire, mixing and mastering, album design, and marketing. Supporters will also get private and personalised online shows, depending on the number of bricks they buy. "When this dream becomes a reality and when I build a studio in Nashville, I will have a wall with all the names of the people who supported my journey there."