Local folk act

Jonatha Brooke

Solo smart

It's often said that you need a guitar in one hand and a briefcase in the other -- but Jonatha Brooke is smart enough to know that you also need a laptop slung over your shoulder. With major-label interest running dry, Brooke took to the Internet to market Jonatha Brooke Live (Bad Dog), which she's produced and distributed herself. It's already getting more attention than the two studio discs she's released since dissolving her Story partnership with Jennifer Kimball. And it's giving the lie to anyone who figured that Brooke was just a little too literate or too grown-up for the mass market. Though she now spends as much time in a full band as in an acoustic setting, Brooke's musical strengths remain intact: she's living proof that an acoustic singer/songwriter can make beautiful, soothing music without skimping on the melodic sophistication, the literary overtones, or the sticky emotional truths. And if she's using a sexy cover photo to help sell this album -- a card she hasn't played since the Story's debut, much to her later labels' dismay -- one can hardly fault her for doing whatever it takes.

-- Brett Milano

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Sirens of Song: Jonatha Brooke

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