Inspired by guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Lindsey Buckingham and the Pretenders’ James Honeyman-Scott, Brooks has played in a series of bands in Seattle and Los Angeles, including a late-'80s stint with the Graces, a female trio featuring former Go-Go Charlotte Caffey that released a 1989 album on A&M Records.Īll of her influences can be heard on “Blurring the Edges,” which is sure to invite comparisons to Hynde and Sheryl Crow among listeners who get past “Bitch.” So far, anyway, comparisons to Morissette have done little to hurt Brooks, a sheriff’s daughter who picked up the guitar at a young age while growing up in Corvallis, Ore. 24 on the Billboard Top 200 this week and has sold about 135,000 copies since its release May 6. The single, which entered the Top 10 this week, is fueling sales of Brooks’ debut album, “Blurring the Edges,” which is No. “In other words, why ruin a good thing? Everybody who hears it loves it, which has been evidenced by the fact that are really flipping over it.” “But it was such a good song, I said, ‘Why change it? It works,’ ” the producer says. Producer Geza X, who built the track around Brooks’ acoustic reading of the song, says he also was aware that others might “point fingers.” First, she’s a woman, and second, it has a lyric that compels you to pay attention.” “But then I felt a degree of anxiety because I thought she would get compared to Alanis-or rather this song would-because there are some aspects that are similar. “When I first heard it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is a great, really catchy song,’ ” says the executive, who signed Brooks to the label. Perry Watts-Russell, vice president of artists and repertoire at Capitol Records, says his initial reaction to “Bitch” was mixed. All this time, I was worried about the wrong thing.”īut if Brooks, who turns 31 Thursday, wasn’t worried, those around her were concerned. It’s almost like somebody played a joke on me. “I was so afraid that people were going to bust me for the Chrissie Hynde influence, and then this.
“I related to her and thought she would open some doors for me, but I didn’t think we sounded anything alike vocally. “The first time I heard her, I thought she was amazing,” Brooks says of Morissette. She says she’d never heard Morissette when she wrote the song two years ago, and she says she still doesn’t hear the similarities. If “Bitch” brings Morissette to mind, Brooks says, it’s certainly not by design. “It has really started to bother me how much these have been such a focus of everything written about me,” Brooks says evenly over breakfast during an interview at a coffee shop near her home in the mid-Wilshire district.