A10
COMMUNITY
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Meredith Brann
unleashes fi rst album
Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Contributed photos/Penny Arentsen
Volunteers with Rails with Trails remove old fencing and other industrial debris from the railroad right-of-way
during their walk on Saturday, June 1.
Joseph Branch Trail Consortium
volunteers tidy up the WURR rail line
About 30 volunteers, ages
5 to 75, turned out on National
Trails Day, Saturday, June 1,
for the fi rst 2019 Joseph Branch
Trail Consortium cleanup day.
The JBTC had permission from
WURR (Wallowa Union Rail-
road) to spruce things up along
their right of way between Joseph
and Enterprise.
The cleanup crew started in
Joseph and walked and worked
their way to Enterprise. They
also arranged shuttles to pick up
tired hikers — and a consequen-
tial amount of industrial debris,
old, snarled fencing, and other
fi nds — at road crossings.
“We pulled weeds and picked
up some debris and old wire,”
said JBTC board member Jacob
Losby. “There wasn’t much
actual trash. But we did pull
quite a bit of houndstongue and
dealt with some scotch thistle.
JBTC volunteers hike toward
Joseph along the WURR railroad
tracks on June 1. They were
cleaning debris and weeds from
the WURR right-of-way.
Rails with Trails volunteers remove a large wad of wood and wire from the
railroad right of way during their walk along the rails Saturday, June 1.
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
It’s a big corridor. We’re happy
to do anything we can do to help
manage it.”
The JBTC has done an annual
cleanup hike in early June for
several years. In the future, they
hope to schedule cleanups more
frequently. “It would be great to
do a cleanup in early fall,” Losby
said. “Everyone’s busy this time
of year. A lot of people can’t do
the cleanup walk now. It would
be good to do another cleanup
when people had more time.”
C E L E B R AT I N G
39 YEARS OF
TEACHING
MR. PACE IS
RETIRING
Meredith Brann is stepping out
these days. Brann, 17, is the eldest
child of Wallowa County’s very
musical Brann Family. Now, she
has also started to perform solo at
different venues. On June 14th, she
will be launching her solo career
with her fi rst album, Balance, with
a concert at the OK Theatre. The
event begins at 7 PM.
Brann thought about making an
album for some time before taking
the plunge. She said it seemed part
of a natural process. She’s always
been around musicians, and the
OK Theatre itself is a recording
venue, with Bart Budwig as the
recording engineer.
“We’ve talked about it for a cou-
ple of years,” Brann said. “Then I
started writing music. I think it
was kind of this last minute deci-
sion, and we started recording with
a band.”
A multi-instrumentalist, Brann’s
main focus is her fi rst love, the vio-
lin. “When I was a baby I used spa-
ghetti sticks to pretend to play,”
she said. Her parents bought her
a violin for her sixth birthday. “I
took lessons, and I’ve played it
ever since,” she said.
Not surprisingly, Brann, also
known for her stellar voice, began
singing at the age of eight. Her fi rst
public appearance took place on
the OK Theatre stage although it
was before her parents owned the
venue.
“That was with my Dad, and I
had a lot of fun doing it, and I con-
tinue to do it,” she said.
The bluegrass music of Ali-
son Krause and the soul of Are-
tha Franklin were the fi rst thing to
catch the ear of young Brann. She
also named Stevie Wonder and
Ray Charles as infl uences. “It’s
what I grew up with,” she said with
a laugh.
The album features a 50-50
mixture of Brann’s songs and cov-
ers. Some are easy-going. Some
are up-beat. “It’s a mix of genres,”
Brann explained. “I like a lot of
things and it was kind of an album
to search what I do best at. I have
some rock and folk and blues and
bluegrass.”
Brann had a lot of help record-
ing the album. She said her father
spent substantial time during the
recording. Bart Budwig did all the
recording and mixed everything. A
band including musicians Nevada
Sowie, Cooper Trail and her father
accompanied her through the
recording.
“I have some special guests
including Kate and Forrest O’Con-
nor,” Brann said. The singer-song-
writer duo won a Grammy last
year as part of the O’Connor band
of legendary fi ddle player, Mark
O’Connor.
Was the recording process
intimidating for Brann?
“A little at fi rst,” she said. “I
had no idea what I was doing when
I started. By the end, we had so
much fun, and I had gotten used
to it.” She added that the bulk of
the album was recorded in about
a week, although the next three
months were spent overdubbing,
re-mastering, and polishing the
work.
“Balance,” which is the title
track as well as the album theme
is a refl ection of herself. The pic-
tures on the album are based on
the theme. Brann said it fi ts in well
with her personality – for the most
part.
“A part of my personality, but
not completely,” she said. “It’s
something to show of myself, I
guess.”
Brann is looking forward to the
album’s June 14 release at the OK
Theatre. The CDs are ordered and
on the way. She is also looking to
place the album on Spotify and
Itunes.
She promises a good time for all
with a number of guest performers.
Local songstress Ari Samples will
open the show.
“We’ll have a live band and
everything,” she said.
The OK Theatre is located at
208 W. Main St. in Enterprise with
the show slated for 7-9:30 p.m.
Tickets for the event are $15.00 and
available at the Dollar Stretcher,
the Bookloft, Joseph Hardware
and eventbrite.com.
Thank you to the following businesses for supporting
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WALLOWA COUNTY
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Join us for an Open House on
Saturday, June 8th from 1-4 in the
Enterprise Multi-Purpose Room.
Meredith Brann will debut her fi rst
album with a performance at the
OK Theatre, June 15 at 7 p.m.
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