At only 26, new Essential artist Brooke Barrettsmith has discovered a wisdom that eludes many twice her age. This is a young woman who is completely comfortable in her own skin and thoroughly certain of the career path she’s chosen in Christian music.

On her self-titled debut, Brooke crafts a style uniquely her own, melding her love of Jeremy Camp, Daughtry and Kelly Clarkson with passionate lyrics that reflect her own life and experiences. Though only in her mid-twenties, Brooke has already dealt with her share of challenges including an early struggle with anxiety. Through everything, she has grown confident without being cocky, self-assured without a trace of a facade. Perhaps most importantly, she faces the future secure in the path she’s chosen.

Last fall, Brooke spoke with Bill Lurwick about her debut album on Essential Records, her love for baseball and Starbucks, and how her experience with American Idol gave her the push she needed to start a career in Christian music.

Thank you for joining us here at NewReleaseTuesday.com. Your debut project on Essential Records came out on August 19, 2008, and I understand it got pushed back a little. It was originally supposed to come out in June 2008, correct?

Yes, it was supposed to come out June 10, 2008, but my management and record label wanted to promote it better and spend the summer hitting the pavement more.

After visiting your site, BrookeBarettsmith.com, I found some of your YouTube videos that you've been recording while on tour with Pillar and throughout some of the summer festivals last year. You and your team are having too much fun!

We got one of those iFlip pocket recorders, and you can record anything, anywhere. It's really convenient. We decided to make things fun for people to watch and let them see we're just a bunch of crazy people who love to serve God through rock music.

My favorite is the one where you are just waking up and in dire need of Starbucks coffee. You’re hoping for a future endorsement deal, right?

Absolutely! If I don’t have my daily Starbucks intake, I start to get a withdrawal migraine!

Well, let's talk about Brooke Barrettsmith, the artist. Many may know you from the 2006 American Idol season when you were on with your sister. The two of you didn't make it to the end, but God obviously had another plan. Not only have you seen a lot of post-Idol success but He's also taken you in new directions, right?

He certainly has! American Idol was a stepping stone that God used to give me courage, to finally pursue, with all my heart, this dream of singing professionally. It encouraged me and showed me that I wasn't crazy and that God had gifted me to do this for a living. American Idol was essential a very big turning point in my life.

Was it hard for you when your sister, Leah, got let go before you did?

Oh man, I don't think I've ever experienced anything that hard! Leah and I had been doing music together since we were kids and trying to do it professionally as a duo for many years after that. American Idol was, for us, a kind of parting of ways. When we realized that one of us was going to advance further, the reality was really hard to deal with. I cried like a baby.

How's Leah doing these days?

She's doing great! She's doing city work—Chicago music—like my dad did when we were kids.

I’ll bet he's glad that things are coming full circle.

Absolutely. He loves the fact that he can give us some direction.

I read about your family life when you were growing up in Chicago. Your folks came to a crossroads when you were pretty young, and that had a great impact on your life, right?

Absolutely. My dad was on the blues scene in Chicago for many years and played professional music with all the greats. The lifestyle caught up with him, and that was the turning point in my dad’s life. He thought, I'm either going to kill myself at a young age and destroy my family or I'm going to get it together. He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord saved him. We were young, and we watched my dad lead my mom to the Lord. He became a pastor, and he used all his gifts in music and speaking for the glory of God. He allowed God to redeem what He had given him.

You're really fortunate to have had that example.

I'm very blessed. I owe so much of who I am in Christ today to the example that my father set.

Yeah, and I think that's why we've got Brooke Barrettsmith the rocker. Let’s talk about the first radio single, “Farewell.”

“Farewell” is a song I wrote about a girl who used to go to my youth group back home at my dad's church in Chicago. I'd been a youth leader there for many years, and she was one of the kids that was really dear to my heart. She had been missing for awhile, and we actually ran into each other months and months later at Starbucks. Since I hadn’t been able to get a hold of her, I said, “Let's sit down and talk over coffee. Tell me what's been going on in your life.” She said, “Brooke, the reason I haven't been in church or haven't been calling you back or anything, is because I feel like I have done the unforgivable thing in the sight of God.” At fifteen years old, she decided to have an abortion and that really broke my heart—not because she was so young and not because she had an abortion, but because she thought she had done something that hurt God so badly that He would never be able to forgive her. For those of us who have experienced the love and forgiveness of God, we know that it has no condition attached to it. He gives us chance and chance again to start over with Him. All we need to do is lay it at His feet. So, that's what “Farewell” is about. It's a song about that situation—about not letting our mistakes dictate who we're going to become in Christ.

So it’s about saying goodbye to the past and moving on to what God has for us.

Absolutely.

I know that Aaron Sprinkle produced your album. Was that in Seattle?

Yes, I recorded half of the album with Aaron Sprinkle in Seattle and the other half with Rob Hopkins in Nashville. It was awesome!

So we know that “Farewell” is the single, but what's Brooke's song on this project? Do you have a favorite track?

Actually, that's what was so cool about Provident, my record label, picking “Farewell” to be my first single. That was the one song on the album that summed me up, so I was floored that they were all about promoting it. The message that goes along with it and the rock power that goes behind it live is so much fun. It's a great song.

Absolutely! I also noticed that you seem to have a flare for getting roped into singing national anthems.

Yes, people love that I'm willing to do that. I guess some artists would rather not tackle that song, so when people hear that I'm willing to do it, they ask me all the time. It's fun.

I recently saw a video of you at a White Sox game and I was wondering, since you’re from Chicago, if you’re a White Sox fan or a Cubby. What are you? Are you south side or north side?

I'm north side all the way. I'm a Cubs fan, but the White Sox are the world champs. They asked me to come sing the national anthem, so I wasn’t about to say no.

So is this going to be it? The Cubs are in first place. Do you think this is their year?

This is it, Bill. We’re revving up. It's happening!

I don't think it's going to happen, Brooke. I'm from Philadelphia, and I think it's the Phillies’ year. We're going to take you on the LCS, so I don't think it's going to happen. But hey, you long-suffering Cubs fans may get it eventually because you want it almost as bad as the Phillies fans out there. I absolutely know that.

So I hear that you’re back on tour this fall with Barlowgirl.

Yes, I'm going out with Barlowgirl and Jimmy Needham, and it's going to be a great tour. I'm getting to know both of those bands this summer, and I'm very excited about our hearts for ministry. We all have very kindred spirits for the Lord and for ministry.

Before the Idol thing, were you doing music on your own and playing a lot of places locally in the Chicago area?

Yes, my sister and I were doing a lot of local venues and being a rock band, we hit the local scene pretty hard.

Cool. So we know that you've got a rock sound, but to somebody who doesn't know Brooke Barrettsmith, how would you explain who you sound like? What musicians inspired you to come up with your sound?

Well, there are blues and gospel influences because I grew up listening to a lot of that music. I also listened to a lot of Whitney Houston and Buddy Guy. As I started to listen to Christian music and admire that scene more, I began to appreciate artists like Crystal Lewis and other women like her who sang with a lot of passion. Those people have influenced my life as far as a band sound. I'm very influenced by U2 and some of those greats as well. So it's a great melting pot in my life. I just had to be on the scene for a long time, and since I'm now 26, I have a lot of experience playing around Chicago and becoming molded into the artist that God wants me to become musically.

I think that somewhere in the future, we're going to hear a rock version of “People Get Ready.” Is that true?

Oh my goodness. That'd be awesome! That was one of my first solos in church, and that song is dear to my heart. We’ll have to remix that song.

Well, there you go! Hey Brooke, we really wish you the best blessings with your debut project. We appreciate what you're doing, and we'll be praying for you as you continue in your ministry!

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.