The Americana singer-songwriter — an ‘Emerging Artist to Watch’ — chats about his new EP, ‘Poison Ivy,’ for Local Spins ahead of this week’s release shows in Eagle and Dimondale.
Exploring Change, Growth and Relationship: Rollin Brummette’s “Poison Ivy.” (Courtesy Photo)
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Rollin Brummette believes in taking risks.
In July 2021, the Americana singer-songwriter and guitarist opened for ZZ Top, John Fogerty and George Thorogood at Mount Pleasant’s Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in July 2021.
“That was life-changing. I went from Facebook Live … to playing at a bar and doing open mics in Lansing. Then I ran into a booking agent who could book gigs around Lansing and mid-Michigan,” said Brummette, who hails from Grand Ledge.
“He just happened to have a connection to Soaring Eagle Casino. They needed some guy to go warm the crowd up before everybody else took the stage, and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’”
Satisfied with his opening set in front of thousands, Brummette felt inspired to officially pursue music.
“The amount of energy the crowd had was insane. I’d never experienced anything like that,” he said. “I did that and then it was full-steam ahead and I thought, ‘I will stop at nothing to be a musician,’ and said, ‘Let’s do this.’”
Brummette: Growing up on a family farm. (Courtesy Photo)
By 2023, Brummette had released three singles, including “The Man That You Need,” “Sadie,” and “When We Fell in Love.” He also relocated to Nashville and honed tracks for his debut EP, “Poison Ivy,” which officially comes out Friday (Aug. 30).
The album’s acoustic closer, “Told By Time,” encapsulates Brummette’s penchant for risk-taking as he sings, “There’s a hum surrounding me / One you can’t always hear / It says keep on moving / Live this life without fear.”
“I wanted to be a bigger musician than what I am right now and I was just thinking, ‘Man, is this the right direction?’ The amount of work I’m putting into this — I could be making a lot more money in other areas, so I was thinking about that,” he said.
“I thought, ‘You don’t have all the time in the world to do what you want.’ I realized that, and even as I get older, I’m 28 now, I’m way smarter than I was then.”
Brummette continues to share his wise outlook on life throughout “Poison Ivy’s” other five tracks. His perceptive lyrics explore change, growth, and relationships against a backdrop of timeless country and folk-rock instrumentation.
“To me, these are the songs that are a little bit older now that I had written, but I wanted to record them and put them out,” said Brummette, whose musical style is reminiscent of Tyler Childers and John Denver, but with deeper vocals.
“It felt right to make this into an EP and not include some of my newer stuff. I thought, ‘I can put these six songs together and I’ll just see what sticks.’”
Brummette first grabs listeners with the wistful opener, “Darlin,” which examines the challenges of urban sprawl, its impact on farming, and the desire to preserve a simpler way of life.
Surrounded by somber acoustic guitar, he sings, “Cuz they’re building a factory / And they tore up all the fields / They took away Orion / For that electric steel.”
“My family’s farm is very close to one of the battery plants that’s being built in mid-Michigan,” said Brummette about growing up on his family’s 70-acre hobby farm in Grand Ledge.
“Having jobs flowing into Lansing is great … and they need space to build these factories, but this one is close to my family’s farm. It was a farming area, and now it’s turning into something else.”
LAYING DOWN TRACKS AT LANSING’S TROUBADOUR RECORDING STUDIO
Brummette started compiling tracks for the album during the pandemic and wrote the title track while visiting his sister in Tennessee.
It wasn’t long before “Darlin,” “Lonely Man’s Lament,” “Silver Beauty,” and the EP’s other three tracks emerged once he had settled in Nashville.
“When I moved to Nashville, I was going through my phone and listening to songs again thinking, ‘What can I work on?’” said Brummette, who’s inspired by his musician father, Josh Turner, Sam Hunt and The Indigo Girls.
“And I heard the beginning of ‘Darlin,’ and it was just verses and no chorus. I thought, ‘This is really good; I need to finish this’ and then I wrote the chorus and the last verse.”
‘Poison Ivy’: The new EP
With six tracks ready to record, Brummette ventured to Lansing’s Troubadour Recording Studio and worked with head engineer/owner Corey DeRushia.
Most of the EP’s tracks came together during a weekend recording session with DeRushia, who plays bass, percussion, and electric guitar on the recording. Besides DeRushia, Brummette also features violinist Sam Cooper on “Darlin.”
In preparation for the album release later this week, Brummette will host EP-release shows, Thursday (Aug. 29) at the Eagle Inn in Eagle and Saturday (Aug. 31) at Dimes Brewhouse in Dimondale.
“I think I’m going to finish with the EP and just go right through it,” he said. “I’m going to end with ‘Told By Time’ even if everybody wants a loud country song or something they can sing along to.”
After his EP release shows, Brummette plans to focus on new material, including an album of hunting songs.
“I have not hit up Corey yet, but it’s probably going to be late fall after hunting season,” said Brummette, who hunts deer, elk, and bear.
“I’m deciding whether to record an album that’s just all hunting songs because there are tons of hunters here. I have a lot of hunting songs and I need to get those out into the world.”
VIDEO: Rollin Brummette, “Poison Ivy”
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