Jim Herrington
A musical outlier with roots stretching from the Big Easy to Music City, Britti has felt a little out of place for most of her days; like she’s caught between worlds, not quite where she’s meant to be.
But with her debut album, Hello, I’m Britti, she may have finally broken free. A bold new project presenting the Americana newcomer fully formed and wonderfully unique, it’s a set that builds on years of tough self- exploration, self-acceptance, and change—and the process feels rather familiar.
“I actually have about 15 caterpillars on some milkweed right now, and I’m like, ‘You’re all going to be a butterfly soon!’” she says with a laugh. “It’s been like looking in a mirror.”
Produced and co-written by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, that’s because Hello, I’m Britti is a work of transformation. Pairing rootsy R&B with gritty, lo-fi soul, soft-touch classic country, and the vocal edge of a bayou diva, it reveals an artist born into a musical melting pot who’s now all too happy to stand out from the crowd. But despite her current born-to-fly attitude, Britti admits she’s more used to suppressing the beauty within.
“When you feel like you’re a caterpillar, it’s really hard to live in the headspace of a butterfly. You don’t have your wings yet, so you’re focusing on, ‘How do I get from point A to point B emotionally, physically, financially?’ Those are like the leaves, and you’re trying to still have faith about being a butterfly,” she says. “Now, I’m just trying to focus on filling these shoes that were only meant for me to walk in, and getting rid of that imposter syndrome. It’s like, ‘I’ve worked for this. I can handle this. This is my dream, my purpose.’”
Born in Baton Rouge and now based proudly in New Orleans, that dream started early for Britti, although she didn’t recognize it at first. Raised by an extended family that included a bass-playing grandmother who loved the blues, soul, and R&B (Britti affectionately calls her ‘Cayenne Pepper’ in contrast to her mother’s ‘Brown Sugar’ sweetness), music was everywhere in her youth. Her uncle even performed alongside Big Easy giants like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John.
“My mother said I would sing gibberish whenever I was hungry because I didn’t know words yet,” she says. “So, I was always a melodic bird.”
Like many kids, that melodic bird sang in choir through high school and loved modern R&B hits. But soon she discovered a love of country through Dolly Parton and Alison Krauss and went to study classical vocal performance at Loyola University. That unique background set her apart, and even after moving to New Orleans, the old soul never quite extended those butterfly wings.
“I wasn’t quote ‘Black enough,’ but then I was ‘too Black to be white,’” she says. Eventually, Britti settled into working at a local consignment shop, when a pair of twin tragedies struck: The end of what she thought was the love of her life and an all-too-familiar pandemic job loss. What seemed like a disaster at the time was actually a blessing, she says.
“My cat and I packed up and went to stay with my mom in Baton Rouge, and I remember standing on the levy before I went, talking out loud to myself, and having one of those moments. I was like, ‘What if you try believing in yourself ?’” she says. “I had gotten so wrapped up in being in love and codependent that I wasn’t working on myself, and I wasn’t doing music. But doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever will.”
She used her government stimulus check to buy a guitar, then started writing songs over sleepless nights and posted some videos online. Early on she got a boost from a repost courtesy of Lainey Wilson, who has since risen to become the CMA’s latest Entertainer of the Year, and eventually hit it off with a rep from Auerbach’s label, Easy Eye Sound. With Auerbach’s help and encouragement, she began coming to Nashville to write and was soon perfecting a uniquely flavored sound: a rich sonic “gumbo” stirred by her classically inspired vocals, evocative and electrifying all at the same time.
With inspirational touchstones from Lightning Hopkins and The Temptations to Ray Charles’ country work, the O’ Brother Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, and of course, a little Black Keys edge, Hello I’m Britti features 11 “genre- fluid” tracks, introducing a style as broad and deep as the Mississippi. And equally untamable.
“When I was in school, I would sing popular R&B songs and get made fun of for making them sound country,” she recalls. “Now I just go, ‘Well, if this is what this is then I’m going to own it.’
“It’s kind of like when I eat gumbo,” she says. “It’s hard for me to compare the shrimp with the sausage, and the okra with the seasoning, and the roux with the vegetables. It kind of all needs to be there for it to be gumbo.”
Tracks like “I’m Tired” make her unusual approach clear and also highlight the quest to find herself. Opening the project with a tight, organic R&B beat, a near-bottomless groove, and confessional lyrics, she admits to feeling continually out of place. A delicate vocal first reveals an exhausted soul trying to fight against the wind of life, but she builds power as the song goes on, eventually bursting into the sonic sun to embrace her true self.
“It’s just as simple as it is deep,” Britti says. Elsewhere, “Nothing Compares to You” matches some New Orleans-style second-line swagger with spaghetti-Western funk, and while others like the dreamy “Lullaby” are built around space and the lack of structure, her Americana and country undertones take center stage throughout. Tracks like “Back Where We Belong” let her airy voice flutter in the golden-era country wind, soaring with a swell of romantic restoration. (If you love Dolly Parton like Britti does, check this one out.) And with the plucky roots rock of “Keep Running,” she pledges to never give up on her journey, determined to become that metaphorical butterfly even when the next step looks impossible.
It took a while for her to get there, she admits, and she’s still working on taking to the sky. But with Hello, I’m Britti, she’s stretching her wings.
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly,” she says, quoting author Richard Bach. “This album is me really learning who I am and owning who I am confidently and unapologetically. I never fit in because I was meant to stand out.”