Chastity Brown

 

The biggest surprise for anyone entering City Center recently (other than finding that the lights are still on and the doors still open) has to be New Century Theatre—a small, inviting venue that’s been home to the inaugural season of New Century Sessions, a homegrown music series. Local singer/rapper Dessa and the Honeydogs’ rocker Adam Levy, among others, offered great live performances (with sound issues that hopefully are not endemic to the space) sprinkled with Q&As.

Photo by jeremy nelson

It’s a format well suited for a night with Minneapolis singer-songwriter Chastity Brown, whose genre-straddling style incorporates elements of soul, jazz, and folk with smarts and spirit worth savoring in an intimate space. She manages to evoke a timeless America, in which desolate country roads and teeming city streets occupy the same imaginative space and territory of the heart—she shares more than a hairstyle with a young Dylan.

She’s also pretty much the definition of an up-and-comer: Brown is a charismatic star-in-the-making who feels as though she could go nova any time now. Plans are in the works for a second season of New Century Sessions, with an emphasis on local artists in performance and conversation—a worthwhile second act for one of our trademark white-elephant downtown malls.

Warm up for New Century Sessions with these Chastity Brown videos from The Current