Eighteen-year-old Carrie Brockwell needs more fingers in order to count all the accomplishments she’s made in just three years, since she was 15 years old.
She won a golden ticket to Hollywood on American Idol, released two EP’s, earned “EP of the Year” from the Josie Music Association, moved to Nashville for college and made her Nashville debut performing at JMA Fest and the Grand Ole Opry House (studio A) for the Josie Music Awards. Most recently, she was nominated for six Josie Awards and won Album of the Year Country Female for Dear Nashville.
And now, the Chesterfield native is heading back to Richmond to share her talents with the Richmond Symphony at its traditional holiday performance of Let It Snow! on November 30 for two performances at Dominion Energy Center’s Carpenter Theatre.
“The is the first time of being with a full symphony,” she says. “I’m excited about it.”
The stage is familiar to Brockwell. She grew up doing musical theater — she did a production of Annie at the age of 11.
The perky teen loves to convey stories and take people on a musical journey. At the Symphony she will be singing “Grown Up Christmas List” and “Do You Hear What I Hear.” “I’m going to tap into that musical/theatrical side [at the Symphony] and connect with the audience,” she says. “There will be so much energy in the room.”
Singing at the show leans into Brockwell’s love of holiday songs. “Christmas is my favorite holiday and I’m over the moon they asked me,” she says, adding the show will be a reunion of sorts for her. “This is such a special family time for me. Everybody is coming to Let It Snow!”
Brockwell is still defining what her career will encompass but she knows writing and performing her own songs will definitely be the foundation of that career.
“I love to write. It’s all about connection and expressing my emotions,” she says, noting she would love to get to the point where people are singing her music back to her at a concert.
As far as her inspiration over the years, she points to singer/songwriters Carole King and Jackson Browne. “I’m a 70’s girl,” she says.
On Dec. 6, she will release her newest single “Things Are Getting Good,” which focuses on being grateful for the small things in life that make it good. “I wanted to write an upbeat song for people who feel lost,” she says.
A freshman at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Brockwell is trying to juggle school with the life of a performer. “It’s a struggle. It’s important that I take advantage of everything I can,” she says.
Winning a Josie Award was “the most incredible thing ever,” she says. “To sit there and be recognized for my work, it was such an inspiring thing and very rewarding. The music industry is such a scary thing right now. Winning is reassuring.”
For more info and tickets, visit https://www.richmondsymphony.com/event/let-it-snow-14/.
