Electronic Press Kit
Resources to support you in the promotion of Briony’s concerts
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Feel free to use all of the copy, download and use the photos, and link to the videos provided.
Reach out if you can’t find what you’re looking for… charlie@brionygreenhill.com
BIOGRAPHY
“Power and intimacy”
“Like Marvin Gaye crossed with a funky Earth Mother”
Briony Greenhill is a contemporary folk/soul improvisational artist. A singer and pianist, she is sometimes joined by other players and sometimes plays solo. Her debut studio album, released in 2022, was featured in Radio 4, Radio 3, The Guardian, Mojo, and a series of sell-out concerts. She has since had a child and her new body of work, Anthropocene Motherhood, sings to the heart of what it is to bring a child into this country, culture and world at this time, and the depth of changes needed. Briony’s live shows mix songs originally sourced in improvisation, with live improvisation. She always gets the audience singing. It’s profound, political work; and the concerts so far have been spellbinding.
“Briony’s tone is enchanting, old, and unique, and her lyrics speak poetry to the unspeakable - the unique experience of being awake and aware of the plight of the world but trying to live in joy and action, purpose and care. She has something special to say. And the way she brings it to parenting makes it especially unique for us - who struggle to feel a sense of community and shared experience with others sometimes. For a short time, her art gave us that.”
Jump to 3.50 for the best bit (live improv :)
Briony grew up in Suffolk, England, improvising alone in a culture that - locally at least - didn’t. Though she’s been a performing singer since age 11, from Jazz to Opera to trip hop to guitar strumming singer songwriter to Honeyroot… she didn’t really find her musical path until she finally found Other People Improvising in India, aged 29. By that point she had a degree in political science and a decade of social change work under her belt. She followed the inspiration; trained for years with improv masters in India, France and the U.S, including Bobby McFerrin and Rhiannon, and improvised her socks off. She spent her 30s in California, teaching piano by day and doing live improv shows by night with Bay Area collaborators, alongside a whole lot of healing, and dancing, and learning from profound Elders. She moved back to the UK in 2017 and started to teach vocal improv full time.
She’s released 4 entirely improvised albums, and her self produced debut studio album in 2022 was featured in The Guardian, Mojo, Radio 3 and 4. Briony is a composer, arranger, producer, performing and recording artist, part funded, with gratitude, by PRS Women Make Music and Arts Council England.
She’s worked with Matt Kelly, Asha McCarthy, Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, Jaka Skapin, Randolf Matthews, David Worm, Ilya Lushtak, Tom Mason, Honeyroot (Glenn Gregory and Keith Lowndes), Simon Dobson (UK composer of the year 2012 & 2014), Anna Ling, Eliyahu Sills, Stephen Kent, Oi Va Voi, members of the Torbay Symphony and the Totnes Brass Band.
As a teacher she’s “One of the world’s leading proponents of Collaborative Vocal improvisation (CVI)” - The Guardian; a co-founder of The Well Global Vocal Improvisation Network, and the UK Vocal Improvisation Festival. You can find out more about Briony’s teaching here.
She lives in Devon, UK with her husband and one year old son.
“Joni Mitchell meets Gil-Scot Heron, with a British accent...”
PHOTOGRAPHY
All images shown in the gallery below are available to download.
VIDEO
All videos shown below are available on YouTube
Start at 3.50 for the best bit...
Prayer For Peace.
Live at Ashburton Arts Center, with members of the Devon Singers Collective and Arts Center owner/manager, Andy Williams, rocking it on the sax. Filmed from the pew :)
QUOTES
“As I watched and listened to Briony I found my soul and heart and eyes and ears transfixed. When we sing and commune with Briony, we experience an artist coming to us straight from her soul, unfiltered, direct, and all who listen are transformed and feel ourselves and our connection to the world so much more deeply as this tremendous, once-in-a-decade artist brings us deep into her world, a world which is all of our world.”
“Greenhill’s jazzy, languid lyrics groove on the healing beauty of song, the planet and your own heart and soul, like Marvin Gaye crossed with a funky Earth mother…. This is sensual music that, if you want them, could give extra reasons to live.”
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“Like Marvin Gaye crossed with a funky Earth Mother”
““I just wanted to tell you how much your set at the ‘Land Skills Fair’ meant to us. We sat there, my partner and I and a friend, with our 3-year-old son, and wept as you sang ‘Thank you for your heart’. Your voice touches something so deep inside, something that’s hard to communicate as a parent of a young one in this world at this time. Your tone is enchanting, old, and unique, and your lyrics speak poetry to the unspeakable - the unique experience of being awake and aware of the plight of the world but trying to live in joy and action, purpose and care. You have something special to say. And the way you bring it to parenting makes it especially unique for us - who struggle to feel a sense of community and shared experience with others sometimes. For a short time, your art gave us that.””
“I came home with a wide-opened heart, inspired and full of energy. It was a powerful, heart-opening performance like none I’ve attended before. I believe Briony invented a new art form that is a potent, soulful mixture of vocals, sound, and activist thought. Briony’s voice sometimes seemed to be out of this world as she channeled messages that deeply touched my heart with love for the World and an urgent call to action to save it.”
“I was really so impressed by the quality and originality of the songs she had composed, by her ability as a performer and singer/songwriter (she has a beautiful voice) and by the way in which she managed to galvanise and inspire a 25+ group of musicians and singers to perform her music with such enthusiasm and obvious delight. I came away feeling that I had witnessed something very special.”
ENQUIRIES
If you can’t find what you are looking for on this page please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
