Guitarist and singer R.J. Bracchitta has been working at a downtown Nashville restaurant for the past year and a half in order to save enough money to record his debut record “Free.”
But this winter, the 22-year-old musician came home for the holidays and brought a packed house with him to Greenwich.
Bracchitta turned his parents’ living room into a listening party where he performed his latest songs, including the title-track to his debut album, for a group of more than 30 friends, fans and family members.
“I’ve been doing so much in Nashville and my friends know my work there, but here, unless they bought the CD, they don’t know it,” Bracchitta said. “I haven’t really done much here in a while, so I kind of want to share my progress—but it’s really about the record.”
Bracchitta sings in a smooth, soulful tenor, and his guitar-playing is inflected with both jazz and folk. He credits his upbringing here with offering ample opportunity to soak up music influences. “I am super–fortunate to be from Greenwich,” he said.
But his goals weren’t immediately clear. “While I was in school, I started working at a restaurant called Husk in Nashville to save up money.” A voice major at Belmont University, Bracchitta knew he was saving up for something, but wasn’t sure what he would ultimately spend his hard-earned money on.
“When I knew I wanted to specifically be an artist and a touring and recording artist, I needed new music,” he said.
It was in his freshman year of college that Bracchitta last put out a recording—titled “The Attic”—with his father and earliest inspiration, Joseph Bracchitta.
“It’s been really fun to see his progress,” Joseph, an instrumental band teacher at Brunswick Middle School, said. “He worked really hard there, and used to keep me updated all the time of what he was doing in his music classes. It’s a lot of work.”
With a lot of written material over the three years since his last project, the former Greenwich High School student says he was finally ready for people to hear it. During that time, he worked on playing the piano to complement his music production.
The 10-track “Free” was produced by Ryan Connors with artwork done by Kyle Turco. It officially hit the iTunes store on Nov. 18.
As a songwriter, Bracchitta describes himself as a close observer of human behavior. “I think a lot of my songs are super–observational,” he said. “I think I’m a very observant person.”
With tracks titled, “Hungover on Sunday” and “Proof I’m a Sinner,” Bracchitta says the music is made to give someone a unique perspective on how people act. “The bottles are clear/Decisions are not,” he writes in the latter song.
“It’s kind of about that falsehood people put on, and how every person on Earth is different and unique,” he said of his themes. “And with realizing that, why would you ever want to be someone else? If I am to say, ‘I am free,’ then I know myself and I am myself 100 percent of the time, which is hard to do.”
Hard copies of the singer–songwriter’s debut album, along with other merchandise, were sold before he heads back down to Nashville for an album release show set for Jan. 9.
Greenwich resident Carol Santini said of the performance, “This guy is like Cat Stevens meets Amos Lee!”
Learn more about R.J. Bracchitta at www.rjbracchittamusic.com.
