By Ryan Massad, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – After graduating from Shrewsbury High School (SHS) in 2006, Cara Brindisi elected to attend the highly respected Berklee University in pursuit of her music dream. Brindisi always enjoyed singing, but one of the requirements of her music therapy degree was to learn an instrument. That was when Santa got involved. Under the tree on Christmas morning was a Seagull guitar, which would become Brindisi’s “weapon of choice” for the next five years.
Upon her completion of college, Brindisi was ready to book gigs, and get her music heard. Her first official performance had a set time that would make Led Zeppelin jealous. Oxford Casual Dining gave Brindisi a three-hour set for her very first public performance. Granted, a family restaurant in Oxford isn’s exactly the most glamorous stage, but three hours is three hours. From there, Brindisi booked several shows with other local bands, including “Gentlemen Hall” and indie rap group “Green Line Inbound,” eventually catching the ear of Warner Brothers recording artist Chris Isaak. Brindisi was asked to open for him at his recent Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom show.
Brindisi enjoys performing an array of genres, mostly blues and indie. Some of her more frequently covered artists are B.B. King, Steely Dan and Johnny Cash.
“I love when a song builds energy, and allows room for interpretation,” Brindisi said. “I like to take a cover song and make it my own.”
As much as Brindisi enjoys performing her original music, she equally enjoys relaying the message from the original artist.
Brindisi prefers the act of singing to the writing process that typically comes beforehand.
“Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words,” she noted.
This could be attributed to the fact that Brindisi is an artist who is most inspired by challenges, or emotional situations, which are sometimes few and far-between.
“Being boringly happy isn’s a bad thing,” she said, “but it doesn’s make for great writing material.”
Nowadays, a lot of Brindisi’s inspiration comes from her experience as a hospice music therapist. Her job goes beyond simply singing for someone. She uses music to help patients reach non-musical goals. Physical, mental and spiritual goals. Appropriately combining Cara’s talent with her passion for helping others.
Brindisi’s favorite current artists include “The Black Keys,” “Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers,” “Arctic Monkeys,” Ben Kweller, and a number of other acts, but the musical group she truly hopes to share the stage with some day is “Mumford and Sons.”
“I find Mumford and Sons” music to be incredibly spiritual,” she said, “Because of that, they attract an audience that’s willing to sing with joy, but at the same time, stop and listen to the story within the song.”
To see Brindisi perform live, she appears almost every Thursday at Vincent’s in Worcester. For a list of other local shows, visit her website, www.carabrindisi.com.