Alanna Royale riding positive vibes - Dec. 7

Thursday, December 5, 2013

photo Alanna Quinn-Broadus, shown here during a show last summer at Bonnaroo, is the lead singer for Alanna Royale, a blues/rock/funk band from Nashville. The group will open for Trombone Shorty on Saturday at Track 29.
photo Trombone Shorty will headline the show Saturday at Track 29. It is part of the MainX24 celebration.

IF YOU GO* What: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with Alanna Royale opening.* When: 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7.* Where: Track 29, 1400 Market St.* Admission: $20 in advance, $25 day of show.* Phone: 423-521-2929* Website: track29.co.

It's not the first thing you notice watching an Alanna Royale show.

First you notice lead singer Alanna Quinn-Broadus and her big presence and bigger voice. Then you notice the horns and the high-voltage sound the six-member Nashville-based group creates. Then you notice how much fun the musicians are having.

At some point you do notice that Quinn-Broadus is fond of a certain four-letter word.

"Do you mean the 'f-word'?" she says with a big laugh.

"It's funny because I was raised by two Marines, and when I tell people that, they say, 'Oh, there's the missing link,' but one was ultra-conservative and one was super-liberal, the most liberal Marine who ever lived."

So, while her father was preaching decorum and that using curse words was a sign that you didn't have anything smart to say, her mother was freewheeling and highly opinionated. Quinn-Broadus says she was influenced by both, but definitely has her mother's voice.

"If something comes into my head, I say it," Quinn-Broadus says.

And she has plenty to say.

"I'm a highly educated, very politically savvy person. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I go home to bed at night and don't party. The Alanna that gets up onstage and says whatever is the Alanna who gets off the stage."

If you like your music funky and delivered in a high-energy fashion that grabs you by the throat, or the feet, and makes you get up and dance, the show Saturday, Dec. 7, at Track 29 is for you. Alanna Royale will be opening for Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue for the show that is part of MainX24.

Led by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, the headlining band is one of the latest torchbearers for the New Orleans music scene. It combines the funk and soul and jazz of James Brown, The Meters and The Neville Brothers.

Alanna Royale's Quinn-Broadus moved to Nashville with fellow Berklee College of Music grad Jared Colby after they played a gig there and discovered they liked the vibe.

Quinn-Broadus worked two jobs and earned a couple of scholarships to put herself through Berklee in Boston. She originally wanted to score films and hopes one day to do just that. For now, she is enjoying the speedy ride that Alanna Royale has been on since forming in September 2012.

In a relatively short time, the band has built a passionate following, most of it via word of mouth and the band's own media campaigns. The musicians played last summer's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and have done gigs from Chattanooga to Asheville, N.C., to Chicago. Their plan of action is to stay close to Nashville, returning to the same cities to build an audience.

They will release their first single in January called "Phantom Limb" and will head into the studio in February to record their first album.

"I think the biggest surprise in all of this is that not too long after moving to Nashville we started a new band and then having the success that we have, it just shows how small Nashville can feel when you are just out there being positive and trying to do your thing."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.