It was a chance encounter with a white supremacist that was the impetus for Chastity Brown‘s new single, “Mad Love.” The bi-racial artist was confronted outside a club in Eau Claire, WI having a quick smoke before taking the stage where she was accosted, cussed out and verbally attacked by a person who’d read her interview in the local paper. Her guitarist, Robert Mulrennan, came out and to find Brown standing up for herself and holding her own. Shaking with adrenaline, fear and anger, Brown went and did the show and shared the story with the audience. She realized the best possible response to racism and hate is love — including radical self love where, no matter how others choose to see you, you accept yourself.
With this incident in mind, Brown wrote “Mad Love” as an anthem for forgiveness and self-acceptance and as a statement of pride. Choosing love over hate, the Southern-born, Minneapolis-based songwriter refuses to see herself through the eyes of people who’d diminish her or judge her based on her skin color or sexual preference. It’s a call to arms to step back from the fear and anger and respond with a tidal wave of positivity.
“So let them come, oh let them come for us,” Brown sings. “Let them come, see what it is we got. ‘Cause we, we got all the mad love that they want.”
Brown recently made her Bonnaroo Music Festival debut, has toured extensively with Ani DiFranco and Andrea Gibson and had her most recent release, SILHOUETTE OF SIRENS, chosen as an NPR “First Listen.” She’s been featured extensively on MPR The Current. Melding folk, roots, and soul music with topical lyrics, her music seems especially timely. “What I’ve realized is that the personal is political…” she stated. “I’m really intrigued by the perseverance of the human spirit and the complexities and contradictions that we embody as human beings.”
Brown is currently touring Europe and the UK; fall US dates to be announced soon!
ON TOUR NOW
SEP 27 THU Birmingham, United Kingdom – Kitchen Garden Café
SEP 28 FRI Bewdley, United Kingdom – Music in the Hall @ St. ‘s Hall
SEP 29 SAT Bradford, United Kingdom – Black Dyke Mills Heritage Venue
SEP 30 SUN Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom – The Earl Of Pitt Street
OCT 2 TUE London, United Kingdom – Green Note
OCT 3 WED Winchester, United Kingdom – The Hyde Tav ern
OCT 6 SAT Diss, United Kingdom – The Pennoyer Centre
OCT 7 SUN Nottingham, United Kingdom – The Running Horse
OCT 9 TUE Kiel, Germany – Hansa 48
OCT 10 WED ve, Germany – La Habana
OCT 12 FRI Oude Bildtzijl, Netherlands – SlikTones @ Aerden Plaats
OCT 16 TUE Winterthur, Switzerland – Hörbar im Bloom
OCT 18 THU Oud-heverlee, Belgium – Listwaar
OCT 19 FRI Wageningen, Netherlands – Junushoff
OCT 20 SAT Utrecht, Netherlands – Ramblin’ Roots @ TivoliVredenburg
NOV 27 TUE Akron, OH – EJ Performing Arts Hall
NOV 28 WED Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
NOV 30 FRI Athens, GA – The Foundry
