Broad & High Presents: Talisha Holmes and Brandon “BJazz” Scott
Talisha Holmes, left, (vocals) and Brandon “BJazz” Scott (keys)
Talisha Holmes and Brandon “BJazz” Scott began performing together after meeting several years ago at the now-defunct downtown art lounge known as Snaps & Taps. “Bjazz is a very solid fatherly type, and I’m very emotional. He’s really good with working with singers. Especially songwriters – we’re crazy,” Talisha says with a laugh. “My emotions are wild. He’s like the backbone of the family.”
BJazz describes Talisha as a storyteller in the tradition of folk and bluegrass. Talisha acknowledges being open and honest in her lyrics and that this year has given her a lot of songwriting fuel. “I’ve been writing in a lot of anger and a lot of sadness. Sitting in my thoughts and resentment and disgust (this summer) … It’s overwhelming. “
Talisha, a Galloway native who now splits her time between Columbus and Nashville, says she misses the intimacy of performing live after so many gigs were cancelled or drastically reduced due to the pandemic. “I miss telling all my business (to the audience),” she says. “It’s my therapy, and I miss that.”
America
Lyrics mean a lot to Talisha Holmes and she tends to write from the heart. Although America is not a new song for her, she says it feels appropriate at least twice a week. In it, she expresses the passion, anger, resentment and disgust she feels right now as a Black woman in America.
Not Right
“I was coming to the end of a particular relationship and always feeling like I was giving away the best parts of myself to people that didn’t deserve it or appreciate it.” Some introspection compelled her to want to do better. “I feel like I’m valuable,” Talisha says.
He Won’t Ever Let Me Go
This is a song for those of us who have found ourselves in dead-end relationships that go nowhere, but from which we still find it hard to walk away. Talisha writes from the heart and personal experience, however raw or painful. She says with a laugh: “If you’re in my life, you could either do the right thing and get a good song, or do the wrong thing and get a bad song.”
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