Anna Brinker

would play coffee shops, singing songs he wrote in a lined, spiral In “Pictures on the Wall,” she sings, “In every picture, on notebook while strumming on his Gene Autry guitar. He kept the every wall, there’s a memory.” notebook with him constantly, scrawling a line or two whenever In the title track, “Rain and Whiskey,” Brinker laments, the muse hit him. Brinker studied his technique and replicated “The bottle’s dry, but my eyes are soaking wet. I can’t forget you the writing, keeping a notebook full of ideas and potential lyrics walking away. Oh, I tried. I fight like hell, against the dark you herself. know my heart can’t take any more.”

“He enjoyed the good old songs,” she says. “I feel like my And loss is evident in “Between Being in Love and Alone” daddy’s style influenced me a lot.” and reflective of her constant moving as a youngster.

One of Brinker’s latest projects is Tumbleweed, a collection of “Texas and Wyoming, Colorado roaming,” she sings.”I can’t songs that honor her father, whose nickname was “Tumbleweed.” believe how much it’s snowing.

She also recently released “Possum,” a tribute to George Jones, “I’m sure I’ll end up back at home, lookin’ at these pictures on a pioneer of the country music industry who died in 2013, and my phone of us back when you loved me.” another major influence of her up-and-coming career. Her video Brinker, who sells home and automobile insurance during of the song shows Brinker walking through Jones’ museum in the week and performs at weekend venues within a day’s drive Nashville, stopping to look reverently from her home, gets up each day and at his displays, and visiting his gravesite writes songs before heading to work. at the Woodlawn Memorial Park and Her father may call her early with an Mausoleum in Nashville. update on his own writing progress. “He’ll

“When you think of grassroots and call me at 5, 6 or 7 a.m. and say, ‘I’ve got homegrown country music, you think five songs. I’ve been up since 3.’” of Anna,” says Charles Haymes, the vice president and director of artist relations for the Arkansas Country Music Association. I hope my Brinker says she was able to repay her father for his influence by taking him to see George Jones perform in Forrest City “She loves the traditional country. She’s not into the new pop and contemporary audience will in 2012. Jones died four months later in Nashville. country as much as some are.” Her album Rain and Whiskey has been greet what I “He was my daddy’s hero. It was the first time he ever saw him,” she says. “I nominated for the association’s album of the year. An awards ceremony will be put out with still get chills talking about it. Seeing him live and hearing it was such a cool held June 7 at the Reynolds Performance Hall on the campus of the University of open minds experience.” Brinker first performed at a show at a Central Arkansas in Conway. This is the fourth year she’s been nominated for an Arkansas Country and open VFW lodge in Searcy in 2013. Her friend was a disc jockey there and set up her brief three- or four-song set. Music Award. In both 2018 and 2019, she was up for acoustic act of the year, arms. “I loved it,” she says. “I was overwhelmed by it. I loved every second and last year she and Adam Cunningham of it. When I got off stage, my daddy said, won vocal group of the year for their duet, ‘I told you they’d love you.’ It made me “Thinking About You.” want to keep doing it.”

The awards are given to independent Arkansas artists who Eight years later, she said she’s found her sound more and haven’t signed with major record labels, Haymes says. has gone from performing 30-minute gigs to playing three- or

“It’s an honor,” Brinker says of the nomination. “I love the four-hour shows at times. album. It’s humbling. There are a lot of albums in Arkansas that “All I do now is work, sleep, take care of our three dogs and are really good. write music,” she says.

“I’m not a flashy singer. I just love getting lost in the music.” Her husband has helped book shows for her and is her “top

Brinker began singing at an early age. She and her mother, supporter.” Trudy Scranton, would bounce around the back roads of wherever Like all live performers, Brinker did have a setback this they lived in their Subaru BRAT pickup and sing to John Denver’s past year, though. Just as she was beginning to find weekly “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on her mother’s eight-track shows and becoming more confident in performing in 2020, player. the COVID-19 outbreak occurred, and venues began closing

She sang in her church bands and continued traveling with for health reasons. From last March to May, Brinker could play her father to his impromptu shows. two or three shows a weekend. Then, when the virus was in full

And, like her father, she kept jotting down feelings and swing, she was lucky to find two shows in a month. emotions, writing down snippets of possible songs that could be “It took a toll,” she says. “It was disheartening.” worked into melodies. The virus continues to alter her shows. Brinker was set to

“It comes from emotions,” she says of her music. “Whatever perform at the Arkansas Country Music Awards in Conway this I’m feeling, eventually, the words come. I’ll work on it for a while. month, but the act was canceled. I may get frustrated, thinking, ‘Where could I put this in a song?’” Still, she says, she will continue searching for shows and

Writing is not always pleasant for Brinker. “The words can put playing wherever she can. She hopes to take time off from work up a fight,” she says. later this year and play in Nashville. She has a friend there who

Brinker is almost a contrast to the country music genre. While is working to book her in a Nashville club. country songs are often about loss and heartache or partying with “That’s what I’ve always dreamed about,” she says of loads of alcohol and a devil-may-care attitude, Brinker is upbeat performing in Nashville. and optimistic. She includes smiling faces in her emails and is “I hope my audience will greet what I put out with open encouraging. minds and open arms. The songs are so meaningful to me. I hope

But her lyrics are reflective of the emotions she feels inside. they accept them.”