Driven to succeed

Bandon Western World

By Geneva Miller
For Bandon Western World

Artist and musician Candace Kreitlow has charmed local audiences since her arrival in Bandon
in 2006, playing harp in the Bandon Playhouse production of “The Fantasticks,” contributing to
shows like Marlo Dance Studio’s “Night Before Christmas,” even busking on the streets of Old
Town.

As a child, Kreitlow’s dream was to sing back-up vocals for Simon and Garfunkel. Her mother,
however, suggested she pursue a more practical career. So when Kreitlow’s younger daughter
Holly Brook decided to move from her childhood home in Madison, Wis., to pursue her musical
ambitions in Los Angeles, Kreitlow gave her blessing. Brook was 17 years old.

“I always supported the move,” said Kreitlow, who spent a year commuting back and forth
from Wisconsin to California to help her daughter make the transition.

Four years, a collaborative top 40 hit and a solo album later, Brook, who will turn 23 on Feb.
23, looks forward to visiting her mother in Bandon as part of the Duncan Sheik “Whisper
House” tour Feb. 25 at the Sprague Theater. The show is almost sold out.

From the tour bus en route between Louisville and Austin, Brook reminisced about her
childhood experiences performing with Kreitlow in their duo, Generations.

“I’ve always known what I wanted to do,” said Brook. “Even as a kid, I was constantly driven.”

Brook says she and her mother maintained a busy musical schedule, performing and
recording independent folk albums. She studied piano and was lucky to find an instructor who
nurtured her writing skills. Brook and Kreitlow are both Joni Mitchell fans, so Brook also
learned guitar and dulcimer.

While Kreitlow and Brook enjoy everything from pop to Broadway, folk music provided an
accessible entry into performing. Kreitlow admits that her initial impulse to direct her daughter
soon gave way to a balanced creative partnership.

“As Holly got older, she got more sophisticated,” said Kreitlow, “and she stretched me. I
realized her (musical) intuition was just as good as mine, if not better.”

Brook began composing her own songs at age 12, and spent her adolescence collaborating
with and learning from Madison area musicians. Her move to Los Angeles brought many
surprises, which she says were both good and bad. Her contract with Warner Brothers
facilitated a debut solo album, “Like Blood Like Honey.” She contributed vocals to the 2006
Billboard hit by Fort Minor, “Where’d You Go.” But she also discovered that the business and
art of music aren’t always compatible. She severed her contract with Warner Bros. in 2008.

According to Brook, the biggest surprise — and best outcome of her work at Warner Bros. —
came when she was scheduled as an opening performer for Duncan Sheik.

“I listened to his songs growing up. Opening up for him was a dream come true,” Brook said.

In the decade since his Grammy-nominated solo “Barely Breathing,” Sheik has successfully
written for stage and screen, earning Grammy and Tony awards. Brook contributed vocals to
Sheik’s “Whisper House” album and says Sheik is producing her second solo record, “O’Dark
Thirty.”
Brook describes her forthcoming CD as insanely personal, since the songs revisit the joys and
frustrations of her career to date, including personal and professional break-ups and times
when she was “broke as a joke.”

“I feel like I’m getting naked in front of the whole world,” Brook said. “This album is a labor of
love. Usually you have a session and musicians come to the studio and play and you never
hear from them again. But everybody who played on the record is checking in, saying they’re
eager for the release.”

The “Whisper House” tour arrives at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Sprague
Community Theater. Kreitlow said the show is almost sold out. A portion of the proceeds will
be donated to the Bandon High School Speech Team. Audience members will get a preview of
Brook’s new song collection, as well as original material by Louis Schwadron and highlights
from Duncan Sheik’s varied catalogue. And the willowy blonde in the audience whose profile
looks a lot like Brook will be Kreitlow, happy to introduce her neighbors to a daughter who is
now a professional musician in her own right.

— Geneva Miller is a freelance writer in Bandon.