Photo courtesy of Lannette Brasher
Lannette Brasher is the lead singer of the traditional country music band Rose Colored Glasses.
Lannette Brasher is a 28-year resident of Hoover who teaches at Tarrant High School for a living but in her off time is lead singer of the traditional country music band Rose Colored Glasses. Last year, she was nominated for Vocalist of the Year in the traditional/classic country category for the Josie Music Awards for independent artists.
Q: How long have you been in the music industry now?
A: All my life. My father [Clifford Brasher of The Brasher Brothers] is in the Alabama Bluegrass Hall of Fame. So ever since I was little, we just played music.
Q: Tell me about your band.
A: My band is Rose Colored Glasses. We are a vintage country music band. I started that band because my family had a country music show in Leeds, Alabama, called the Town and Country Jamboree, and we featured local artists, original artists and artists from the Grand Ole Opry, so it was like sort of a mini Grand Ole Opry show, and that’s how I grew up. This was me being little. I was just dragged to these places because you’ve got to pay for a babysitter if you don’t take your kid. So on Fridays, if they had a show at a state fair or some kind of venue, if it was appropriate for us to go, the kids went. So I grew up there and also grew up singing in that show. Thursday nights we had rehearsals. On Fridays, we usually traveled to some type of bluegrass festival or whatever, and then Saturday night, we had the show. That’s what I thought everybody did. I thought everybody did music. I didn’t know any better. When I was at Leeds Elementary School, I was sitting outside with this girl, and she was talking about her daddy does this and her daddy plays golf. I thought all my daddy played was the fiddle and pedal steel guitar. I said, “What does golf sound like?” I did not know that golf was not a musical instrument.
… About 2017 or 2018, I was singing jazz. I was in a couple of other bands, and nobody was doing vintage country, so I thought, “You know what? I’m going to start this band.” So I started looking for musicians around Alabama. We’ve got some really great musicians, and my cousin, Lisa — she sings harmony with me. We’ve grown up together, and we can sing harmonies just beautiful. So we grew up with Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Emmy Lou Harris … Ralph Stanley. That’s how the band started. We started locally around here. Really and truly, we have a show show. We don’t necessarily have a bar show, although we’ve played smaller venues before. We have played the OWA Theater in Foley. We’ve played the Shelby County Arts Council. We’ve played Alex City — mainly just smaller theaters. We’ve got a show coming up in June in Franklin, Tennessee, at The Franklin Theatre. We’re doing a “Dedicated to Dolly” show. I’m not trying to be Dolly Parton. We’re just singing her songs and all those collaborations she did with people. … My mom is still alive. Sometimes she still sings with us. She was the Patsy Cline of the group. [When I was little], I thought Patsy Cline sang her songs on the radio. I didn’t know the difference.
Q: If you were going to describe the type of music y’all play, how would you describe it?
A: Rose Colored Glasses is a Birmingham-based band with that classic country sound that takes you back to Saturday nights listening to the Opry and the jukebox classics that defined a generation. Playing a mix of time-honored originals and honky tonk favorites, Rose Colored Glasses is the perfect entertainment for your venue, festival or private event. If you like Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Bob Wills, you’re gonna love Rose Colored Glasses.
Q: Y’all mostly perform in the Southeast in smaller theaters?
A: Yes. We’ll play bigger ones if they want. That’d be great!
Q: Do y’all do bars or restaurants, too?
A: We will, especially if we’re trying to get ready for a show and we need to run the show quick before we do it for real. We played True Story Brewing at Christmas time — right after Christmas time.
Q: Is this a full-time gig for y’all?
A: No, heavenly days, I wish it were. It would be wonderful. You’ve got a school teacher, a retired accountant. My drummer works for Alabama Outdoors. Our vocalist works for EBSCO. My guitar player is an independent artist. He does artwork and pinstriping.
Q: What about yourself?
A: I am a school teacher. I’m at Tarrant High School right now. I teach family and consumer science — the old home ec. This is the first year I’ve taught this subject.
Q: How long have you been teaching?
A: I have 26 years.
Q: What did you teach previously?
A: Gifted and talented, kindergarten, reading coach. I’ve been an administrator of preschools before, but it made my stomach hurt. I did not like it at all.
Q: How did you come up with the name for the band?
A: We were looking for names for the band. I was asking everybody, “Hey guys, what should we call the band?” And of course, you’re getting the funny Tammy Why Nots and just funny stuff because I’ve got hilarious musicians that work with me. … It just came to me. … As I was researching a name for a band, in a Facebook post I had made about my own self and rose-colored glasses. … I was like, “You can be however you want to be with me, and I will see you through rose-colored glasses until you break them, and then you appear to wear them, and I will still smile and walk away” — something like that. I was like, “Wait a minute, y’all — what about Rose Colored Glasses?” And they were like, “You see everybody through rose-colored glasses.” … I really do. I love people, and I love what I do, and I love the students I work with. Sometimes the administrators crush your rose-colored glasses, and you kind of have to get another pair and put them up and smile.
Q: Do y’all do any of your own songs, or is it all cover songs?
A: Yes, we have very good originals actually. We have a whole set of originals. We’re actually working on an album. When we did the Shelby County Arts Council [in March], we did a live recording of that, and we’re about to go back in the studio and do another recording, and we’re combining those for an album of originals. We don’t know what it’s going to be called yet.
Q: Have you got the finances to put it out?
A: Not really. I’m a school teacher. Of course not. No. We’ve got some people who are doing stuff because they love us. … I want to do a vinyl and CDs. I don’t know that I want to stream it. We’ll see. I’m going to ask the guys what they want to do.
Q: What’s your favorite song to sing?
A: Oh honey, my favorite color is “every.” My favorite song is “it depends.” I can’t pick one. It depends on what the moment calls for. I’ll tell you, I love singing Patsy Cline songs. They’re in my wheelhouse. Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt. Those ladies are incredible. … You have to be versatile. I’m in a jazz ensemble as well, and then I sing in a rock/funk/jazz sort of band as well. So you kind of have to make your voice do what it needs to do to make that music come alive.
Q: What’s the most memorable performance you’ve had?
A: Right before COVID, we played at the Shelby County Arts Council. At that time, it was the Black Box Theater. Now it’s called the Song Theatre. It was a Lady Legends of Country Music show. Because my lady legends are the ladies that sang in our show that sang the Opry songs, I dedicated that show to those ladies, including my mom. So my mom, my sisters, my son, my uncle — they all played and sang with me at that show, and it was so nice, and it was so fun. … I love that show. I have photographs from that show, and some people sent me videos that I treasure.
Q: Where was your favorite place you’ve ever sang?
A: Honestly, because it’s so nostalgic to me, our show, the Town and Country Jamboree, was in Leeds in an old, abandoned movie theater. You kind of look at it now, and it’s so tiny. At the time, it was even more run down. It was smoky, and I know a little child shouldn’t have been breathing all that smoke, but at that time, people smoked, and they didn’t think anything about it. But I have such vivid memories of that place, where I sat on the side of the stage where I used to go and sing, hanging with my mom and my sisters and my cousins and people who came there, and the friendships that I made at that place are still my friends today. The Town and Country Jamboree in Leeds I would have to say is my favorite place, and it doesn’t exist anymore, except for in our minds.
Q: How frequently does your band play?
A: We’re booked about once a month. We’re working on twice a month. … I’m with a new agent now, and she’s working hard to get us some new venues. Honestly, if you play too much in your same area, you don’t always get the recognition of your talent. But I would love to play once a month somewhere close. … The fact that our musicians play with other people — getting them together is like herding cats. We’ve got some really talented musicians, and they’re in demand, so even if we have a place to play, we have to be able to all get together and be there at the same time. … If anybody wanted to sponsor us and buy us a tour bus, I am for that.
Q: Where in Hoover do you live?
A: Literally, I can almost throw a rock at the Galleria, off Patton Chapel Road.
Q: What about the rest of the band?
A: They’re spread everywhere. My bass player is in Pelham. My cousin, Lisa, lives in Dunnavant. My drummer lives in Homewood. My guitar player lives in Tarrant. My pedal steel guitar player lives toward Talladega.
