Quick Q and A with Chelsea Berry
 by Kathy S-B  ·  2 January 2011

Chelsea Berry is a Cape Ann singer-songwriter, formerly of Alaska, who is gathering a fan base in the greater Boston area. She’s got a fantastic new CD called Walk with Me. Check out Chelsea’s website for more information and catch the promotional video that gives you a real taste of what her music is like!

You’ve cited your influences as Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow. What is it about those songwriters that has inspired you the most?

Joni Mitchell’s profound lyrics and smooth vocals are the things I most admire about her music. I like to think I draw from those things when I write and perform. Sheryl Crow knows how to rock, although sometimes I get really carried away and people tell me I remind them more of Ani DiFranco. I’ll definitely take that as a compliment.

How long have you been playing live?

I’ve been performing as a singer since I was really little, but the singer/songwriter stuff began in high school. A friend of my mother’s from my hometown in Alaska was a bit of a local celebrity and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do what she did for a living.

How long have you been living here in Massachusetts?

I studied at Berklee in Boston for a few semesters starting in 2005; I moved to Chicago and then Nashville for a while after quitting school. I decided to move back to MA about two and a half years ago. . . I had spent some time in Gloucester before and knew that the music up there was fantastic.

How similar or how different is the music scene here and in Alaska?

There isn’t a whole lot of a comparison, to be honest. The only similar venues are the small concert halls. Touring musicians go up there to pack halls with folk shows the size of places like me&thee and the Firehouse. Other than that, there are a ton of outdoor bluegrass festivals, and the big, big shows (Elton John, Brooks & Dunn) have to play at the Sullivan Arena — a.k.a. the biggest hockey rink in Anchorage. That was where they held my high school graduation, too.

You’ll be playing at a benefit show for “Turn Up the Peace” at Carnegie Hall later this month. Tell us about that organization! It sounds exciting.

It’s very exciting! You say the words “peace festival” and people start envisioning thousands of hippies getting high and holding signs for world peace. This organization is totally different. It’s more about creating awareness within, finding even ground and coming to terms with yourself.

Achieving an inner harmony which then naturally manifests itself in your surroundings and the people you encounter. That’s my understanding, anyway. Seems like the right way to go about it. I mean, forcing peace is a little backwards, right?