Jonatha Brooke at the Spire Center (Plymouth)

Jonatha Brooke is what happens when literate songwriting meets fearless innovation, a singular voice in modern music whose work is as much chamber poetry as it is folk-pop. Trained in the rigor of classical composition yet born with a Broadway-bound belt and a novelist’s eye for character, she weaves deeply personal narratives with a rare melodic sophistication. From her early days with The Story to her solo triumphs, Brooke has quietly carved a niche where the emotional intelligence of Joni Mitchell meets the musical wit of Stephen Sondheim, all wrapped in a voice that aches, sparkles, and soars, often within the same phrase.

A true interdisciplinary artist, Brooke has not only penned a poignant, one-woman musical (“My Mother Has 4 Noses”), but she has also collaborated with luminaries like Katy Perry, Joe Sample, and the late Woody Guthrie, whose unpublished lyrics she set to music with the reverence of a curator and the daring of a jazz improviser. Whether commanding a stage with nothing but a guitar and a spotlight or orchestrating a lush studio album, Jonatha Brooke is never simply performing; she is sculpting emotion in midair, conjuring stories that linger like the final notes of a well-loved sonata.