come on, summer

Vocals: Chad Crouch
Piano: Michael Johnson
Drums: Derrick Trost
Bass: Nate Halloran
Trumpet: Cory Gray

Recorded in 2002 at Type Foundry in Portland, OR. Engineered and mixed by Adam Selzer. Mastered by Michael Johnson and Chad Crouch.

It was unusual in the days of 1950s movie musical to find a female songwriter in Hollywood. In a male dominated industry, females were looked upon with trepidation. And so sone of the most talented songwriters in Hollywood was also the most ignored: Edie Brounet-Brounet. Born on a golf course in Pasadena, California to stern conservative parents, Brounet-Brounet received no formal musical training. In fact, her father, a first generation French Canadian Orthodox priest of rigid religious upbringing shunned music altogether. The Brounet family spent long afternoons in complete silence. Young Edie satiated her craving for music by sneaking to a nearby high school for the arts, where she made many friends and became exposed to the jazz repertoire. Eventually she left home and made her living in the 40s skipping from town to town and singing in nightclubs with whatever small combo she could woo with her pretty face and sultry voice. During a set at the Cha Cha Club in Palm Springs she fell in love with a drummer named Percy Brounet who taught her everything about writing music. Their relationship didn’t last, however, and Brounet-Brounet ended up in Hollywood penning movie musicals. This pleasant, pastoral song comes from one of her cinematic musical works Agnes of Barnaby Street. It is the story of an American woman who rediscovers her past one day when a house fire, a long train journey, and a hidden love letter bring her back into the arms of her old flame, Phillip. By far the most developed of all Brounet-Brounet’s characters, Philip sings “Come On Summer” alone on a porch in the dead of a hot midsummer night. The blend of pop and jazz elements in this song is typical of Brunet-Brounet’s untrained musical style. Agnes was never made into a film, but residents of the Green Valley Nursing Home in Valencia, California saw Brounet-Brounet acting it out every afternoon in the lunchroom before her death in 1971.