Singer/songwriter Jamie Broza didn’t want a dog, but his young son Oliver did. So what did the accomplished composer do? You guessed it: his family got a dog, Dusty, and the experience became the inspiration for Broza’s album, (aptly titled), I Want A Dog. Broza spoke about becoming a reluctant singer, how he includes his kids in his musical career, and why a cute cat can be a better subject for a kids’ song than, say, an iguana.
How did you get your start?
I grew up in a musical family. My father was a musician and all of my siblings played the piano. When I came out of college, I worked as a keyboard and synthesizer player going around town doing jingles mostly. I slowly started writing more for TV and little film projects, like documentaries and things like that.
I had a baby, and then two, and then three and by the time my daughter Carmen was a year old and running around, I sat down and started writing kids’ songs. It’s very cliched but that’s what happened. I wrote a bunch of songs and I didn’t touch them for a year. I went to a school assembly and sang the songs. Everybody went crazy and asked if they were recorded so I figured I would record them. I didn’t think that I would sing them because I wasn’t a singer, but it was too complicated to find a singer so I just decided to do it myself.
Did you ever want to be a singer, though?
No. I used to sing as a kid but my brother found a recording of me singing on my cassette machine and teased me mercilessly. It was brutal.
It scarred you for life.
I never opened my mouth again, except in school of course. Anyway it took 20-30 years to get over that trauma.
Lots of therapy.
[laughs] It’s been great because it taught me about vocal range and I became a better singer because of it. There are things that you learn when you do it yourself. A lot of composers aren’t great composers if they’re not already great signers. Usually vocal writers are often good singers.
The names of your albums are hilarious.
Thanks! Bad Mood Mom captures the truth about family life, which is that we can all have bad moods. It all started because my wife gets very frustrated cooking and gets into furiously bad moods.
The second album, My Daddy is Scratchy, was more of an amalgam of things going on in our lives at the time. I got more and more kids involved in that CD to sing the songs.
And then I took a big hiatus because I got very busy with my grown up stuff. I was doing documentary films for HBO. One of them was called Dealing Dogs. Around the same time we were reading books to Oliver about the boy and his love for his dog and they were very powerful stories. Oliver was 5 years-old at the time, and of course Oliver was desperate for a dog. We promised it to him when he was 10 thinking that day would never come — and it did. And then along came our lab, Dusty.
That experience inspired my next CD, I Want A Dog! The title song was trickier than previous ones because I didn’t have all these cute kids running around the house, so it took longer. I was inspired by this song, “Waters of March,” and I brought Carmen in to sing it with me. She was 8 and she got frustrated because it’s not an easy song to sing. So I brought her back when she was 9 to finish it. and when we got to making the video, she was 11.
Having a dog is such a huge part of childhood. Dusty is your family’s first dog. How has life changed?
What’s great about dogs is that they’re so supportive of the kids. I can tell the kids to turn off the TV and the dog will block the TV. Or I’ll tell Carmen to practice piano and Dusty will bark at me like, “Don’t tell her to practice piano!” The dynamic changes in that way. The dog is always there in a way that parents aren’t. It’s a great way to grow up because you remember your family dog your whole life. I think it also teaches them responsibility but it’s a slow process. It’s always like, “Feed the dog!” so there will definitely be a “Feed the Dog” song, or a “Take the Dog Out” song.
It’s like having another child.
Yeah, like a child that never gets older.
Let’s talk about the new album.
It’s been very well received which is great. A lot of the reviews got it for what it is. My songs tend to be lyric heavy and have stories in them, so reviewers understood that and were very attentive. That kind of response has been rewarding. They basically mentioned every song as their favorite, which is incredible.
How has your music changed over time?
I think it has shifted older as my kids have gotten older. I always run my music by my kids. They’re very critical. One of my songs was about having an iguana as a pet and it was based on my dentist who has iguanas. She told me all these stories which I incorporated into the song. I played it for Carmen and she said, “Well, I don’t think iguanas are very cute. I think it should be more about a cat.”
Good call. Good call, Carmen.
So then I had to change it so now it’s about a cat. Luckily the lyrics worked well for a cat.
How are you balancing it all?
Well, in addition to the kids’ music, I’m also an associate music director of the Tony Awards; I’ve worked for them for the last 20 years. I do all their scoring for their video packages and I also do arrangements and play in the orchestra. I work in theater and do a lot of projects all over the place, too.
So basically, I try to work fast and get home! When you’re dealing with music and mixes and recordings, you can always keep on mixing longer and can go all night if you let it. As soon as I had cute little Oliver as a baby, I just wanted to get home. You work as fast as possible and that’s what I do. I try hard to get home for dinner on time because having that family time means everything to me.