Brittany Ann Tranbaugh plays new song, chats with Mike Vasilikos live in studio

The phrase “it takes a village” is largely used when discussing raising children. But for Philadelphia singer-songwriter Brittany Ann Tranbaugh, that old adage is appropriate for her first full album.

Lucky Broke Girl is out Friday, and the Americana artist credits the more than 400 fans who raised $26,000-plus to help her self produce and release the record.

 ”I think back to the few years before I did this crowdfunding campaign,” she told Mike Vasilikos. “I would go on these tours, and maybe there’d be five, 10 people in the room some places. I just had these moments of like, ‘what am I doing?'”

Despite those feelings, Tranbaugh persevered, earning loyal fans and resulting in her new DIY record.

“It’s been this season of gratitude,” she said. “ It was very clear that gratitude was a theme, and that actually helped me write a few more songs for the album.”

The 35-year-old musician now feels as though she’s finally found her “ true artistic voice” and noted she’s gotten back into her “clever country roots,” which include icons such as Shania Twain and The Chicks.

“I like to say that I can’t really write a sad song without being a little funny, and I can’t really write a happy song without pointing toward the hard things that got me there,” she said.

Fans can get a taste of that cleverness before the album drops Friday by attending her album release show at Johnny Brenda’s Thursday. Tranbaugh and her band—multi-instrumentalist Shona Carr, guitarist Liz Faure, bassist Joe Plowman, and drummer Adam Shumski—will play Lucky Broke Girl in its entirety, and are even throwing in covers and some of her older tracks, she said.

Listen to her full interview and performance in the player above.