This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Arlington's Next Chart Topper

Brad Doggett combines original songs with pop hits and unwavering confidence.

Brad Doggett has a kind of confidence that belies his 22 year.


The baby-faced singer and life-long Arlington resident began his musical career playing talent shows and battles of the bands at Yorktown High School after picking up a guitar at the age of 14. Now, with more than 54,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/doggettbm), the latest musician in the Doggett family has a bright future ahead of him.


"I saw other people putting up covers of songs on YouTube and they were getting thousands of views and comments," Doggett said in a phone interview last week. "So I started with some videos of Beatles songs and a few originals."

Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Doggett's musical range is quite extensive; covering Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and Maroon 5's "Misery" as easily as songs he's written himself, like "April" and "Some of Your Love." And then, just to keep things interesting, he throws in a little Cee-Lo or Lil Wayne.

"I got more attention when I started doing rap and R&B, stuff I heard on the radio," he said, adding that he's covered everyone from Justin Timberlake to T-Pain.


Doggett is obviously comfortable in front of a camera, just him and his guitar. Occasionally a Jason Mraz-style hat is perched over his tousled brown hair, but within a few bars of each song, his eyes are closed, lost in the song of the moment.

Find out what's happening in Arlingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


His original songs are clean, straightforward and contemplative, with Doggett debating the right moment to bridge the friend-to-relationship gap or lamenting how the right girl got away.


And yet, he's not exactly a newcomer to the music business: While studying at Virginia Commonwealth University, he was contacted by Capitol Records after some YouTube videos caught the attention of executives there. In particular, his cover of some Wyclef Jean songs must have impressed them, because he was invited to open a show in Norfolk. His first gig was in Norfolk a little earlier in his career, opening for rapper Corey Smith.


Doggett acknowledges that the wildfire spread of social media like Twitter has made it easier to connect with some of the artists he covers, mentioning casually but with purpose that he's sent a video of him doing a Trey Songz track to the man himself.


"The internet makes it so much easier" to get noticed and to reach out to celebrities, Doggett laughed.


Music runs in his family. His parents and older siblings all played instruments, so it was only a matter of time before Doggett picked up the guitar himself. But what does he listen to? Where does the inspiration come from?


"I listen to a lot of radio," he confesses, almost in disbelief that he's saying it out loud to a complete stranger. "I love it. I like John Mayer and Katie Perry. But I also like Trey Songz, Drake, lots of R&B and rap—especially when I'm driving."


When he's writing original pieces, he tends to get the melody stuck in his head first, usually something that's pulled from whatever pop songs are on rotation at the time.
"I used to listen to mostly rap and then I got more into R&B, which is like rap you sing," he said. "But hearing a song over and over again helps. I usually hate a song before I love it. I'm very melody driven, but I don't want the melody to be overwhelmingly stupid," he laughed.


There's no equation for writing an original song, he said.


"If you listen to a lot of pop music, you'll have that in your head. I might not set out to write a catchy song, but if it gets stuck in your head, that's great."


Arlington audiences will have a chance to catch their homegrown musician soon—Doggett's playing at O'Sullivans in Clarendon on Nov. 12; P. Brennan's on Columbia Pike on Nov. 26 and Hard Times in Clarendon on Dec. 3. It's a safe bet he'll be playing sold out shows in bigger venues within the next few years. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?