AYLA’S RED, WHITE & BLUE 4TH
Ayla Brown, country singer and daughter of former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and TV journalist Gail Huff, is living the American dream this Fourth of July — just not with her family.
“My mom and dad are in New Zealand now, so traditions are changing the next few years,” Brown joked about her Fourth festivities.
With her parents on the other side of the world, Brown is busy with the music business. Among the gigs coming her way: playing the Country 102.5 party prior to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill show at TD Garden Saturday; opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd at the 11th annual Rocking for the Troops event in Geneva, Ill., on July 22; and headlining a concert at Hampton Beach’s Seashell Stage on July 26.
“I think I’m the only one who’s like this, but it’s my favorite holiday of the whole entire year, by far,” said the “American Idol” alum. “I love fireworks, I love cookouts. I’m the most patriotic person I know. I mean, I did an entire album dedicated to patriotic songs, ‘Heroes & Hometowns.’ I don’t know anyone who bleeds red, white and blue like I do.”
This year, Brown is on the Cape spending time with her boyfriend, Rob Bellamy, a professional hockey-player-turned-singersongwriter who’s performing there this weekend through the Fourth. The pair met down in Nashville, despite both of their New England backgrounds, and hit it off when they started writing music together.
“I’ll be singing a couple of songs with him onstage,” Brown said. “We harmonize together. It’s adorable.”
This is the first Independence Day on the Cape for the Wrentham native. In the past, she’s spent the holiday overseas, singing for troops in war zones such as Afghanistan, and she’s performed with the Boston Pops, with “Pride of America” in the lineup for the holiday spectacular. And in the past, her family used to head up to Portsmouth, N.H., laying down a blanket on a baseball field to watch the fireworks there.
“This year, I can decompress, grab a hot dog and a beer,” she said. “Life can’t get any better.”
While her holiday is local, Brown is hoping to make an international one next year, partly to see her dad, who’s the new ambassador to New Zealand.
Bellamy’s sister will be playing for the U.S. hockey team at the Olympics in South Korea in February. She and her guy have decided to start saving so they can cheer on his sis there, followed by a Brown family reunion in New Zealand.
“Hopefully, we can line up gigs over there,” she said. “We’re both bringing our guitars and we’ll perform for anyone who listens.”