Groton students get dose of musical Sunshine
‘Voice’ finalist performs at Cutler Middle School
Groton — Ashley Spreng, 12, had to get to her school bus but first she had to have Braiden Sunshine’s autograph.
She couldn’t find paper so she offered him her arm.
“He signed my arm! He signed my arm!” she exclaimed, rushing to show her friends.
Sunshine, 16, a finalist on Season 9 of “The Voice,” performed Monday at Carl C. Cutler Middle School in Groton to a cheering assembly of students. He took questions, posed for cellphone pictures, and in some cases, signed girls’ arms.
Kristen Widham, a Spanish teacher at the school, sang with Sunshine in an all-age choir at The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, and asked if he would visit the school.
“It’s so weird because I remember we used to do things at our school and the chorus would be out, and people would cheer,” Sunshine said. “And I never thought I could get such a reaction for what I do.”
He performed two of his new songs, including “Wanted Man,” which has yet to be recorded, and a cover of “The Mountains Win Again,” by Blues Traveler, which he played during his run to “The Voice” finals. The band was so impressed with the performance that they flew him to a Las Vegas concert and brought him on stage.
“I just got together a bunch of kids from around where I live, and started a band. And that was what I did for years. And it was so much fun. So I’d say, just do whatever you want to do with music.” BRAIDEN SUNSHINE
“The way I started out was I started in a band,” Sunshine told the students. “I just got together a bunch of kids from around where I live, and started a band. And that was what I did for years. And it was so much fun. So I’d say, just do whatever you want to do with music.”
He also confided that he was “awful” at sports, that classmates made fun of his voice when he was younger because it sounded higher than a girl’s, and he didn’t think he’d make it onto the show. But he said his mother brought him to the audition and believed in him. Sometimes, he told the students, parents or teachers push you “because they see in you something that you may not see yourself.”
“I liked how he really was natural with everybody,” said Ana Da Silva, 14. “He was himself.”
“His voice is incredible and his guitar playing is incredible,” said Addie Clark, 14. “And I think it’s amazing that someone so young, our age, can do that.”
Sunshine is now writing his own songs and has a new release coming out in two weeks. With his earnings from the show, he recently bought a 1959 Plymouth Belvedere which he’s restoring, and a PlayStation 4 so he can play video games with his friends.
“I try my hardest to just go out there and be myself. I don’t want to be fake. I just want to show the kids, I’m still a normal kid. I just really wanted something. And I went for it,” he said.
“I love to see kids connect with something. It can be anything, but I love seeing kids connect with something. Me being so close to their age group lets me connect with them. And say, ‘I did this. And you can do it, too.’”