Up-and-coming country singer Brooke Ludwick bridges the gap between Nashville and the Pacific Northwest with her first studio album that was recently released, titled “When the Circus Leaves Town” (available at www.brookeludwick.com).

The album is a product of the Kirkland native’s choice to leave her corporate career as a graphic designer and photographer and produce her music independently.

Music has always been a part of Ludwick’s life, starting with piano lessons with Mrs. Nelson and acoustic guitar practice as a young girl. She credits her vocal style to choir at Lake Washington High School, from which she graduated in 1993.

Ludwick continued to play music and perform during her time as a student at Washington State University, where she received degrees in communications and advertising.

After going to graduate school in Atlanta for advertising and creative arts, Ludwick landed a job with Target in San Francisco. Eight months later, she was fed up with her corporate commuter lifestyle. With $200 to her name, she packed up and drove to Nashville, where she has lived and learned for six years.

When first in Nashville, making music was still in the background for Ludwick. One of her paintings caught the eye of a record-label bigwig and Ludwick assumed the position of creative director for the label.

In the midst of her outward success working with musicians, she became disenchanted with the industry: “The veneer wore off because it is a business … that’s why (the record business is called) the machine. It chews you up and spits you out,” Ludwick said.

Thus, she chose to leave the “corporate circus” and pursue her artistic vision without the imposing vice of a record label.

A few years down the road, Ludwick is relieved.

“(The album) is a major accomplishment of a life goal … it feels right,” she said.

With her music career taking off, Ludwick plans to tour and produce more albums, but in the long-run it is the simple life that appeals to her.

She and her husband, Gregg, just had their first child. They hope to someday open an art gallery on Whidbey Island and raise their children in the type of laid-back environment that has inspired Ludwick throughout her life.

When the circus leaves town, Brooke Ludwick comes home to a simple life in the Pacific Northwest.