Published: March 19, 2010 8:54 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight March 2010 Edition
Laurie McClain
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
Laurie McClain Photo by Wendysue Rosloff
Laurie McClain sings with such purity, grace, and style that when one hears her heavenly voice one wonders if McClain is an Angel singing from the heavens above. She commands respect with her music, and she knows how to capture one's attention. Recently, our Webzine had the pleasure of speaking with Laurie online via email. She had many wonderful things to say about her music. Here is our online conversation. Enjoy!
Isaac: I just listened to several songs off your new CD. What was the inspiration for making your new album?
Laurie: Guess the title song "Ascend" kind of brought the whole thing together. I had several songs that fit the theme of ascending - mostly wishing, hoping, striving to rise above the confusion, have more enlightened relationships, including romantic love as well as friendships, and love for everyone through understanding and forgiveness... and of course there's a song about UFOs...
Isaac: Who were your influences?
Laurie: I was 6 when I saw Mary Poppins, and seeing and hearing Julie Andrews sing "Feed the Birds" made me want to be a singer. I walked around the house singing all the time after that. My brother used to tease me about it a lot. Then when I was 10, my mom really got into Johnny Cash so we watched the Johnny Cash Show on TV every week together. Of course, Johnny Cash was fantastic, and he had a very eclectic array of musical guests, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Merle Haggard, Linda Rondstadt, Gordon Lightfoot, Melanie, Bobbie Gentry, and Glen Campbell... I fell in love with folk and country music all at the same time. I couldn't get into the rock thing, which at that time was groups like Aerosmith, Foghat and the like, that my friends were into. So I was kind of an outcast among my peers. I think my music is very influenced by all of the above and also John Prine, Steve Forbert, Jackson Browne, Kate Wolf... to name a few.
Isaac: What do you consider to have been the highlight(s) and lowpoint(s) of your career to date?
Laurie: Highlights would be: The opportunity to make records in Nashville with all these great musicians including my husband Charlie Chadwick, who plays bass and cello and engineers in the studio in our home. I love playing concerts for wonderful groups of folks around the country on the folk/Americana circuit. Recently, I was asked to put a lead vocal on a beautiful song called "Alexander the Duck" for Australian band King Curly's upcoming CD. I have played a few folk festivals and I love those, and want to do more festivals for sure.
Another really high point a while back was when Farm Aid came to Lincoln, NE in 1987, and it was fantastic. I walked in to the stadium around 12 noon to John Denver singing "Rocky Mountain High". The lineup was stellar, also including Neil Young, John Prine, Emmylou, John Mellencamp, Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle. After the concert, I ran into John Prine on the street downtown. I told him I had been playing his songs for years and he invited me to a party, which turned out to be a bunch of folks in his hotel room. We sang songs all night. I got to play his Martin! He told me I sang "like a bird." About 4am the cops knocked on the door and said, "We've had some complaints." John answered, "You got any requests?" John was gracious and hysterical, just what you'd expect from his songs and stage presence.
The lowest points would definitely be when I was briefly married to two different men who would not allow me to play music. Also, just those lousy bar gigs where I am playing my little folk songs in a corner and people are drunk and partying and mostly not listening and I am just in the wrong place for sure - which I did many of those kinds of gigs before I started touring. Once I discovered the folk/Americana concert scene it changed my life. I have been touring very part-time for more than 20 years while raising my daughters. In late 2009, I became an "empty nester," so I am booking a lot more dates now working up to full time. I think being a little older makes me more realistic about the whole music scene and just grateful for the doors that open and philosophical about the whole experience.
Isaac: Brief history about your background plus the style of music you play.
Laurie: I was born in Los Angeles, lived there until I was 12. My brother Danny was three years older than me, and he played classical piano really well. He wouldn't let me near "his" piano, a beautiful Steinway baby grand in our living room. If I ever played it, he would come running from the other room and bump-slide me right off the bench. Then all of a sudden my dad decided he wanted us all to be in a safer place, finish our growing up in my parents' wholesome hometown, so he moved us all to Lincoln, Nebraska. We were all mad at him for it. Quite a culture shock... we went very far from our friends and warm/hot weather, beaches and mountains to flatlands, snow, no beach and no one we knew.
I guess I was bored and lonely when I got this idea that I wanted to learn the song "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen on the guitar and become a folksinger. I asked my dad for a guitar, and he took me to the music store and bought me a classical guitar and signed me up for classical lessons, which I quit after six weeks. I just wanted to learn chords and strum and pick a little to accompany myself. I wish I had kept up those lessons, though, for the chops I could have had! My brother redeemed himself for all the teasing and piano hoarding by using his music theory knowledge to show me the chords to "Suzanne."
Soon after that, I began playing at friends' parties. At age 15, I started playing the open stages at local clubs. When I was 17, I landed my first paying gig at Freedom Lounge on Cornhusker HWY in Lincoln. At first, I loved playing the local clubs. Back then, people were much more open to listening to folk music in bars. Gradually folk music kind of lost popularity in the late '70s and '80s as first disco, then new wave and punk and then grunge/alt rock kind of took over.
It was in the late '80s, though, that I discovered there was an underground folk scene still thriving, with house concerts and festivals and little concert venues throughout the country. It was mostly former hippies creating these magical venues for traveling folks musicians. Throughout all this I was getting married, having kids, getting divorced, raising kids on my own and playing just a few gigs a year. It was the early '90s when I started playing more out of town gigs, but still I wanted to be home for my girls, so it was very sparse. In '98, I took my three girls and moved to Nashville, TN. It was a crazy idea, but I am so glad I did it. I figured if it didn't work out I could always go back. But it worked out great. I love living in Nashville.
Laurie McClain
Photo by Rebecca Ringenberg
Isaac: How easy is it to gets gigs for you as an artist? What is the live music scene like in your area?
Laurie: All the years I spent playing gigs here and there, going to music conferences and meeting folks in Nashville have helped the doors open to gigs. It seems to be fairly easy so far, now that I am booking more dates. Some places are harder to get into than others, and festivals are probably the most difficult. I am hoping to get booked into more festivals down the road.
The music scene in Nashville is amazing, with lots of great stuff to go see every night. The Station Inn is a fantastic venue; it's like walking back into 1940, with great bluegrass music and gypsy jazz and some Americana/folk type stuff. There are a few cool venues here that I like to play. My favorite place to perform is Brown's Diner, a greasy spoon hamburger joint/bar that's a great hang with the coldest beer in the world. Folks really appreciate off-the-beaten-path type songs there.
Isaac: What do you think of the state of Indie music at the moment? Has the Internet helped music grow or hindered it in your opinion?
Laurie: I don't know how I would book shows or get my music out to folks without the Internet. It's a fantastic medium for indie artists, with email and websites, MySpace and Facebook. There are lots of music promotional sites, and it seems like there's a million ways to go, and you wonder how people would even have the time to read and listen to all of this stuff. The whole thing can become really time consuming and overwhelming. As an artist, I think you just have to pick a few and try them, see what works. Still, I would rather spend my time writing and performing than hours and hours on the Internet. So it's a balancing thing, I guess.
Isaac: Do you listen to radio much at all?
Laurie: I do listen to radio when I am driving, and I drive a lot. I listen to NPR stations often. My favorite local radio station here in Nashville is WSM Radio, an AM station. They have always been cool in my opinion, playing a lot of old country songs from way back, and also great live performances from the Grand Ole Opry and interview shows. Recently, they have started including a lot of Americana music, and that's very exciting and encouraging. I sure hope it's working for them money-wise to do that, because it's wonderful to hear independent artists given a high profile place to get their music heard when the mainstream stations in the US are so controlled by Clear Channel. I am curious about XM/Sirius. I know they play my music sometimes and I am grateful for that. I may end up subscribing soon since I am be traveling in my car so much more now. But I will still listen to WSM and NPR shows.
Laurie McClain
Photo by Charlie Chadwick
Isaac: If you could create a fantasy band - what would be the line-up and why?
Laurie: Stuart Duncan on fiddle; Kenny Vaughan on guitar; Bryan Owings on drums; Chris Thile on mandolin; Charlie Chadwick on bass; Julie Lee and Alison Krauss singing together. They are all amazing - my favorites! I was once at a party here in Nashville where Julie Lee and Alison Krauss were sitting on a front porch singing harmony together. It was like I had died and gone to heaven. Stuart Duncan is my absolute favorite fiddler in the world, and he played brilliantly on my Kate Wolf Tribute CD. Bryan Owings, who plays with Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris, also played on my latest CD Ascend. And Charlie Chadwick (my husband) is the best upright bassist I know, plus he plays a beautiful 5-string cello; Chris Thile is a master of the mandolin, very very tasteful. Kenny Vaughan is pure joy and magic on guitar, it just doesn't get any better.
Isaac: What CD's do you currently have available and where can they be purchased from?
Laurie McClain: My CDs are available at cdbaby.com/artist/lauriemcclain and on iTunes and Rhapsody and several of those types of digital services. From the most recent, my CD titles that are still available are:
Ascend
Compilation 1995-2003
The Trumpet Vine, A Tribute To Kate Wolf
The Child Behind My Eyes
Isaac: Where can fans access your music, videos, blogs, and anything else about you online?
Laurie McClain: My website lauriemcclain.com has lots of music to listen to, a blog, photos and the like. Also my MySpace myspace.com/lauriemcclain has a lot of music and photos. There is a free downloadable song on reverbnation.com/lauriemcclain. There are some YouTube videos, too.
Isaac: Message to your fans?
Laurie McClain: THANK YOU for listening, encouraging me and supporting my music! I am touring more these days and I look forward to meeting more of you. Please check my website calendar where I am going to be and if you can make it out to a show, please say hello!
