Friday, August 8, 2014

Local Favorite Lauren Crosby to Release Debut CD at The Daniel


Thursday Night Live @ The Daniel favorite singer/songwriter Lauren Crosby is local Maine musician at heart, but a trip to Memphis drove her to get in the studio and record her first CD. An accomplishment she will celebrate on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. when she has her CD Release Party at the Coast Bar+ Bistro.

Crosby is a rising folkie bluesy singer/songwriter from Georgetown Island, Maine, who has been compared to legendary singers such as Janis Joplin and Edie Brickell. Fans have lauded her music for being real, raw and poetic.

Since The Daniel kicked off its Thursday Night Live @ The Daniel this past spring Crosby has been back several times by popular demand to perform. She is a perfect example of the local talent that The Daniel wants to serve as a platform for.

Sure, no cover charge for shows and the food and drink specials for Thursday Night Live @ The Daniel are great, but getting the chance to get up close and personal with musicians like Crosby is what has the crowds growing and musicians excited to come and perform.

Crosby says The Daniel has quickly become one of her favorite places to play and she could think of no better location for her CD Release Party.

“I absolutely fell in love with the acoustics of the Coast Bar + Bistro,” Crosby says. “It has such pretty acoustics. I could just sing there and play all night long.”

She also says she likes the bar’s setting and feels it has a homey touch. “The feel of the place is really good.”

The central location of Brunswick was another big bonus for Crosby as she sought a location to launch her CD that was accessible to family, friends and her growing region of fans.

She pointed out that for her, and other local musicians, The Daniel has become a great addition to the growing scene in Brunswick. “Brunswick is just thriving right now. Brunswick is a very, very cool scene,” she says. “It is an artsy town on the coast of Maine and it is a very nice place to have to go to as a musician.”

The 20-year-old Crosby is a student at the University of Maine, Farmington, studying to become and English teacher, but she has been singing in music shows since she was 14 years old. When she was 17, she started playing guitar and began to hone her singer/songwriter act. Once in college, she used her music gigs to help pay for her schooling. Crosby is a prolific live performer — she plays two gigs a week during the college school year and plays four-to-five nights a week during the summer.

Last fall, Crosby put her teaching education on hold for a semester and traveled to the University of Memphis to study blues and jazz. She was picked up by a local band and played some of Memphis’ famous musical hotspots. The positive reaction to her performing opened her eyes.

She says she has always received wonderful support from audiences in Maine, but to hear from locals in Memphis that they were impressed with her performing made her realize she might have what it takes to keep moving forward with music.

The musicians, in particular, encouraged her to record songs and release a CD.

“Memphis people were telling me, ‘Wow, you have to do something.’ So it was kind of like a really big push for me to do something,” she says. “In Memphis it was a life changing experience. It inspired me to make this CD.”

Also while in Memphis, Crosby found out she had won a prize in a song-writing contest. The prize was the chance to record songs at TRI Studios in California, a state of the art, world-class recording facility created by the legendary Grateful Dead founding member, Bob Weir.

Once back in Maine, Crosby launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund her first album and raised just over $5,000 — enough to get her into Frog Hollow Studio in Brunswick and put together a 10-song CD.

She had some doubts about the Kickstarter idea, but says it could not gone better. “I am really, really lucky. I have tons of people behind me who are really supportive family,” she says. “It ended up working out really well.”

All the songs on Crosby’s self-titled debut CD were written when she was between the ages of 16 to 19 and reflect her upbringing on coastal Maine and the fishing community she grew up in.

She points to “Lobsterman Hands,” as an example of one of the songs that tells the story of the kind of townspeople she has known all her life and loves.

A personal favorite is the first song on the album and the first song she wrote, “Sell it To The Sea.” The song was recorded with the help of a local musician on the harmonica, someone she knew because he drove a lobster truck for her dad. Crosby emphasizes his contribution makes the track.

“He just played so unbelievably,” she says. “Stuff like that makes the album really special.”

We think you will find Lauren Crosby’s debut CD really special as well, so come celebrate it with her at The Daniel on Aug. 16!

Check out a complete track listing to “Lauren Crosby” below: 



Springtime In The Mountains
Dogfish Ale
No Worries
Lobsterman Hands




Start Time:  7 p.m. 
End Time: 10 p.m.
Lauren anticipates playing a set from 9-10 p.m.
Free and open to the public.  
Complimentary Hors d'oeuvres
Cash Bar

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