Lauren brings her blend of blues and Americana to Coolham Music Club

Promising a soulful blend of blues and Americana, Lauren Housley plays Coolham Village Hall on Saturday, May 7.
Lauren HousleyLauren Housley
Lauren Housley

She will be looking to build on the positive response so far to her debut album, Sweet Surrender, which came out last August.

“It was a self-release, and it has been a huge learning curve for me,” Lauren says. “It has gradually been seeping its way out. We did really well with the first single. We got on the BBC Radio 2 playlist but really I suppose, I have learned lots about the industry. And I have learned just how much I want this!

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“When I think back, it took me more than a year to make the album, and it was done on quite a low budget. It was a labour of love, really. It had to be! But it has turned out to be quite well received. You can hear the passion. I am really, really pleased with it. I think it has been about getting to work with good people, and there are some long-term working relationships that are going to continue to grow from here.

“Actually, we were back in the studio between Christmas and the New Year to record a couple more, new tracks. Unofficially there may be a re-release of Sweet Surrender, but with the extra tracks. Because it was a self-release, the album has just started to seep out there really, and in terms of its audience potential… well, I don’t think it has reached its audience potential.

“I would also like to spread my wings a bit further than the UK as well.”

It’s certainly all Lauren had hoped for: “It is something I have been working towards for a long time, ever since I started song-writing, and I was song-writing before I even realised I was doing it. Then I was really lucky to meet a really good song-writing partner in Thomas.

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“Things have developed so much. We had released an EP, and that was also a learning curve. As for the music, I would say it is a soulful blend of blues and Americana, It’s just song-writing! It is classic song-writing. I feel that’s what gives it a bit of a commercial edge with the Radio 2 stuff. But it has got the instrumentation that gives it its flavour. We have got a lot of pedal steel and dobro that gives it that twang, and there is my voice that is more bluesy and more soul-sounding. But it’s just songs really!

“I tend to sing about different things. I don’t sing a lot about myself. I try to empathise, to make connections with other people’s situations.”

To that extent there is a degree of characterisation behind some of the songs: “I might be singing about lost love, but actually I am myself in a really happy relationship. I just think you have got to dig deeper and write songs that connect with people.”

Tickets cost £20 to include supper or £15 without. Email [email protected] or call Graeme Tame on 07889775173.

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