Tennessee:  12th & Porter, The Rutledge, Exit/In, The Listening Room, The Basement, Douglas Corner
South Carolina:  The White Mule, Headliners, 3 Rivers Music Festival, Rhythm On the River
Georgia:  Eddie's Attic, Swallow At the Hollow
Wisconsin:  Loons On LaCrosse

Set Up:
Everything from solo/acoustic, trio (bass, percussion, Lauren on guitar and vocals), to a 6 piece band (drums, bass, keys, electric, BGV, Lauren on guitar & vocals)

"Because of her poppy spunk and girl-you-know delivery, the Columbia native will remind you of Dolly Parton sipping tea with Wynonna in a blues joint." -- Otis Taylor, The State


"She's generating praise for a voice that's bright, expressive, and immediately recognizable, as well as a genuine earthiness that can't be manufactured or taught." -- Nashville City Paper


Featured in Nashville Scene's list of "Five Women Threatening To Give Mainstream Music A Good Name," along with Lori McKenna, Sarah Buxton, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert.


"Lauren Lucas's self-released debut EP is bursting with songs that could be hits with some marketing muscle, but "Riverstone" isn't one of them. That's because it's a worthy addition to the great country tradition of murder ballads, which the genre has rejected in favor of fetishizing blameless death (preferably that of a child, ideally from cancer). But the lyrical image of a naked woman with a Bible in one hand and a whiskey bottle in the other? As a wise man (well, David Allan Coe, anyway) once sang, 'If that ain't country, I'll kiss your ass.'" --Chris Neal, pop.idolator.com 2007 In the Mix


"She's your girl"
As far too many talented young artists have learned, getting signed to a major in Nashville isn't the final step before actually seeing your face looking back to you from a record-store rack, in fact, it's sometimes an impediment. That's what South Carolina native Lauren Lucas discovered when she was signed to Warner Bros. Nashville just long enough to see her 2005 debut shelved after the first single sputtered out at No. 52. Finally freed of her corporate bonds, she took matters into her own hands. The result is the independently released If I Was Your Girl, a vibrant EP of soul-kissed country-pop whose actual, honest-to-god physical existence was celebrated with a CD release party at 12th & Porter Monday evening. Lucas' natural charisma and versatile voice, ranging from a husky croon to full-on soul belting, were deservedly the focus throughout a 45-minute set backed by her aptly named Bad Ass Band, with guitarist Rob McNelley's stinging leads a standout. The whole shindig could be seen on the Internet through Lucas' MySpace page, just one of the rapidly evolving technologies whose reach and power may give future Nashville newbies a valid reason not to sign on the dotted line in the first place." -- Nashville Scene, August 30, 2007 issue

Lauren Lucas

Photo credit: Juan Pont Lezica

Photo credit: Juan Pont Lezica

Photo credit: Juan Pont Lezica

Photo credit: Juan Pont Lezica

Photo credit: Juan Pont Lezica

“If I’m out there singing every night, I want to do something I love,” Lauren Lucas declares. “I want to share a little piece of me with people, and I don’t want that to be false."

The truth that Lauren Lucas wants to share with her audience comes filtered through a talent that has been molded in unique ways and in surprising places. Her songs and her sound emerge from the point where several deep rivers of American music meet: the rock and country hits she sang along with as a child in Columbia, S.C.; the musical theater training that led her to Tony-nominee status as a teenager; and the deeply soulful, bluesy singing style that came from … well, she’s not sure where that came from. Maybe it just comes from the heart.

Lucas first stepped onstage in Columbia when she was only 3. Tagging along to her older sister’s community theater audition, she decided she wanted to give it a try herself. She got a part in the show (as did her sister), and since then has wanted nothing more than to connect with audiences as a performer. “I caught the bug right then and there,” she recalls. “To this day, I still get such a high out of being onstage. I love it.”

Before she was even in high school, she spent several years traveling to New York exploring the city’s tradition of Broadway musicals. Simultaneously, she was living in Columbia finishing her education and fronting her own cover band.

At sixteen, she spent several months performing in an off-Broadway show, which led to another one-of-a-kind chance when she was invited to submit songs for a stage version of the 1978 John Travolta country-music movie Urban Cowboy. “Take Me for a Ride,” a tune she wrote with Sarah Light and Danny Arena, became part of the show’s Tony-nominated score. “I guess you could say that was my first cut as a writer,” she says.

Despite her unexpected Broadway success, Lucas had decided that her future lay in Nashville. She attended Belmont University and when she wasn't studying, she was playing gigs and growing a fan base at the local listening rooms and clubs. Just after graduating, she recorded a project for Warner Bros. Records. A shakeup in the label’s power structure led her to part ways with Warner Bros. in 2006, before her completed debut album could make it to stores. “I didn’t know what to do,” she remembers. “I had to reinvent myself.”

That’s just what she did. She set about developing her writing skills further and working to define herself as an artist. “I know who I want to be much more now than I did when I got off the label,” she says. “It’s been a huge growing period. I want to be as me as I can possibly be, and I have a clearer vision of who that is now.”
Lucas took her career into her own hands by independently recording a five-song EP, If I Was Your Girl. Word-of-mouth buzz and Internet exposure helped her to build a steadily growing grassroots fan base.

Whatever her future holds, Lauren Lucas is certain that she’ll always be making music and doing her best to bring it to anyone willing to listen. Amid the blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em culture of modern music, her sights are firmly fixed on the long term.

“I want to be the kind of artist whose songs people want to cover,” she says. “I want to make music with integrity, music that you can think about intellectually but that also can be fun. My role models are artists like James Taylor, and Bonnie Raitt —they’ll always put out amazing records, and people are always going to buy tickets to go see them.

“That’s the dream for me, and I’m going to shoot for it.”