Back to basics for singer Lauren Barrett POP MUSIC: New Orleans native hits Dallas this week 11:10 AM CDT on Monday, September 17, 2007 By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor Lauren Barrett is getting back to her roots. The acoustic-pop chanteuse – who traded in a college-spawned stint singing in Austin bars for a shot at industry success in Los Angeles – is embarking on her first multistate tour, one that will take her through her native South. Courtesy Lauren Barrett Singing in Sixth Street clubs wasn't her first taste of performing, though. Since she was 12, the New Orleans native had been singing lead with her physician father's band, Dr. Rob and the Prescriptions. "It was a '60s and '70s cover band," she says during a recent phone interview. "It wasn't very original material, but it helped a lot with stage experience." It wasn't until she got to Austin, however, that she started thinking about music as a career. "I made the mistake of graduating from UT early," she says with a laugh. "All my friends were still going to class, and so I decided to hang around. That was the first time I started playing a lot, multiple times a week." Her boyfriend (now her fiancé) moved to Los Angeles, so she decided to trade one music scene for another. "Looking back on it, it may have been a mistake," she says. "Out here, you have to give people a reason to see you, almost make them come out, and every place has a cover." But she persevered, writing, co-writing and performing her music. She sought to advance her career with a specific strategy: entering as many contests as she could. "I know it's kind of cheesy," she says, acknowledging that in the post- American Idol universe, any idiot with a pulse can be provided a shot at pop culture's brass ring. "But I tried to limit myself to songwriting contests rather than performance-based things." After a long string of placing but not winning, she began to score. The icing on the cake was winning the VO5 "Red Hot Rising Star" contest. "That paid cash. I was also trying to focus on contests that offered money so that I could take it and do what I wanted to." The result of that boon was her namesake EP, released last year, a follow-up to 2005's This Is Real. The music on it is something of a cross between that of Shawn Colvin and Avril Lavigne: smart, sensitive and ranging from joyous to sad. Her favorite song on the new album may be "Open Door," "which started out as a punky, up-tempo thing," she explains. "But after Katrina, it began to slow down, and now it's really about my brother, who really carried the weight of the family there for a while." Like many who love the Crescent City, she feels confusion, anger and sadness about the entire post-Katrina situation but has managed to find a positive side to the disaster that drove her family out of their home for six months. "I'm really excited to be coming back to Texas because the outpouring of hospitality that Texas showed to people from New Orleans was just crazy. It really means a lot." guidelive@dallasnews.com Plan your life Lauren Barrett will play in Dallas for two nights. The first performance will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Obzeet, 19020 Preston Road. Admission is free. 972-867-6126. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, she'll be at Poor David's Pub, 1313 S. Lamar. Admission is $10. 214-565-1295.

http://wlso.fm/wordpress/archives/336 WLSO.FM Just Great Music Welcome! Longtown, SC 29130 Visit! Subscribe Here Today WLSO.FM is loaded! Uncleshag presents the Longtown Sound from the shores of Lake Wateree, daily. Every indie tune ear-picked especially for you. Live, from New York, tune in to Rockollections with golden-voiced musicologist, The Professor, Mike Pell. Check out Planet Music, with up and coming artist interviews and their music with the sparkling host, Michelle Reyes. Planet Music Interview - Lauren Barrett Photography: Howard Rosenberg Planet Music’s first featured artist! Check out Lauren’s podcast interview where you will get to know her and get to hear some of her amazing tunes! Lauren’s main site Lauren’s Myspace site Planet Music Standard Podcast [21:57m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Voice of the Wetlands All-stars -- all except Dr. John, pictured at lower left -- will perform at the Democratic National Convention's delegate welcoming party. The Democratic National Convention will step out to a decidedly Big Easy beat. The 6,000 delegates expected to attend the Aug. 24 welcoming party at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver will groove to the Voice of the Wetlands All-stars featuring guitarist Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville, Irma Thomas and Marva Wright, plus three of the four original Meters, the Soul Rebels Brass Band and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians. Later that night, the same musicians are to perform during a private after-party at Denver's Fillmore Auditorium hosted by Friends of New Orleans, a non-profit, non-partisan Washington D.C. organization that advocates on behalf of New Orleans and coastal restoration. The Voice of the Wetlands All-stars are also performing Sept. 1 at a Friends of New Orleans party during the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. Former Congressman Billy Tauzin and actor and FONO board member John Larroquette will host both the Denver and Minneapolis events, which New Orleans community radio station WWOZ (90.7 FM) plans to broadcast live. The VOW All-stars include Benoit, Cajun bandleader Waylon Thibodeaux, drummer Johnny Vidacovich, guitarist Anders Osborne, harmonica player Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, bassist George Porter Jr. and percussionist Cyril Neville. In Denver, the All-stars will be augmented by Thomas, Wright, Austin pianist Marcia Ball, saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, trombonist "Big" Sam Williams, sousaphonist Kirk Joseph, trumpeter James Andrews and singers Lauren Barrett and Mary McBride. Additionally, Porter, guitarist Leo Nocentelli and drummer Zigaboo Modeliste of the Meters are expected to perform with Walter "Wolfman" Washington and other special guests.