Taken from her upcoming sophomore album, ‘I Said Take Me To The Water’, which is set for release on May 31, Lauren Crosby’s ‘You Don’t Need A Rose’ is a refreshing blend of blues and folk, with some pop and singer-songwriter sensibilities. Think Loretta Lynn crossed with Taylor Swift, with a dash of Muddy Waters.
Lauren, who originally comes from Georgetown Island, in Maine, describes herself as having,
“the brains of a heartsick twenty-something sailor, and the eyes of a two-hundred-year old admiral”
Her sound is seasoned with plenty of salt from the North Atlantic, yet there’s a certain backwoods quality to her sound; it’s raw and beguiling, with a storytelling style that will leave you – the track comes in at just under two minutes long – wanting for more.
Lauren is a self-taught guitarist, and started performing at fourteen, where she was on the bill alongside world-weary fishermen and shipyard workers. It was her avid curiosity for everything around her, which she channels into her writing, which set her apart at such a young age, and led her to being asked to perform with the likes of folk singer Jonathan Edwards, in addition to opening for, or performing with, other well-known artists such as LISSE, Drake White, and Assembly Of Dust.
Lauren’s songwriting caught the attention of former Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Bob Weir, who took her out to San Rafael, California, where she recorded two songs at his own TRI Studios. Her debut self-titled album was recorded shortly after, when still only 19, in the basement of a local songwriters house, in Mid-Coast Maine.
Lauren left Maine in 2013, choosing to study in Memphis, and Alberquerque, but returned home in 2016 to record her live concept album, ‘Back River Beauties’, Completing a teaching degree and then touring the west coast, alongside long time bandmate Aaron Nadeau, she took a job teaching English in South Korea, which she followed up six months later with yet another teaching job in Yupik Eskimo Village, in Alaska. Forever absorbing all that goes on around her, she’s poured it all into ‘I Said Take Me To The Water’, which she recorded in 2018, the week after she returned from yet another teaching job, this time a year long stint of teaching English and Music in Thailand.
Lauren quips,
“you learn a lot about yourself and the world when you are living alone, stripped from your language, your culture, and your loved ones – but it all comes back around when there are handsome men to smile at.”
You can find Lauren Crosby and her music online on Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube, and her official website.
