Lauren Winans-No Boys Allowed

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Lauren Winans was born to entertain.  When this 19-year-old West Virginia native was just a tiny tot, she had already found her voice and love for music.  Hardly shy, Winans would delight in performing musical routines in front of her family, classmates and neighbors.  However, it wasn’t until she was fourteen that she started taking singing seriously. Growing up in a town called Buckhannon, Winans was always surrounded by a loving and supportive family.  Her parents, although not singers themselves, influenced Winans as a young child.  They often had music playing on the radio or by way of the television, exposing Winans mostly to the country music genre.  She also remembers finding her favorite movie during childhood.  Beauty and the Beast became a much loved and much watched movie for Winans. She adored Belle, the lead character, and often found herself singing all the beloved songs from the Disney classic.  ”It got me into singing,” states Winans.

Today, the beautiful and talented Winans not only sings, but writes her own songs.  ”I keep a musical diary.  If I want to remember something, I’ll write it down.  When it comes to songwriting, the idea comes first and then the melody,” she explains.  According to the performer, feeling the words is just as important as feeling the rhythm.  ”It’s hard to explain [the feeling] of how wonderful it is to hear your own song being played or to hear someone else singing it,” reveals Winans when asked what it is like to be a songwriter.  She goes on to say that it is especially true if you are writing your songs from experience.  In such a way to Winans, it is like unloading your feelings and emotions; getting your thoughts off your chest.  Her song, “About a Boy,” was inspired by a personal experience and when Winans was finished writing it, it made her cry.  No doubt, a very emotional song for the teenager to create, but it has since become one of her all time favorites.  To Winans, country music affects her more than other genres because it is about “real things in life,” making it more emotionally charged.  Seth Maynard, a fellow songwriter, helps Winans with some of her songs. Winans, who describes herself as “super girlie,” says it is a little funny to have a man like Maynard try to understand her thoughts and feelings and put them into words.

Winans, who says she associates most with country music and enjoys it considerably, does not want her music to only reflect that kind of genre.  Instead of being labeled as strictly a country music singer, she wants to be recognized more so as a multi-genre artist.  On Winan’s upcoming CD set to debut in the summer (she says she still has a few more songs to record), there will be a variety of musical styles reflected in her songs.  There will be something for everyone to enjoy, from country to pop.  The song, “No Boys Allowed,” is the only one not written or co-written by Winans on her CD.  However, she felt strongly connected to the song, and believed in it.  Winans decided then to include it.  It’s a song that Winans could relate to and understand; something you would hear anytime and anyday on a playground.  Winans says she thinks about a group of girls playing happily, creating their own private world where no boys are allowed.  The song is also featured in Winan’s debut video.

And we all know that Winans can sing and write, but can she play an instrument?  ”I play the guitar,” states the talented young entertainer.  Even though she can play the guitar, Winans confides that her studio musicians usually are the ones who provide most of the music.  Winans did reveal that she will be playing the guitar in an upcoming song, and that in all of her original songs, it is just her singing.  Seth Maynard, who owns the studio, plays all kinds of instruments, minus the drums.  So, there are times too when Maynard will take over to provide the beat.

So where does Winans see herself five years from now?  It was an easy answer for the singer/songwriter.  ”A single on the Top 10.  That would be huge!”  And in ten years?  ”I want to be a household name.”  With the way this 19-year-old is performing now, that dream will easily become a reality, and possibly a whole lot sooner than in ten years.

It is apparent that Winans enjoys entertaining her fans, so we couldn’t help but ask what has been her best experience to date singing in public.  With a slight giggle, Winans recalls a time she performed in Nashville at a club.  She had just finished her set, exited off the stage and got approached by a very tipsy bar patron.  The man had been calling her name, and motioned for her to join him.  Winans walked over and was greeted by the man who proceeded to compliment her.  ”You’re fantastic!  You really touched me.  Please don’t leave.  I want you to sing me a song.”  Winans admits that she was honored, but a little unnerved.  She did continue to talk to the man and soon found out that he played hockey.  It wasn’t until later on that she realized who this hockey player really was.  Winans says she was watching the Team Canada hockey team defeat the U.S. in the winter Olympics.  The winning goal in the nail biting game was made by her number one fan.

For more information on Lauren Winans, please go to her website:  www.laurenwinans.com

“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” – Allman Brothers

Sometimes songs have a meaning, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes we will never know what a song was about.  As I traveled through Macon, Georgia visiting my father, he took me to a place where the song “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” started where life ends: a cemetery called “Rose Hill Cemetery.”

Everyone dreams of being idolized in a song. Women or men who are portrayed in the harmony of a hit song is the ultimate respect, and must be someone the writers thought highly of.  So what impact did Elizabeth Reed have on this band?

If you don’t know, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed was written by Macon’s own Allman Brothers Band.  A group Georgians adore, and the town of Macon idolizes.  You would figure that when the band was traveling from pub to pub making public appearances, Elizabeth Reed must have been their number one fan, a girlfriend or someone very special to the Allman Brothers.  Why else would they immortalize her in song?  The truth is, Elizabeth Reed never met the Allman Brothers, and they never knew her personally yet she did play a huge part in the success of this great American legend.

In reality, Elizabeth Reed was the wife of Briggs F. Napier, and she died in 1935, almost 30 years before the Allman Brothers would even pick up a guitar.  She is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery located in downtown Macon. It is a beautiful cemetery filled with Civil War heroes, state senators, and other dignitaries of the town. Its vast landscape has rolling hills, and is bordered by a train used by the slaves for the Underground Railroad. It’s this cemetery, the Allman Brothers loved to visit and play their music in.  Yes, you heard me right; they loved to go into the cemetery, bring some friends, and play some music while downing a few cold ones.

Elizabeth Reed’s grave happened to be the spot of choice for the Allman Brothers.  Where she is buried is perfect for what they were looking for acoustically. The wall of the family plot is raised from the slope below making it a great little stage.  The head of the plot is surrounded by another small hill making the acoustics powerful.  And if you look at the grave, they could sit on her stone and not get dirty since they didn’t have to sit on the grass.  It was truly perfect, and people would come every week to hear them practice some of their legendary songs we all know today, and had a grand ol’ time.

So even though she never met the brothers, she never even got to hear their music; nor be wooed by the fact they named a song after her; she greatly impacted the band. America may not have even known the Allman Brothers today without her. They felt they could not honor her in any better way than making a song dedicated to her.  Some Maconites swear to this day, it’s at that grave that the Allman Brothers wrote and perfected their hit songs to propell them to stardom. Elizabeth Reeds grave is the “alleged” start of it all.

Sadly, on October 29, 1971 Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident crashing into a truck.  He is laid to rest in the same cemetery as Elizabeth Reed.  Today his grave is highly guarded and surrounded with a spiked cast iron fence, covered in axle grease to keep people from jumping the fence.  He returned to the place he forever loved to play in, and shall forever rest in peace in the spot some say the Allman Brothers formed.  If you ever get to go to Macon, visit this famous cemetery and see Duane Allman and Elizabeth Reed, knowing this is where it all started.  Rose Hill Cemetery is free to visit from sunrise to sunset.  I suggest since the cemetery is so large that you bring someone you know that knows the layout, because the streets are VERY narrow and hard to navigate cars through.