KC Soundcheck is KCUR's spotlight for Kansas City musicians on the rise, as heard on Up To Date. Who should we interview next? Send us a text at 816-601-4777.
Growing up in a small town outside Wichita, Lauren Lovelle lived and breathed country music.
Her dad was in a honky-tonk band, and when they rehearsed, her mom couldn’t keep her away.
“When the band was practicing at my house and stuff, she couldn’t get me to go to bed,” Lovelle told KCUR’s Up To Date. “And I’d cry and cry if I couldn’t be a part of it.”
By the time Lovelle was 10, she was singing hour-long sets with the band during their shows.
But in high school, Lovelle stepped away from that scene. Instead, she focused on extracurriculars like musical theater and choir. And, as a teenager in 2016, Lovelle says she was embarrassed about the political associations that country music had embraced.
“Country has always had, you know, it plays on the themes of traditional things and nostalgic things. But, I mean, we have to be careful, because in this country, we have some really harmful traditions or harmful things that are called traditional,” Lovelle said.
Her passion for the genre returned as she was healing from personal trauma. Lovelle was at her best friend’s house, laying on the bedroom floor, when Linda Ronstadt's version of “Willin’” came on.
“Hearing that song sent me back to my childhood. And I was like…Why am I ashamed of country music? And how can I find the country music that does feel like me?’” she recalled.
So Lovelle started singing again, first with cover bands in Kansas City. Two years ago, she started performing her own music and formed a band, The Midnight Spliffs, to back her.
Now, Lovelle is out with her debut EP “Other Dreams” – a collection of four songs that reflect on coming of age, “figuring out how gentle and how tough I want to be.”
Lauren Lovelle and the Midnight Spliffs will perform Friday, Sept. 12 at Lawrence Beer Company.
- Lauren Lovelle, musician
