Daily Inspiration: Meet Laura Reed

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Reed

Hi Laura, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1985. This was a violent and tumultuous time as the Apartheid Regime in South Africa was finally crumbling. My mother was also born in South Africa and my father was American, from Nashville, Tennessee. at the end of 1990 we moved close to his family in the US after a series of violent incidences came right to our door step and it seemed that with two small children (my brother was 2) it was best to leave the country, even if temporarily.

That move ended up being permanent and before long I was saying “ya’ll” with confidence in rural North Carolina. I never really acclimated and felt like an outsider in the US, as did my mom and the rest of our family that we tried to bring with us. I needed an escape, and found solace in writing and singing. At every chance I could get I was journaling, recording song ideas and poetry with my mom’s dictaphone, and by age 14 teaching myself how to play guitar, drums and other various instruments. Before long, I was playing at open mics at coffee shops and on the street in the area I lived. At 17 I left home, and made my way to the Appalachian mountains where I went to school studying Anthropology and sustainable development and playing as much music as I could.

During this time I really honed my skills as a street performer “buskin'” down the main street and traveling to bigger cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, New York ect. to make money and collaborate. That’s when I met some of the first musicians I really wrote and performed with and eventually started a band called “Laura Reed and Deep Pocket”. It didn’t take much time until I was barely making it to the classes and was traveling for shows at every chance I got. When I graduated we moved as a band to Asheville, NC and got our first agent, had a manager, tour manager, attorney, publicist, sound engineer and investor. We were doing the independent musician gig fully, even running our tour on “bio-diesel” that I had been learning to make at the sustainable development program at ASU where I went to school.

We were performing over 180 shows a year at this point and were building a loyal following the hard way, show by show. Selling cd’s and merch everywhere we went and paying everyone a meager salary to do it full time. This was 2007 I would say, when we were really picking up steam and I eventually got a life changing call to be part of a project called “The Big Ol’ Nasty Getdown” . This was a studio collaboration between original members of Parliament Funkadelic, including the unc of funk himself George Clinton as well as a slew of exceptional musicians from New Orleans. All of this was after hurricane Katrina and NOLA was very much recovering and the musical community had a lot to say. Members of Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Galactic, Trombone Shorty ect. were involved and I was along for the ride. It was my first time recording in a proper studio, I had been brought in to sing backgrounds originally. However, me and George and Gary Shider (Star Child) who were leading the operation hit it off and before I knew it I was invited to be a songwriter, and main vocalist and arranger. I had never written a song with anyone before, only countless others by myself since I was a child. Kendra Foster was there in the studio, she was singing with PFunk at the time and they asked if we would work on a song together. Of course I was excited and had a blast collaborating, Kendra went on to be the co-writer of the Grammy Award winning “Black Messiah” D’Angelo album that came out many years later and a fantastic solo artist herself.

During this time the band was having tensions, there was a label involved now, an investor, and I had met someone on tour and fallen in love. The whole band was living together in the basement of a huge house in Atlanta that belonged to the owner of the studio we were working out of. It was 2008 and the industry had not quite felt the hit of streaming music yet and the live music scene that we were part of was thriving in Atlanta and felt like the obvious next move for us in the South East. I got married that winter of that 2008 and found out I was pregnant right after. The band did not take the news well. We had a several month tour booked all over the US and the Caribbean and everyone was of course worried about what that would mean. We didn’t cancel any shows, infact I even picked up an extra recording gig in between shows singing backgrounds for a Karl Denson album at Lenny Kravitz’s studio at 8 months pregnant. That was one of the last gigs I did before hunkering down and giving birth to my first son, all natural 28 hour labor in a bathtub in Florida. By the time I had given birth the band had broken up, I felt abandoned, and poured myself into motherhood. I was 24 and unsure what was going to happen next.

The studio we had been working with in Atlanta had since started an artist development label and was unphased by the band breakup and happy to have me as a solo artist. I later learned that was most likely because I’d be easier to control and less expense. I was easily convinced to move back to Atlanta, this time with my husband and baby, but without a band. I was busy recording and writing and singing hooks and backgrounds (Killer Mike, Jelly Roll, Struggle Jennings) in between breast feeding and diaper changes and barely sleeping. My husband didn’t have much luck with work when we moved to Atlanta, and he decided to travel to St. John where I had a cousin that had plenty of construction work for him temporarily. He was supposed to go for 1 month, and proceeded to be gone for over 9. In those 9 months I went through a dark night of the soul struggling with finding my place in Atlanta in an industry that was not welcoming me as a mother. Infact, my “manager” at the time even told me to tell people my son was my nephew if I was asked so they wouldn’t think I was too old or had lost my potential. Hard pills to swallow as a young mother and I had just about given up hope. On my marriage and on music.

It was then that a friend reminded me that I had been doing this a long time and there were probably folks out there that would help me if I reached out. One name in particular came to mind, Paul Worley. I had met Paul a few years previously singing at a wedding at the 4 seasons in Atlanta with my band doing ALL original music. Paul and his business partner were impressed and wanted to work together but after a few meetings I never heard back. I decided to call Paul, he was the producer and mastermind behind over 50 #1 hits, as well as producer for The Dixie Chicks and Lady A and President of Warner Bro’s Nashville. I didn’t make country music but I had a feeling Paul would have some insight for me if he remembered me after these years. He answered immediately and was excited to hear from me and catch up. Apparently he never stopped wanting to work together but had been told by my management that I had another producer and was not interested. Funny how that can happen, but here we were reconnecting and little did I know he would just about save my life.

He asked me how soon I could come to Nashville, and I told him the next day I’d be there. I let him know I hadn’t heard from my husband in months, had a baby with me, and was in a pretty terrible production deal with people I felt abused by. He knew he couldn’t help me much in Atlanta but sure could in Nashville. I went to meet him, took my baby and a friend who offered to babysit while I went to Warner Chappell studios to meet Paul and this new band he was working with “Lady Antebellum”, who were mixing their hit song “I need you now”. I played him my humble demo I had been working on in Atlanta that was closer to a mixtape then an album, but had songs that really reflected alot of the pain and loss I had been dealing with. He listened and to my surprise said he actually couldn’t produce me, that there was someone else that came to mind for the job, but that he would be the AR and that I could stay with him and his family (if his wife said ok). He made a phone call and put me on the phone with Shannon Sanders. Shannon was already a multi Grammy winning Neo Soul producer, writing and producing with India.Arie, John Legend, Johnny. Lang, Pink ect. Paul told him we needed to meet and that I was going to be living in town. Then Paul called his wife and let me know me, and my then not even 1 year old could stay with them. I drove back to Atlanta, in slight shock and excitement. Immediately broke my lease and started to move everything into a storage unit in Nashville.

When I got to Nashville I reached out to the few musicians I did know from my time in Atlanta. One of them was Struggle Jennings, who happens to be Waylon Jennings grandson. Struggle and I met at the studio I worked out of and I had sang on some of his songs that were collaboration with him and his buddy and now pretty household name, Jelly Roll. Jelly and Struggle were Nashvillians and he took me under his wing when I got into town and told me there was someone I needed to meet that would be a perfect producer for me, Shannon Sanders. I said nothing and just let him call Shannon, which was his 2nd phone call that week regarding me and from very different sides of the musical tracks. Shannon this time wanted to talk to me, he told me to meet him at 9am the. next day at Sylvan Park. The nostalgic meat and three diner in South Nashville that I came to learn was basically his office and meeting room.

So my career as a Nashville songwriter started, it was 2011 and I had found myself with a pretty diverse group of allies in one of the most competitive song towns. I felt safe to create at Pauls house, he had a baby grand piano that I taught myself to play and would work on music while my son was in day care or with his grandmothers, who had at this point stepped in to help as my husband was still MIA. These songs turned into what would become my first solo album, “the Awakening”. One of the songs, “Struggle” helped me to land my first publishing deal with Emi when Paul set up a meeting with the then president, Ben Vaughn. I sang it for him live in his office and shared my story. I didn’t have any expectations and just knew I had to keep my head down and keep working on the songs until something stuck.

I was working different part time jobs like tutoring at a elementary school, braiding hair, and playing any shows I could so I could get an apartment of my own. I had already been staying with Paul and his family for close to 6 months. My husband finally resurfaced and it was obvious at that point there was no marriage to save. I decided to file for divorce. I left the courthouse and got a call from Paul as I was about to leave the parking deck that EMI wanted to sign me and if I could come there immediately. It was a great moment of one door opening when another was closing as I had just slammed the door shut on a previous life and found myself with the first serious paid gig as a songwriter. I remember I immediately called food stamps and WIC to let them know I no longer qualified and we celebrated on the phone. I took my first check from that deal and put a deposit on an apartment I had dreamed of living in overlooking downtown Nashville and literally moved me and my son with his stroller from the subsidized housing we were living in down the street to the brand new over priced condo of my dreams.

During my time with EMI they were bought out by Sony/ATV and everyone I worked with was fired. I was fortunate to have been kept on as songwriter but they never really knew what to do with me. Paul made sure to advocate for me and make sure I was not dropped, I was still in the midst of working on my first album with Shannon and had already decided that I wanted to be an artist, not just write for other people. So I focused on the unconventional path at the time of synch and licensing instead of pitching my songs to other artists. This was around 2013/2014 when the Industry was changing again and soon the corner office of the executive at Sony for song pitching to big artists became the corner office for the head of Creative Synch, and I was cranking out as much music as I could to get placements. I landed several for films and TV including Selling Sunset, teen mom, Hollywood Exes and even films that were music supervised by Alicia Keys or featured Sigourney Weaver. It was a learning curve but solidified my place as an artist and a songwriter, I felt that the hard work was finally paying off.

Despite the synch success I still didn’t fit into the box in Nashville and Sony/ATV, and so we parted ways and I decided to dedicate myself to breaking as a solo artist and touring again. I had been off the road for several years now but my son was a toddler and I had enough support I felt I could give it another shot. I got new management, new agent, attorney, publicist, tour manager, the whole team again but instead of dedicated band, I was just “Laura Reed” this time around. I was fortunate to be surrounded by some of the most talented musicians in Nashville and Shannon helped me put together a touring band as my MD and we put together a show to support the release of my first album on my own label, Five Foot Giant Records. The shows were growing, the music was spreading and alot of the fans that had been there even from the VERY beginning when I was playing open mics or on the street were still there showing up.

I spent a few years living off of that album the best I could, while being a single mom and adapting to the ever changing music industry. It wasn’t long before I met another label that wanted to help me grow my career and started working on new music, as well as getting wooed into another marriage. I continued to work with Shannon, but the label felt I needed to experiment more with my sound and find a rock guitar player. I had a big blues influence from artist like Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton that my father had introduced me to when we moved to America. I had learned alot of these songs on harmonica and played them on the street for years but hadn’t incorporated that influence into my own music yet. So we put the word out looking for a guitarist and one day, via facebook, I received a message from Laur Joamets.

Laur had come to the US from Estonia to play with country artist Sturgill Simpson and had become a sought after session player in Nashville. I hadn’t heard of him however since I had been in the Neo-Soul/RnB scene in Nashville and so asked him for some references or examples to check out his tone. He sent me a video of him playing on SNL with Sturgill. So I told him to come audition and we immediately hit it off as creatives. He joined me in the studio to record a EP that was going to be produced this time around by Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) and Vance Powell (Jack White) at Vance’s iconic analog studio in Nashville. We were going to record it all live as a 4 piece and it felt so good to be playing with a band again. We recorded 4 songs and I started playing to bigger and bigger crowds with Shannon leading the band, a new guitarist to write with, and essentially a rock album up my sleeve. Then 2020 hits and all bets were off.

Not only did the pandemic stop things in their tracks, but the label dissolved and it again felt like I was back at square one. Luckily Laur lived down the street so my family and his quarantine bubbled and continued to write songs almost everyday. We live streamed and wrote and before long I coundn’t tell which songs were “mine” and which really were a for a band. It was also at this time I joined the pandy baby boom and had my second son. So I was back in mom mode, but this time with support and was embraced as a mother in a very different way then I had 12 years prior.

Laur had simultaneously been working on an instrumental album, which he decided to have mixed by Vance Powell. He sneakily asked if I’d like to come listen to the mixes, knowing full well I would want to write and sing on them. He was right, and as soon as Vance saw me humming melodies he turned to us both and said, you guys should just combine your albums and be a band. It made sense. I had these songs that were ready to go that he played on and then I proceeded to write and sing on his. You couldn’t really tell them apart and it felt very natural to combine it all into what became “LORE”.

At the time Laur was consistently touring as the guitarist for Southern Rock band “Drivin n Cryin’ and we were opening for them on several of their shows. Their manager and bassist Tim offered to help us put the record out on vinyl. We decided to pay for it by doing a 3 week tour in Europe focusing around the Baltics where Laur was from in Estonia. We played several large festivals and were able to cover the costs to put our music out and build things up as a duo or full band touring act. The songs were certainly a departure from what I had done as “Laura Reed” but fit right at home in the growing Nashville Americana/Rock scene and so we stayed busy performing and recording, while I was continuing to of course also be a mom. Now with a small baby again and teenager.

Then as things started to open up a bit in 2022 we were part of a project honoring Kevn Kinney, the songwriter and lead vocalist of Drivin n Cryin. We did a cover of his song “Madman Blues”. Laur sent this version to his Sturgill, who was not touring at the time and showed some interest in what we were working on. it was time for us to make another album, we had just released a collection of different blues and folk covers we recorded in Nashville with our friend Brian Wright and were itching to write some originals and expand on the rock, blues and folk influences. Sturgill agreed to produce it with us in the coming Spring, which felt like a full circle moment as he had been the one to originally bring Laur over to the States to play music 8 years prior.

Me being the Gemini that I am, and never feeling I am creating enough I decided to ALSO go make another Laura Reed EP. I had stayed in touch during the pandemic with Megan Coleman (Jenny Lewis/Allison Russell/Yola), drummer and writer that worked with the last label I was with and had become one of my close friends. I had a strong feeling we needed to work together and she would take the song ideas I had been sitting on and holding for many years to the next level. There was a label out of London called North Note that I had worked with on synch licensing that had expressed interest in doing more artist development and helping me to record and release singles. So I reached out to them and to Megan to see if we could all collaborate. Everyone was excited to see what we could do and in December of 2023 we went into the studio with just about ALL WOMEN on the sessions. My first time experiencing that in an industry that has been very male dominated where most times I was the ONLY woman. We had an all femme string section, horns, and vocals that we wrote arrangements on the spot and recorded live for 3 days. We finished with some of my favorite music I’ve made to date that was released in the Spring of 2024.

That same Spring I also went into the studio with Laur, Sturgill and a heavy hitting rhythm section to record 11 songs all live at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, the same studio I recorded my Laura Reed and Deep Pocket album at in 2007, about 17 years later. Another full circle moment. The sessions almost didn’t happen because that same week my father ended up hitting his head in the night and passing in his sleep. I was in a deep state of grief for days, but had a show in Nashville booked with Laur a few days later in the same neighborhood my dad was from, and then was going to the studio. I knew he would have wanted me to do all of that and honor him, so I did. Crying on stage and toasting the whole room with his favorite, bourbon. I brought his ashes with me to the studio at Sturgill’s invitation and sang my heart out. I had lots of grief to channel as I was mourning my father, but also my second marriage which had fallen apart quite incrementally after my second son was born. When I finished those sessions I filed for divorce and started yet another chapter.

A chapter that begins with a new “Laura Reed” collection of music out in the world that I released while working on a reforestation project in Oaxaca, Mexico (Proyecto Rosenda), a second LORE album in the vault ready to be released, and embarking on my newest project of co-founding a ethically sourced and made Mezcal brand to help fund the reforestation work. One major lesson that my father’s death illuminated for me was that I had many passions that I need to honor in my life and messages that I could carry with my voice and music. Not to leave any of that to chance but truly go for it unapologetically. So since his death and as this next chapter begins I have been more and more vocal about social and environmental justice issues that I can not ignore and feel called to reflect in my music and activism. Growing from my life experiences and passions to fully encompass the interconnect calling of music, art, motherhood, activism, working with the land, and most recently, mezcal. More on that soon.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think you can really pursue anything meaningful with obstacles, even amongst all of the great blessings and beautiful experiences. Some of the struggles that really stand out have been being a mother while also pursuing a career as an artist and musician. Not because it is necessarily harder, being a mother is a challenge and blessing no matter your lifestyle and path. However, more so because of how the music industry and western society places so much value on women specifically to remain young, available, and in many ways a fantasy. I had plenty of instances where I was told to not publicize being married (unavailable), or a mother, certainly not a mother of a older child as it would imply I was no longer this barely legal young women, but a grown women and slightly less fitting to the social norm.

Other struggles of course are financial. feast and famine. Dedicating yourself to art, creativity, and music is fulfilling and meaningful but it is alot of up and down and not alot of financial security. There were seasons where I was well paid and take care of and other’s where if I didn’t have those WIC checks to get rice and beans I don’t know what I would have done.

I think another struggle that is perhaps not talked about as often is that of staying true to yourself, keeping the integrity to WHY you do something even if that means you may be misunderstood and even disenfranchised. I had many experiences where I was not used on a song because I didn’t fit in a box, didn’t want to exploit my sexuality (or myself), or simply it didn’t feel authentic and I wouldn’t do it. Staying firm in yourself and why you do something in the first place is an important boundary even if it means you may loose some opportunities. I learned those are not the type of opportunities I want. There is no price.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I would say at this point I’m most well known for being a singer, a songwriter, a performer, and also an activist. I have carved out a niche for myself as a high energy performer playing blues harmonica and mixing many different genres and traditions of music, with many different musical communities.

I’m most proud of the songs I have done that have “reflected the times” and been used as protest songs, freedom songs, and any kind of medicine that music can be for those that listen.

I believe what sets me apart is my experience starting as a street musician and poet, as well as my personal experience being quite unconventional. Not too many artists today started as a street performer as I did, many started online and were discovered that way while I really was never discovered, but instead have just continued for a long time. Building a following and a name for myself one show at a time, slowly and sustainably based on who resonates with my message and connects to the music I make.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
So many. I’m part of a much greater commuinity and web of creatives. As I mentioned in my “life story” Paul Worley was a instrumental mentor and guardian angel guiding me to be a songwriter in Nashville and also protecting me as a mother in a pretty cruel industry.

Shannon Sanders was my longest collaborator and taught me so much about being an artist, a performer and a writer. He really helped me polish what it is a do and get to the root of what I wanted to say as an artist.

I also have to give credit to the late and GREAT Whitney Houston, who I had the chance to meet when I lived and worked at a studio in Atlanta. I was going in for a session and warming up my voice in the lobby when she heard me. She came out of the “A Room” she was working at with full security around, walked out into the lobby and grabbed me by the arm and told me to keep singing. I sang and tried to keep my cool as she held my hands and harmonized with me, then stopped me and looked me in my SOUL and said “never stop singing, ok?! never. “. It shook me. Not just because she was literally my favorite vocalist and childhood hero, standing before me telling me this, but also because it was so sincere and what I needed to hear as i was really questioning if I could keep going as a musician. I think of that moment and her words often. She told me I had great tone, and from that point on I felt I had no choice but to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laurareed.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/laurareedmusic
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/laurareedmusic
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/laurareedmusic
• Other: https://proyectorosenda.com

Image Credits
Sam Wiseman

Lindsey Patkos

Erin April Allen

Sebastian Smith