BobbiLynn

Just received the CD. Thanks a bunch. Great great album!! You're excellent on slow ballads as well as shuffle beat. Good backups. - Tom Kawai, 55 Country Radio Station,Japan, Lonestar Productions, Japan

BobbiLynn White flashes an easy, country smile and with an infectious, laugh-at-everything attitude, deadpans that she never once gave up on making music a career.
She never lost sight of her goal while caring for foster children in her Salem home. She kept her objectives well in mind, even while putting them off as she worked as a homeless advocate and developed a nonprofit agency to promote issues through media and arts.
Now that she's a mere $8,500 from producing erdebut CD, entitled "Halfway Home," White can say confidentally that the past 20 years of her life weren't a matter of diverting her focus from music and prformance, but they did help her collect stories to tell.
"The drive to get it out never went away," she said, discussing her upcoming album. "I put myself on the back burner".
White's dream to make it in the country-music business simmered for years while she worked on other aspects of her life. Not that she ever left the music business entirely, but for years, other priorities took precedence. Now, after approximately 18 months in Coos County dedicated to writing and composing new songs, White-along with musicians and friends Patty Conquest -Burks and Dorothy Sherritt -said she's nearly ready to make a run at the Nashville music circuit.
"I've been frustrated and I've been dissapointed," she said, adding that it takes confidence to keep a dream alive as long as she has. "you have to know you can do it and not let people who want to take advantage of you get in the way.
For White, who has the self -assurance, being on stage comes as easily s flashing a smile. Under show lights and in front of a microphone, White focuses on peoples faces and gages how well the show is going by their expressions-whether they cry or react during sad songs and cheer or dance during lively, happy tunes.
"I can get up in front of 2000 people and it doesnt bother me a bit," she said, "I'm fine up there".
It's always been that way. White's flamboyant personality made itself known to people at an early age. She began singing as a nine year old who became enamored with performing when she found a chest of clothes in an attic in her Roseburg home. Donning unique, old-fashioned outfits, White practiced singing to an audience of neighborhood cats.
Decades later, having cycled through numerous musical experiences and audiences, White established her ownstyle of music, which she described as traditional country with a blues influence. White won't categorize the songs in any specific vein.
"People that hear the music, they say 'I have never quite heard country music like that before," she said, "It's just what I feel inside. "It just comes out".
Burks, a North bend High School choir pianist and a private teacher who once made a run at the music business with a Christian music band in California, said the songs focus on taking listeners through a short journey in someone else's life, or recount an episode or moment in time.
"When I write songs I'm usually trying to tell a story," Burks said, "It's like a little movie".
Burks has attempted to make music business before and while she finds the process a sometimes scarey experience, she's confident in White's contacts and influence in making "Halfway Home" a success.
White, who said she feels "exactly the same as (Burks) wries," adds her own life experiences to her lyrical compositions, giving her music her own added touch of realism.
In the early 1900's, White began the Spotlight, a registered nonprofit corporation that focused on helping the homeless through media and arts awareness. The Spotlight, a variety show that aired on cable television in the Portland and Vancouver areas, was on the air for nearly nine years. Through the show, White helped collect hundreds of blankets from the US Army Corps of Engineers, food donations from avariety of groups and highlighted homeless issues. "It was a great way to reach out to people," White said.
White was accustomed to reaching out. In teh 1980's, she became a foster parent focused on troubled orsexually abused children and eventually would help more than 100 kids in her 13 years. Along with her own three children, she raised them in a three-story home in salem.
Some of those experiences make it into White's lyrics, she said. Many of her songs are just as tender as others are gritty.
A recent compilation was inspired by an octogenarian couple who often come dancing at her shows near Greenacres.
The couple recently celebrated their 57th anniversary, White said, and she was moved by the couple, whose focus on each other is engrossing.
"Halfway Home" will include at least 12 original songs written by White, Burks and lead guitarist Jeffrey J. Hays. White, whose resume of accomplishments includes writing and performing with Motown veteran and friend Mike Valvano, already has lined up a long list of successful country musicians and producers to help ma - Andrew Sirocci, The World Newspaper

The "must see' bands on Saturday include Nashville recording artist, BobbiLynn White and local favorites Highway 95. - Dale Fisk -The Adams County record Newspaper, Idaho

BobbiLynn and her band will be performing a benefit dance at the Coquille Community Building Saturday from 8 to 11p.m. - Myrtle Point Herald Newspaper

BobbiLynn White is a singer and songwriter from Coquille. She and her band will be performing a benefit dance at the Coquille Community Building March 19 from 8 to 11p.m. Bobbilynn will be co-producing her original music album titled, "Halfway Home", with Bobby G Rice under the Midland label. Jim Brown is scheduled as studio session leader for her project and the "Nashville Pickers" will be providing musical back up. - Coquille Sentinal Newspaper

Country, bluegrass, gospel lineups scheduled for county fair.
(very large picture of BobbiLynn with text under: BobbiLynn White of Coquille will be among several state and national performers putting on music at next weeks Douglas county fair.)
....and BobbiLynn White of Coquille are two of the local and state acts set to perform at the Douglas County Fair next week. White is also a country crooner.
Both said haring their music with appreciative crowds is one of the greatest joys in life.
"Country music is my favorite," White said. "It seems to tell more of a story, more of teh truth...The greatest reward of being a musician is that it gives you the opportunity to help others. I feel real blessed that God gave me the talentand the people I work with to help other people.That's something I love doing.".....
White, a former Roseburg resident, is also excited to play at the fair and to promote jer new album,"Halfway Home,"recorded for Midland Records in Nashville,Tenn. The record is composed of 13 original songs and will be released this month. Many of the songs, she said, reflect the joys and trials she has experienced in her own life.
"The proudest moment I have to date is the completion of the CD,"she said. "It was a long,hard road to get there...I think I'm so proud of that mostly because it was so hard to get to this point, and I didn't give up."
The song that means the most to her, White said, is titled, "When I'm Lying Close To You." The song was inspired by a close friend of hers named Iva who recently died of lung cancer. The song was written from Iva's husbands standpoint, reflecting how he felt about her.
"We did a cheesy little demo with ourselves on stage, just that song, and gave it to her," White said, she cried and cried....that's why it means so much to me."
White devoted herself to her marriage, her kids and working as a foster parent. Now that she's older and her kids are grown, White said she's excited to do something for herself.
She's spending much of her time on the road, conducting interviews and convincing radio stations to give her album airplay. Although she knows her ambition of being a successful musician is fraught with challenges, she said she has no regrets about the path she's chosen.
More than anything , she said, she hopes people will take a few minutes to listen toher music to hear what she has to say.
"I want them to think, 'Oh, I can relate,'"White said. "Maybe something we're doing will help them to not feel down, to think they can survive.....We're just trying to promote the album and play our little hearts out and do the best we can. Everything went into this. It's been that way for a long time, years." - The News-Review Newspaper Erin Snelgrove Currents (On the Cover)

A country band with local ties has recently recorded a new CD in Nashville which has been filling the airwaves with some original country music.
BobbiLynn Band is headed by BobbiLynn White, lead vocalist. Whites aunt Jessie Ramos, lives in Arago. Raised in Roseburg, she began singing when she was 8 years old.
Featured in several magazine and newspaper articles and television and radio interviews, BobbiLynn has performed both solo and with several bands throughout her career. She has worked with Motown veteran Mike Valvano and performed in the Jimmie Dean True Value Showcase and The Spirit Of Country Opera Showcase.
Foe 10 years BobbiLynn produced, hosted and performed on Spotlight, an oregon cable television/variety show.
Many may be familiar with her original song "Can't get A Handle On You". It has been receiving airplay across the U.S. and on overseas radio stations.
The band has a website which lists upcoming venues:www.bobbilynnband.com - Myrtle Point Herald newspaper

BobbiLynn White, formerly of Lebanon, released a country CD under the Midland Record label on Sept. 13. "Halfway Home" is receiving airplay throughout the United States.
The CD contains 13 original songs by White.
"I'm very fortunate and blessed," White said when interviewed in November.
She used to practice in a run-down garage on Mill street in Roseburg. She refers to the release of the Cd as the "start of my big break."
She lived in Lebanon as a child and now lives in salem with her mother, Ruth (Washa)McQuigg, when she is not touring.
While raising her children, White provided respite foster care. She's fostered 116 children overall.
When she performs in Oregon, White is accompanied by local musicians that she has known throughout her career.
One of those is Gordie Gordineer, who was in the production of the CD. Gordineer is a bass player who has been performing for about 45 years. For 26 years, he played with the Maddox Brothers and Rose, a well known local group that performed in dance clubs such as Cottonwoods Ballroom. He has also performed with Earle Poole Ball, Red Simpson, Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash Jr. and Merle Haggard.
"He is the best bass player I've ever heard ," White said.
Another local musician who added to the CD is Dorothy Sherritt, harmonica artist.
White's talents aren't just singing. For ten years she produced, hosted and performed on "Spotlight an Oregon Cable Television Variety Program."
"Halfway Home" is available at music retailers including Ranch records on Liberty Street in Salem or Harvest Music on Commercial Street in Salem and online at www.cdbaby.com and Tower Records. She hopes it will be available soon at WalMart, Sam Goody and Blockbuster stores. - Lebanon Express Newspaper

Former Dallas resident BobbiLynn White, now of Coquille, recorded a 13 -song country music album titled "Halfway Home" in Nashville, Tenn., on the Midland record label. Some of her songs will play locally on KPIE radio. For more information:www.bobbilynnband.com - Polk County Itemizer- Observer Newspaper