Music
Press
The San Francisco Bay Area-based Lara Price Band makes excellent use of its leader’s hearty, sultry vocals on the slow blues “Crazy” as well as headlong rocker “Game Of Love”and “Same Ole Song.” Laura Chavez’s aggressive guitar will turn heads, but Alex Specht’s keyboards are also integral to the sound. Only two covers (Jimmy Hendrix, Leon Russell) break the playlist. A pair of roots rockers – the push-pull rhythm of “It’s Alright” and the Van Morrisonesque “Have You Ever” – are standouts on I Got News ( self-release). - Blues Review
Spin Cycle
Lara Price Band
Faces of the Blues
Self-Released
Yeah, well, good luck if you're young and female and trying to make it with a brand of soul and blues that borrows from masters like Aretha Franklin and Ruth Brown. You can pretty much count on not getting any radio play at all, which means just try building an audience. But here comes a smoky-voiced, gutsy singer from San Francisco who studied operatic voice at Boise State University and isn't afraid to either rock hard with her band or put herself out in front with her band playing softly behind her. Price--along with guitarist and composing partner Laura Chavez--wrote five of the eight tracks on Faces of the Blues, which includes "Can't Quit the Blues," a Buddy Guy cover. Price's powerful delivery conjures up any number of blues blasters from yesteryear, but perhaps none more than Janis Joplin--no faint praise. (Tim Whitaker)
- Philadelphia Weekly
"a virtual library of the best contemporary and traditional players, some of whom you may never have heard of. For example, there's Laura Chavez backing vocalist Lara Price with blues-rock licks so hot they'd keep Bernard Allison or Joe Kubek at bay." - Edmonton Sun
"This is also goose bump city, from the opener with on-fire 22 year-old electric guitar wonder Laura Chavez (Can't Quit The Blues)." - Big City Blues
And if you haven't heard of Laura Chavez, you will soon--her ferocious lines on the Lara Price Band's cover of Buddy Guy's 'Can't Quit the Blues' are simply electrifying." - Guitar One Magazine
"...the proof is in the performance. Price's vocal instrument is as strong as it is sensual, confident in covering the breadth of material in her songbook." - San Francisco Chronicle
Then came the Lara Price band, which included Chavez, punching away on guitar, and what is becoming the Bay's tightest rhythm section Bald Head Fred on drums and Jack Cannon on bass.
Price wails in a style that brings to mind Janis Joplin, blues on the verge of hard rock. With a band this good, she did what a great singer does: she got on top of the piano in front of the stage, and commanded the crowd from there.
- Brad Kava (music critic for San Jose Mercury News)
Discography
Lara Price 2000
Faces Of The Blues 2002
I Got News 2005
Lara and Laura Unplugged 2004
Photos
Bio
Lara Price was born to perform.
Her musical journey started at the young age of 6, taking piano lessons with Legendary 80's music innovator Howard Jones. At 12 she was singing solo and went on to train operatically with Dr. Lynn Berg at Boise State University. She arrived in the Bay Area in 1998 in search of her dream of singing in a band. Lara began running her own blues jam at JJ’s Blues, and was featured in an inspiring article about blues jams in the September 2000 issue of the Blues Revue.
Lara fell in love with the blues without expecting to, "I didn't find the blues, the blues found me".
She has come a long way in a short time, earning loyal fans worldwide. Together with the Lara Price Band, Lara has released 4 self-produced CDs, toured across the United States and China, and performed at such world-renowned festivals and events as the Monterey Bay Blues Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, San Jose Metro Fountain Blues Festival, the NAMM show, and the Massachusetts Summer Solstice Blues Festival, among many others. Her band features some of the area’s finest musicians including Laura Chavez on guitar, Jack Cannon on bass, “Baldhead” Fred Rautmann on drums, and Alex Specht on keyboards. Together they play with an intensity and cohesiveness that comes only from years of playing together. Combining the diverse set of influences that each member brings to the table, they create a sound that is both clearly, deeply rooted in the traditions of the Blues but, decidedly, their own.
The Lara Price Band is currently featured on the Ruf Records international release "Blues Guitar Women" and has been written up as the "Hot Pick" on the CD by Guitar One Magazine. Their current release, "I Got News," consisting of mostly original material, has received rave reviews in the much revered Blues Revue magazine and garnered radio airplay throughout the United States as well as Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. Most recently the Lara Price Band competed in the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN and completed a tour of the South. With the buzz created at the IBC they plan to return to the South in the summer of 2007 and currently have festival appearances booked at some of the country’s top festivals. The Lara Price Band will also release a live CD this Summer while continuing to work on material for their next album.
She’s an All American singer with a sultry stage presence and a voice that demands you're attention-smoky, lonely, sexy, and powerful. It's no wonder her music transcends the blues and crosses a line into music that is unequivocally superb.
"It’s all about the love of music and letting the crowd share in my passion."
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