Lauren Braddock

LAUREN BRADDOCK's self-titled debut album is a versatile collection of songs that draws on influences from 60's/70's pop to alternative to country.

The 15-song CD, produced by Grammy-winning songwriter and critically-acclaimed recording artist Don Henry, touches on issues ranging from the environment ("Don't Turn Away") to animal kindness and world peace ("If I Was Your Girl") while exploring darker issues such as childhood angst ("A Walk Down Sesame Street"), infidelity ("Lost Dawg"), and murder ("Alibi Lounge") -- often in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

It is kind of a "hey...remember this?" to that generation who grew up on the Brady Bunch, just missed the Beatles phenomenon but LOVED them anyway and for the girls who romanticized what it must have been like to be the love interest of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton ("Let Me Be Your Layla") but came of age during an un-free love era ("Ignorance Is Bliss").

Lauren is the product of America's three major creative centers, having spent nearly all of her life in Los Angeles, New York and Nashville. From L.A. comes the cultural awareness so essential to today's pop music. New York gave her the street wise rough edges -- the tough 'n tender oxymoron that makes Manhattanites so fascinating and complex. And from Nashville comes the song craftsmanship that refuses to let her get away with a musical or lyrical phrase that's less than what her taste demands.

Born and raised in Nashville, Lauren is the only child of immortal country songwriter Bobby Braddock, famed for meaty country hits like "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," "Time Marches On," "I Wanna Talk About Me," and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" (voted "All Time Favorite Country Song" in a BBC England poll and "Country Song of The Century" in R&R.) Bobby exposed Lauren to all sorts of music from Hank Williams to the Beatles, and never panicked when his daughter took adolescent journeys into the world of punk rock and other extra-Nashville music forms.

Her dream in high-school was to go to New York to be an actress. So she went north and studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and surprise, while she was in New York she started writing songs. After drama school she headed out to L.A. where she secured film and television roles. "But while I was chasing a movie career by day," she recalls, "at night I was playing coffee houses with a band." She also did some early demos out there with Jeff Buckley and rock engineer Michael Clouse. One day one of her old buddies, Don Henry, heard those demos and vowed that someday he would produce an album on her.

When a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Tree brought Lauren back to Nashville, she and Don got busy writing and recording. Don, who collaborated with Lauren on 10 of the CD's 15 songs, says, "Writing with Lauren is so easy and we always get something really good and fascinating, and in the studio she is wonderful and thoroughly unique."

Along with Don, who sings or plays something on every song, many noted guest artists and musicians shared their talents on this project. Country's Blake Shelton (whose debut gold album contains a D. Henry/L. Braddock song), Deborah Allen and Matraca Berg contributed background vocals and noted musicians gracing the tracks include pop-rockers Bill Lloyd and Will Kimbrough on guitar, legendary pedal steel player Dan Dugmore, harmonica guru "Jellyroll" Johnson, ace percussionist Mickey Grimm, multi-talented John Mock and, last but not least, Lauren's dad, Bobby, on keyboards.