On July 7th, 2023 Lauren Monroe released her single “Brave”. Lauren often has multiple genres going on in her work. “Brave” begins with an acoustic guitar and a soft vocal. But it slowly builds, with flourishes of elctric guitar and a wash of organ coming up next. Almost exactly at the one minute mark we hear the first druns and the song is veering toward a rock feel despite it’s somewhat folkie start. Lauren said her band has been playing the song for a while. They went in to the studio and did what they do. Then Lauren’s husband, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, tracked his percussion parts on another day. Lauren then asked Johnny Stachela of The Allman Betts band to add guitar to the track. That’s how the song came together musically.
But the music is not what makes up the entire song. Lauren spoke about doing music as she does “As a healing experience.” Lauren talked about having a very emotional reaction to first hearing about the shooting in Uvalde. She said it moved her to pick up her guitar. She played the opening line of the song and what came next was the question “Can you show me what is kind”, where in this is the kindness. That question became the lyrics of the song. She said that’s what the song is about “Show me right now, in a place of darkness, what is kind.” She discussed how this is a personal question and journey.
From there the conversation went to talking about Lauren’s live show. When I first saw her live, I was expecting a show, what I got was an experience. Lauren’s energy and storytelling from the stage reaches out and connects to the audience, it did for me. Lauren has a few shows coming up in the Northeast Mid July. You can see all her tour dates here. Lauren often makes arrangements to invite veterans and first responders to come to the shows free. You can even sponsor a vet to attend here.
We also discussed Raven Drum Foundation which Lauren and her husband founded over 20 years ago. The foundation does a lot of work with veterans and first responders. Lauren mentioned some of the different therapies that the foundation works with. Some of it revolving around drum circles and the language of music. We also had a chance to talk their fundraising event “12 Drummers Drumming” that happens around Veteran’s Day each year.
Just a few days before “Brave” was released was the anniversary of Jim Morrison’s passing. Lauren had commented on a post of mine on social media about that anniversary “So inspired by Jim.. since I was 13. His writings certainly are doorways✨.” I knew when I saw that, we would need to discuss Jim and The Doors music and how it influenced her.
Watch our conversation above and check out the single “Brave” below. If you get the opportunity, I highly suggest you catch Lauren live.
