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12/11/2003 Enigma, Chattanooga, TN Nashville’s newest rising star MARKETABLE Considered by many critics to be the next big thing, singer/songwriter Lynette Vantreese will be doing the folksy thing Sunday at the Market at the First Tennessee Pavilion (formerly Cricket).

LYNETTE VANTREESE Things are looking up for Nashville’s newest rising star. When evocative, memorable lyrics are delivered by an undeniable vocalist, wonderful things happen. Influenced largely by Joni Mitchell’s vivid lyrics and Shawn Colvin’s distinctive musical style, Lynette Vantreese's folk tinged pop is colored with soul-baring images and textured with emotion. Q. Are you from a musical family? Yes. My mom mostly comes from a classical background. She sang and played piano. And growing up she always insisted I have a classical foundation to build upon, then I could do any style I wanted. She wanted to make sure I had the theory and technique down. Q. What are your earliest recollections of music? Both of my parents singing in the church choir. Sometimes my dad would play the guitar around the house. And I remember my mom playing classical music on the piano. Q. When did you start writing? When I learned to play the piano, I started making things up. But as far as actually writing a whole song, it didn't happen until my early teens. Q. Did you find that it came naturally to you? Yes. Q. Do you have a specific theme that you like to write about? I like songs to tell a story, and I try to use images, so that when you’re listening to the lyrics, it’s almost like watching a movie and you can see things happening. Q. You’re from South Dakota. How did you end up in Nashville? For college I went to Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After graduation, New York, L.A., or Nashville were the three choices. So, Nashville it was. Q. Was there any culture shock moving from the north down to the south? A little bit. To be honest, I think there was more of a culture shock when I went up to New England. That was just being in the city, the whole urban society thing - that was all new to me. The south is pretty laid back. There’s a lot of similarities to home. Q. How did you come about to the style of music that you play? When I was younger I experimented with just about anything and everything! Especially in college I was really encouraged to try different styles. Shortly after I moved to Nashville, there’s a radio station here, WRLT - they used to play a lot of material by Shawn Colvin, Indigo Girls, that contemporary folk genre. That really struck a chord with me. Q. Musically, who would you say are some of your biggest influences? Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow. Q. Who would you say is your biggest non-musical influence? C.S. Lewis. Q. What was it like moving to Nashville and getting situated? I was really fortunate. There are so many Berklee alumni around here, there’s already a little bit of a network set up. So, it was like having immediate friends as soon as I got here, which was helpful. As far as getting into the music industry, one of the best things that I did was an internship at a record label. That got me in, meeting people. I finally got to see in action what I had been studying, and really see how it works. I’m so glad that I did that. Those are probably the two things that helped me the most with getting situated. Q. How did you get your band together? My husband Brett Vantreese is on guitar. Jonathan Bradford is on drums. Brett and I were doing an acoustic set at our publicist’s birthday party, and Jonathan was there. He was looking for a band, and he heard our music. He was so excited about what we were doing, he really wanted to get involved. He’d been playing a lot with a bass player named Randy Smith, so he brought Randy onboard. We’ve been playing together since April. Q. How has your songwriting changed or evolved since moving to Nashville? Nashville operates on two levels. The one that’s more visible is the country music market, but the local music scene here is so diverse. I really haven't had to make a lot of changes, as far as fitting in, or trying to market myself. I’ve been fortunate to be able to stay true to myself. Q. You started recording a new album this fall. How is that going? Brett and I have been working really hard writing with the new band members, and gelling with them. We’ve been seeing what the new personalities are going to bring to the music. We decided to build a home studio. That is a work in progress - we have music gear all over the house! The album is definitely in the beginning stages. Q. How would you say this new album has evolved from the first one? A few things have been influencing me lately. One, when I was with the record label, getting out and touring, playing in bars, and seeing reactions to what I was doing. There were some songs that are blues-oriented and more in your face rock, that were really fun for me to do, and got more of a response from the audience. I’ve also been listening to a lot of blues, old R&B like Aretha Franklin. That stuff is just so much fun. Q. How would you like to see yourself evolve as a musician? I would like to follow in Sheryl Crow’s path. She can play so many instruments, she’s a great singer, great songwriter, very self-contained, and very strong, aggressive.

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