Press

Back to press list

9/1/2004 Rick Watson, Birmingham, AL Feature article in The Snake Skin

Lynette Vantreese is a bit of an anomaly. She currently lives in the Country Music Capitol of the world, but “she ain’t country,” as they say on the county line. She is, however, a very good singer/songwriter who will be performing at Moonlight Music Café in Vestavia on September 25th at 8:30 p.m. She hails from Spearfish, South Dakota and went to Nashville after graduation from Berklee College of Music in Boston where she studied songwriting with emphasis on vocal performing. While listening to her CD, I heard hints of Heart, Quarterflash, with a little Shawn Colvin and Joni Mitchell mixed in. The music meter leaned toward pop/rock, which is not what I expected. Her music tells stories, not with furniture as they say in Nashville, but with imagery finely woven into stories that are powerful. Lynette describes her music as pop/rock with elements of folk, blues, and jazz. I wondered why someone who is not country would choose Nashville and if she had any regrets for having made that choice. The decision to move to Nashville from college was a simple one; she knew people there. Berklee College had sent buses from Boston to Nashville during spring breaks and she had made several trips where she met and made friends. She knew no one in the other music centers. “If I could live my life over again, I wish I had moved to New York or Los Angeles after college. When I first moved to Nashville, I thought a lot about moving elsewhere, but every time I seriously considered it, something would happen to make me stay,” she says. “I landed a job at a record label, then a recording studio, then signed with a manager, then met my co-writer/guitarist/ husband, then signed with an independent label,” so she ultimately stayed in Nashville. One question that always interests me is how an artist connects with “their people.” When I asked Lynette about the demographics of her audience, she thought a long while before responding. “To be honest,” she says, “we are still struggling to figure out exactly who our audience is. One of the most successful performances we’ve had was when we opened for Edwin McCain. Afterwards I had college kids lining up for my autograph, wanting their picture taken with me, signing up for our mailing list, buying CDs, etc. It was very affirming and in incredible experience!” In looking at Lynette’s past schedule, you can see that she plays in Nashville, but also all over the south. I asked her how playing in Nashville differed in playing other places. She says that playing in Nashville often feels like an audition. The competition there is overwhelming. When you play other places outside of Nashville, “it is often more fun, freer. I enjoy it more.” On the subject of songwriting I asked Lynette how she avoids writer’s block. “The more I mature as a writer, the higher my stands are, and the more difficult it is to write something that is new and refreshing to me. Sometimes solitude and quiet (turning the TV off) helps me find my creative center. Sometimes hearing new music from other people is exciting and inspiring,’ she says. Performing can be a challenge too. One thing an artist must learn is to read a crowd. Some crowds expect original material and some want to hear the familiar. Lynette says, “My band and I are flexible, we mix covers with our originals.” Covers my band plays that people would recognize: “Red House” Jimi Hendrix “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” Stevie Ray Vaughn “Ramble On” Led Zeppelin “I Wish” Stevie Wonder “Learn to Fly” Foo Fighters “Maybe I’m Amazed” Wings Covers I love but most people haven’t heard of: “Show Me How to Catch a Fish” Jane Kelly Williams “Little Sister” Alisa Carroll “Tennessee” Shawn Colvin “Home” Sheryl Crow “We just try to pick covers that we find musically satisfying and enjoy playing,” she explains. Lynette does try to pick venues that lean towards original music. Even though Lynette Vantreese is not a country artist, I was curious to know how Nashville had influenced her. “The local radio station, WRLT, exposed me to some of the artists I’ve loved the most as a writer,” she explains, “Shawn Colvin, Jonatha Brooke, Indigo Girls, and David Wilcox.” “The caliber of the songwriting in this town in unbelievable. Some of the lyric writing in country music just blows me away with the vivid word pictures and storytelling elements they use,” she says. I asked her to describe a “Successful Lynette Vantreese.” “Success is doing what you love to do, and being happy doing it. I don’t think you can measure that by record sales. There are artists who’ve sold million and are miserable. There are others who operate under the radar and are very fulfilled by what they do.” What does the future hold? “On the one hand, my band and I are trying to play out as much as we can to build a following, to further develop our live show. On the other, we are gearing up for a new album, that’s been a long time in coming,” she says. “My husband, who produced my debut album for ATC Records, recently built a home recording studio. Our writing and my singing have grown a lot since my previous record and we are continuing to press onward.” You can learn more about Lynette by visiting her website at www.lynettevantreese.com.

Back to press list