In The Booth CD Liner Notes + (Bios, Lyrics, Stories) The purpose of this document is two-fold: 1) to provide this album's cover art and information to people who choose to download the tracks, and 2) to provide some extra information - bios, lyrics, etc. to everyone who has been gracious enough to listen to my music. (Photo by Amy McMillan, 2012) It has taken me 30 years to finally record this album - not for lack of desire or trying. Life has a tendency to get in the way of dreams, sometimes almost to the point of forgetting what those dreams are. The decision to do this project started in 2009, and was supposed happen in 2010. But a tonsillectomy in early 2010 (necessary, but about 45 years late!) took my singing voice and created a number of other issues. I honestly did not think I would ever be able to sing again, and for over a year I didn't sing at all. (Photo by Amy McMillan, 2012) I was incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful doctor who worked with me to find the treatment I needed, and a speech therapist who understood, unlike many others, that singing isn't just something I do - it's an integral part of who I am and always have been. That connection gave me hope and a strong desire to make the therapy work. While I've come to realize that my voice will never be what it once was, I've learned to appreciate and work with the voice that I have now. And I plan to continue working with it as long as I can. (Photo by Gaslight Photography, 2012) My husband Bob has been a tremendous help and support throughout the long hours that it has taken me to do this project. His belief in my dream and his assistance in helping me fulfill it are appreciated more than I can say. (Photo by Amy McMillan, 2012) So, I hope you enjoy the music, the website, the photos, lyrics, stories - all of it. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to keep doing what I love for many years to come. (Photo by Gaslight Photography, 2012) Wishing you happy and safe journeys.... Lorrie "It's my life - I live it... I love it... Criticism be damned!" BIOS Born long ago, Vestal, NY I can't remember a time when I didn't sing. My mother used to tell people that I sang before I really talked - sitting in a grocery cart, I'd sing the TV jingles learned from time spent in my playpen in front of the tube. Other people were delighted - my mother, I think, was just annoyed. Music was always playing in the house - Sinatra, Nat King Cole, The Mills Brothers, lots of 40s and 50s stars. My father played piano and string bass; my mother sang. And I sang, too! I sang constantly as a child (which got me in trouble on more than one occasion). School recitals and neighborhood 'shows'; church junior choir and then being selected to sing with the adults; and every musical chorus/choir/drama performance I could get into during my school years. My father bought me my first guitar when I was nine, a cheap department-store model with a neck too wide for my hands. But all I needed were six or so chords, and I was on my way to musical stardom. Listening to the folk icons of the 60s - Peter, Paul, and Mary (my fave), Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan among them. I always knew I was a singer first, and the guitar was just a means to support the vocalist (and of course, back then, pianos weren't portable!). I started writing songs in my early teens, about all the normal teen angst and boys that I was convinced I was madly in love with. For the record: I was, and still am, a hopeless romantic, and the great majority of my original works reflect the same theme - the male of the species. (I'm in love...I'm out of love...He's the most wonderful person in the world...He's a schmuck...I'll never, never, NEVER fall in love again...I'm in love again...) I did musical theater and sang opera during my high school and college years. My first 'gig' was at my uncle's bar when I was 15 - I played during the other act's breaks. (Thank you, Uncle Ralph, for that little bit of nepotism!), and joined my first band, 'Now and Then', when I was 18, performing current pop hits mixed with older jazz standards (think The Captain and Tennille meets Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole!). I left college to join the Army and travel the world, and during my career, I sang in military and civilian clubs everywhere I went, both stateside and abroad. 'The Star-Spangled Banner' became my trademark - a cappella, anytime, anywhere - and so I performed that and other patriotic songs at hundreds of official military functions, entertaining senior U.S and foreign military officials and dignitaries. In the mid-80s, while stationed at Goodfellow Air Force Base (where I currently work, oddly enough!), I won Female Vocalist of the year for the Air Force and a spot in 'Tops In Blue (TIB)' - the Air Force's 6-month, touring showcase. Even now - in their 60-year history - I am the only non-Air Force performer to have been selected for the tour. I still consider it one of the greatest honors in my life to be a 'TIB Prior'. During my second assignment to Germany, I took first-place as top Female Vocalist in U.S. Army Europe three of the five years I was assigned. (The other two years I wasn't available to compete.) I was selected for the U.S. Army's 'Army Soldier Show' in the late 80s, and became the only person to ever be selected for both services’ performing groups. I also sang with another band while in Germany, a German band with just two Americans - the keyboardist and me. 'Tanzband Magic' (Danceband Magic) was a band from the beautiful town of Idar-Oberstein, very near the Baumholder military community. The 'other American' - a talented musician named John Mills - was the head of the Baumholder Entertainment Office. He heard me not long after I got into country, at the first of my competitions, and asked me to audition for the band. They hired me, and I worked with them for the next four years. I learned German oom-pah music for them; they learned music by The Judds and The Bangles for me. And we made beautiful music and the world was good! During these years, I was married, had my son, Jeremy; divorced, remarried, and divorced again (there's that 'hopeless romantic' at work!). Jeremy spent a great deal of time over the years listening to me sing and play (a captive audience, I guess), and over the years has become my most vocal 'conscience'. It's a heavy burden, since no one likes the messenger, but Jeremy inherited the job from my father - both my biggest supporter and critic growing up. After returning stateside for what would turn into my final military assignment, I stopped singing and playing - just stopped. I think it was withdrawal from coming back from Germany (those who have been there will understand this completely!), and also from working with the band for so long. There was a sense of family and security with those guys, and now back in Maryland, I felt very alone. So for almost the next decade, other than military functions (and the occasional karaoke night), I did very little musically. Oh, and I got married, and divorced...again. Yeah, I know, I know...! So a dozen years ago, I finally moved back to San Angelo. My son was in college, and I decided to come back to one of my favorite places during my military days. I started playing again, slowly getting out and about and meeting people who love to make music - and for a smaller town, this place has bunches! I reunited with an old musical friend, Larry Ward, whom I'd met in the 70s while I was a military student here. (My first CD 'In The Booth' is titled after a song I wrote about him.) I also met Ed Stabler - a wonderful, award-winning, western musician who is fluent in many genres. And last but never least, I met Kelly Kingston, a bass player extraordinaire and just one of the nicest people on the planet - and she gives great hugs, too! All these people and many more helped me come back to the music that I had been missing for too long. And at the end of 2009, I had my plan in motion to record my first CD - finally, after all these years! And then in early 2010, I had a tonsillectomy that went very wrong. It took me and my singing voice out of circulation for over a year; a wonderful speech therapist finally helped me get it back. Through it all, many 'friends' disappeared, but Ed kept in touch. When I was ready to start the CD, he was first in line to help. So for those of you who have taken the time to read through the ramble, here's the current state of things: - I remarried in 2004 - and I'm still married!! Bob Keating (aka 'Bobby K') has been my rock, and for those who may wonder, yes - I've submitted him for sainthood...! - Our combined child count is three (plus): Kimberly, a Navy Chief, Korean linguist; Bobby, Special Projects Manager of Visual Marketing, Macy's Visual Merchandising, NYC; Jeremy, an Army Sergeant, Occupational Therapist and his wife Sarah, an elementary school teacher.