Laura Cantrell
Singer/songwriter Laura Cantrell hit the international music scene in 2000 with Not the Tremblin' Kind, a debut album that showcased her bright, clear, and affecting vocals, literate songwriting, and superb taste in musicians and fellow songwriters. She followed a rather unusual path to become an Americana favorite: she moved from Tennessee to New York City, studied law and accounting in college, and juggled a career in finance with busy sidelines as a musician and disc jockey. Cantrell hasn't always made music a career priority, preferring to work when inspiration hits rather than follow the traditional album-tour-repeat cycle of many artists, and this has helped keep her music fresh and confident; the nine-year gap between 2014's No Way There from Here and 2023's Just Like a Rose: The Anniversary Sessions is barely audible in the final product.
Laura Cantrell was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee; her father was a lawyer (in time, he earned a seat with the Tennessee Court of Appeals), and she initially intended to follow suit. However, as a teenager she developed a keen interest in music, and before leaving Tennessee to attend Columbia University, she landed a summer job as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The job sparked an interest in classic country sounds of the '30s, '40s, and '50s, and while at Columbia she became involved in student radio, hosting a show in which she spun country sounds both old and new, as well as immersing herself in the alternative rock scene. Cantrell discovered she liked to sing and began making occasional club appearances with her many musically inclined friends; she also made her recording debut in 1990, singing backup on a single by Bricks, a lo-fi collaboration between Mac McCaughan of Superchunk and Andrew Webster of Tsunami. Cantrell's interest in radio led to her landing her own show on New Jersey's WFMU-FM, one of America's best regarded free-form radio stations, and on Radio Thrift Shop Cantrell won a large and loyal audience playing classic country, folk, and singer/songwriter recordings as well as her favorite artists from New York's burgeoning alt-country scene.
In 1996, Cantrell released her first solo recording, a locally distributed EP called Hello; by this time, Cantrell was supporting her enthusiasm for music by working in the New York offices of Bank of America, where she rose to the position of Vice President of Equity Research (making her that rare musician who can actually understand an accounting statement from her record company). In 1999, Cantrell recorded her first album, Not the Tremblin' Kind, which was produced by Jay Sherman-Godfrey, a former member of New York-based honky tonk rockers the World Famous Blue Jays (whose leader, Jeremy Tepper, is also Cantrell's husband). Released by a small Scottish label, Spit & Polish Records, Not the Tremblin' Kind soon received a stack of rave reviews, most notably from legendary British disc jockey John Peel, who called it "my favorite record from the last ten years, and possibly my life." (Cantrell made five appearances on his BBC Radio program.) Tepper's "rig rock" label Diesel Only Records released the album stateside in 2000, and Cantrell quickly began balancing tour dates and recording sessions with her careers in finance and radio.
Cantrell's second album, When the Roses Bloom Again, followed in 2002; to support its release, Cantrell toured Europe and the United States opening for another noted fan of her records, Elvis Costello. In 2004 she released The Hello Recordings, a five-song collection of demos, followed by the full-length J.D. Foster-produced Humming by the Flowered Vine in 2005, which was dedicated to the memory of John Peel. After touring in support of the album, Cantrell chose to spend her time child-rearing and performed only sporadically between 2006 and 2011, including a well-received performance at the Barbican Centre in London in 2008. Cantrell re-emerged in 2011 with the Mark Nevers-produced album Kitty Wells Dresses: Songs of the Queen of Country Music, a collection featuring one original and a slew of interpretations associated with Wells, who -- 91 years old at the time of the album's release -- was the oldest living member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In 2013, Cantrell traveled to Nashville to record her fifth studio album. No Way There from Here, a return to the style and outlook of Humming by the Flowered Vine, was released in the U.K. in late 2013, and appeared in the United States in early 2014. In 2016, Cantrell released At the BBC: On-Air Performances & Recordings 2000-2005, which collected rare recordings for British radio. While Cantrell occasionally guested on recordings by friends and artists she admired -- including the Soldier String Quartet, Davis Kathriner, Vince Bell, and Son Volt -- she divided most of her time between her day job, raising her son, and hosting a pair of radio shows. "Dark Horse Radio" was a program focusing on the life and music of George Harrison she hosted for the Beatles Channel on SiriusXM, and "States of Country" explored roots music from each of America's 50 states, one per week, that was available online via GimmeCountry. Cantrell planned to record an album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Not the Tremblin' Kind in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to change her plans, cutting some material remotely and not completing the project until the lockdown ended and she was able to set up sessions in New York City and Nashville. Just Like a Rose: The Anniversary Sessions finally arrived in June 2023, and featured contributions from a number of major roots rock and country artists including Buddy Miller, Steve Earle, Rosie Flores, Paul Burch, and David Mansfield.
© Mark Deming /TiVo
Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions
Country - Released by Propeller Sound Recordings on 9 Jun 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Not The Tremblin' Kind
Country - Released by Diesel Only Records on 10 Oct 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Humming By The Flowered Vine
Country - Released by Matador on 20 Jun 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When The Roses Bloom Again
Country - Released by Diesel Only Records on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trains and Boats and Planes
Country - Released by Diesel Only Records on 15 Apr 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
No Way There from Here
Country - Released by Spit & Polish on 23 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Humming Songs: Acoustic Performances from the Flowered Vine (Live)
Folk - Released by Matador on 14 Mar 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Push The Swing
Country - Released by Propeller Sound Recordings on 21 Apr 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Just Like A Rose
Country - Released by Propeller Sound Recordings on 23 Mar 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Hello Recordings
Country - Released by Diesel Only Records on 13 Jul 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Laura Cantrell Live At Schubas 06/07/2003
World - Released by Laura Cantrell on 7 Jun 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
At the BBC: On Air Performances and Recordings 2000-2005
Country - Released by Spit & Polish on 16 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kitty Wells Dresses: Songs Of The Queen Of Country Music
Country - Released by Spit & Polish on 25 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When The Roses Bloom Again
Country - Released by Propeller Sound Recordings on 26 May 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Streamline
Alternative & Indie - Released by Safe House on 1 Mar 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus
Laura Cantrell, Michael Shelley
Country - Released by Confidential Recordings on 8 Nov 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emilie/Emanuel
Alternative & Indie - Released by O Genesis on 7 Jun 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo