Lauren Ashley Autrey
Music Mama Making Moves
Fully committed to starting her music career again, Lauren began following her entertainment and writing passion at an early age, and she's also possibly part mermaid.
Lauren recently made the committed switch from corporate with a music hobby to all creative all the time.
Having been in a corporate setting for about 10 years in Memphis, she knew she needed to make the move to Nashville. At heart, Lauren always has been and always will be a writer and singer, so last July she dived in head first into the music world, arrived in Music City, and found a quaint abode in cozy Franklin, TN. Today, Lauren is fully committed to her music career, but above all, family comes first! Lauren's daughter boasts to others about her mom's musical talents!
Today for inspiration, Lauren enjoys floating on the waters of Center Hill/Pickwick Lake, or just being around water in general, whether it be in the shower or elsewhere. In fact, she tries to go to the lake at least once every weekend. Being from Florida and later moving to Gulf Shores, AL, Lauren was born and raised by the ocean, which definitely stuck to her core, like a barnacle to the bottom of a boat, but more fabulous. She admits, though, that her writing technique is slightly backwards; first she writes the lyrics, usually with a melody in mind, and then picks up a guitar to pluck out the right tune. The only danger is that if a song isn’t finished in about two hours, then it often becomes an unfinished product. To remedy her dilemma, she seeks to co-write, collaborating with like-minded creatives to help find the missing piece of the puzzle for the song to come alive.
As far as her introduction to HOME goes, she first heard of us through Trevor Hartz, who had met her little sister, who is half singer half doctor, at Hang Out Fest. Then Lauren’s sister introduced her to Trevor who introduced her to Logan, and once you meet Logan, there’s no turning back. So, Lauren became a member in early May.
The family’s musicality comes from her dad’s side. Her great grandfather had his own radio station and an entire wall covered with different instruments that he knew how to play. Lauren’s father also could play guitar, sing, and write music, but he never pursued his musical side; instead, his musical passion transferred over to Lauren, becoming her first major musical influence. She even recalls singing and recording “I Wish I Was A Baby Bumblebee” at 2 with her dad.
Both her parents fully supported her young ambitions and enrolled her in a performing arts school in Orlando.
After dancing and singing locally, Lauren landed her first big gig at Universal Studios as a regular performer in a Barney parade. Her very first job required her to leave her elementary school and be tutored from 2nd through 5th grade at Universal with the other performing kids. Unfortunately, around that time, she and her family moved from house to house and during the hustle and bustle of moving, lost all the important contacts to the producers; the numbers had all been written down physically, since digital cell phone contacts were not yet a thing.
Regardless, during her middle school years, Lauren was in the church choir and began to write music around age 12 or 13. In school, she was a bookworm and worked extremely hard, making all A’s in her classes; since she absolutely adored writing, other students would pay her to write their homework for them! Her musical/lyrical writing, though, really picked up at 18, and she would write like crazy.
The next phase in Lauren’s life was not as musical. She took a break and had two gorgeous kids, and, like mentioned earlier, worked in corporate for 10 years. Now that her corporate life stage is over, Lauren is jumping right back in music with full force! Starting last year, Lauren found a producer in order to aggressively move forward and make things happen. They created an EP, but they’re waiting until the right moment to market the EP before its release. Lauren is also currently working on scheduling a showcase for herself. With a former plan to go on tour this summer, coordinating and booking as an artist is rather difficult, like juggling while balancing on a beach ball.
Difficulties aside, Lauren believes that music has a purpose.
Striving to reach people on a deeper, spiritual level, while embodying the country-pop genre, Lauren’s biggest musical influence is Carrie Underwood. For Lauren, Carrie does more than simply record and perform tunes; she motivates people who are experiencing bad situations and tries to serve a higher purpose using her songs. Lauren additionally looks for musical inspiration from Maren Morris due to her ability to seamlessly shake up and change her sound. Though, she admits that, as a child, Mariah Carrey was her idol. As a principle, Lauren looks up to musicians who use their talents for a purpose besides becoming rich and famous. Music holds the ability to move nations, so it should be utilized for spreading positivity and a sense of community to the world. One of Lauren’s most-loved songs, “Sunglasses In The Rain,” pushes people through rough circumstances by acknowledging that life is worth living, even when times are tough.
Despite her evident musical and lyrical talent, Lauren repeated a music theory class five times in college in order to attain a passing grade; the theoretical concepts just didn’t click with her. Of course, an artist can be successful without knowing how to transpose music, but Lauren agrees with her recently connected aunt, who is an insanely musically talented classical piano and voice instructor in San Antonio. Her aunt encourages students to enroll in music theory classes, because once you understand music theory, sky is the limit. When your skills include quickly transposing sheet music and identifying keys by hear, you hold the upper hand in the industry. So, Lauren completed her Bachelor’s degree in marketing with a minor in music.
To date, it has been challenging for Lauren finding loyal musicians to rehearse and commit for one show, let alone finding musicians to form a band.
It is possible for Lauren to perform guitar and vocals on her own, but she acknowledges her self-taught six-string shortcomings, and prefers singing with highly skilled guitar players on stage. Back when she was in Memphis, she met a large human-sized teddy bear named Charvey, who has incredible music chops. Lauren and Charvey are highly compatible and collaborate extremely well together; however, Charvey is a musician always in demand and plays shows nearly every night, so it’s difficult for the two to reunite.
Lauren’s ideal collaborative partner is someone with a hunger, but has their own musical goals they also want to pursue, someone who is willing to commit to her projects and is at a similar stage in their career. One showcase experience with an in-house guitarist taught Lauren that having a true flow with the musicians onstage is vital. Needless to say, she prefers to work with musicians she knows on a personal level, rather than musicians who work for the venue.
At the end of the day, musicians and creatives need one another to succeed.
To taste a sample of Lauren’s music, visit her pages on ReverbNation and Spotify! Don’t forget to show some love!
https://www.reverbnation.com/laurenashleyautrey
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4JMTBPF9EzyPIqGCyjVMNC
https://www.instagram.com/laurenashleyautrey/
Interviewed and written by Andra Ingram