Laura Harley

A couple weeks ago I held 2 special house concerts for families. The idea was to have concerts that people with young children could attend easily and bring their kids with them. There was a lot of response and what was originally going to be just one concert was turned into 2. These concerts turned out to be some of my favorite and most challenging to play. Favorite because I got to see so many adorable children, involve them in the songs, and see how they enjoyed the music. Challenging because they were SO adorable, that I would often get distracted by their expressions, dancing, and other antics!! I really loved doing it and may do it again because it turned out so well!

Here is a photo of my little buddies Gabriel and Everett, who could not WAIT to try out the piano:

Here is a photo of Olivia and me—-she is such a sweetie and she wore a special dress for the occasion of the concert! In order to involve the kids in the songs, I taught them little motions they could make to go with the words I was singing. After the concert, Olivia called me over and informed me that she did her OWN motions to not one, not two but FOUR songs :).

Here is a photo of my friends Rowan and Jessica and me. They are two of my favorite young ladies–both so intelligent, fun, and kind. They were very helpful at the concert—they helped to hand out animal crackers and juice boxes that were provided by a local children’s bookstore.

Yep, it was such a sweet experience! Thanks so much to everyone who participated.

It has been a loooooong time since my last blog post. The past 2 months have been the busiest I have yet experienced in my life. I got a lot accomplished, but I am feeling pretty exhausted. Thankfully, I am back in LA and have a little time here where I can rest and catch up……or try to at least. I was sleeping in this morning for the first time in a long time when I woke up just before 6am with a new song in my mind. I haven’t dreamt a song in a while, and I always know it is a gift when I do, so I usually don’t have trouble getting up to record it before I lose it. But, this time, I was so very tired and so it took a while to will myself out of bed and over to my computer to sing it. But, I got it and its great to have it—I think I might have a nice chorus or prechorus for a new song on my hands. Not surprisingly, the subject of the song as I dreamed it was something about not pushing myself too hard and about a mystery in life that I haven’t figured out yet. Hmm…

In other news, I had 3 shows last weekend in Minneapolis and my friend, Casey, was kind enough to take some footage at one of them. He’s posted a video of me singing my song “A Love So Deep”. (Interestingly, this song was one I initially dreamed, too.) Here it is:

Laura Harley - A Love So Deep from Casey Bowman on Vimeo.

Next time, I will share more about the house concerts for families that I did last weekend. The kids were absolutely adorable! I have some photos to share :).

I want to share with you something that has happened that is very close to my heart. I’ve mentioned before that I am a Baha’i. Since the beginning of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’is in Iran have been persecuted and many have even been killed for their beliefs. This persecution continues today and, a couple of weeks ago, 6 Baha’is were imprisoned. CNN ran a story about it here and you can read more about the latest developments on the story here. Please take a moment to read about this. If you’d like to help, you can send your prayers to them, share this story with others, and write to your representatives. Below is the letter I sent to my representatives a couple of weeks ago.

For those of you who’ve been to my shows, you know that I often sing a song I wrote about this subject. I’ve pasted a video of it below. Please listen, read, and do what you feel moved to in order to help. Thanks for your attention to this.

Lyrics to “Run Away” by Laura Harley

They came to get you; took you away
Tortured and pushed you
You breathe and pray

No end to the pain now, but you’re not afraid
You see your Beloved
Last breath and pray

And I can hear you now, those last words in your heart
They can’t break you with all their lies
And they can kill you, they can take it all away
It only brings you more alive

So run, run away
Run to the One you love more than anything

She tries to find you; she’s so afraid
She knows the real truth
She falls and prays

And so you died, to live a martyr’s life
And I will try to live like you died

Dear Congressman Ellison,

I am a member of the Baha’i Faith and I am writing with serious concerns about the ill treatment of Baha’is in Iran. I would first like to please urge you to co-sponsor House Resolution 1008 which condemns the government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of Baha’is; calls on the government of Iran to immediately cease activities aimed at the repression of the Iranian Baha’i community; and continues to hold the government of Iran responsible for upholding all the rights of its nationals, including members of the Baha’i community. Please urge the House to pass this resolution.

I am especially concerned about the Bahá’í leaders just imprisoned on May 14. Six of them were taken from their homes in the middle of the night yesterday, May 14, by Iranian intelligence officials and transported to Evin prison in Tehran. This action reminds me of the Iranian government’s actions in 1980 and 1981, when all but one member of two successive national Bahá’í governing bodies, were imprisoned and executed.

I deeply fear for my dear co-religionists in Iran. I feel so grateful to live in a country where I am free to practice my religion and to be safe. It is my prayer that as my representative, you will look into these concerns and support the safety of these dear and innocent people.

Thank you so much for all you do to serve our community.

Sincerely,
Laura Harley

Lately I have been so moved by all of the suffering going on in the world. Natural disasters and warfare in many countries are leaving many people sick, homeless, and grieving. On this blog I document all the latest news about my music, and while I am thrilled to tell you more about my new album that is about to be released, I can’t do that in a vacuum. The reality is that we can feel happy and devastated all in the same day as we navigate our own lives and are simultaneously connected to all other humans on this planet.

So, as I prepare to release this album, I am also doing a lot of praying and volunteer work. I believe that each of us can make a huge difference—-through praying for those who are suffering and the souls of those that have left this world, through giving directly to those in need (the Red Cross is a great place to learn more about this), and volunteering to do what we can in our own communities to help those in need.

Recently, I’ve been involved with some community building activities (through the Baha’i Faith) that give me so much hope in the midst of a challenging world. The other day, I was teaching a children’s class and I was talking with them about generosity, singing with them, and hearing how they wanted to be more generous in their own lives. Meanwhile, their parents were nearby and we all felt so inspired. We also said some prayers all together, all of us of different faiths and cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and then talked about the world and our families. This experience reminded me that wonderful things are possible when we work together and cherish the nobility in each human being.

On one level, my new album is the culmination of one person’s vision and voice. But on another level, it is a demonstration of what every one of us is striving to do: to live a meaningful and courageous life. The reason I make music is to help people find greater strength and live their lives more consciously. I believe art can really change the world because it helps each of us be more observant and compassionate and that really does lead to change.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this and what helps you to deal with everything that is going on in the world today. Thanks for being here!

We just updated my website (www.LauraHarley.com) and now, for the first time, you can hear clips from the new album there! I am so excited to share the songs. You can also see new photos, learn about the theme of the album, and read stories about the songs. So, come on over and check it out and let me know what you think!

SO much has happened in the past month. I’ve been working really hard on my solo show and sharing the new music. In the process I’ve met lots of wonderful people and have felt really happy about the reaction to the songs so far. When you pour your heart into something and then put it out there for everyone to see, it is AWESOME when people feel connected with it and want to make it a part of their lives. I am so thankful!

Very soon the music will be available for purchase at www.LauraHarley.com. You can sign up on my mailing list to get an email when the store is up and running.

And if you subscribe to this blog, you’ll notice the address has changed, so you’ll need to subscribe to this new address now:  http://latest.lauraharley.com/feed/.  Thanks!

Photo by Daniel Corrigan

I feel like there have been lots of milestones over the past couple of weeks here in LA. First, I played my first totally piano-based solo shows last weekend and they went well! The best part was seeing how the new songs affected people in the audience. I was so touched that people were so moved by them. I play a couple more shows this weekend—-details are here.

I’ve also got everything in motion to have my CDs available for purchase in just a few short weeks! The artwork is almost complete and then the CDs will be created. The album will be available on this site as a physical CD you can order or as digital downloads. I can’t wait to share it with you! More details will be on this site soon.

The last milestone is less clearly defined than the others—its more of a feeling. I’m just feeling like I’m in a flow—maybe that’s what it feels like when you become even more committed to your work and to your dream—going out on limb after limb to make it a reality. Scary, thrilling, humbling, exciting all at the same time! So, say a prayer for me or send warm thoughts my way so that I can share my music in the way it’s meant to be shared. In the meantime, I’ll keep on playing and working and doing everything I can to find my best path. Thanks for your support!

I’m back in LA now and really enjoying the sunshine and the focus on my music. There are few things better than waking up to the California sunshine, working on music all morning, walking to Pinkberry for a tasty treat (original flavor with Captain Crunch topping is my current fave), and coming home again knowing I can work on more music. Love it. Not every day is that idyllic, I mean there are always responsibilities that come up that I have to take care of, but whenever I have a day like that, I am sure to appreciate it.

This week I’ve been busy practicing piano for my new solo live show until my fingers hurt so much that I have to force myself to stop, re-designing my website, making copies of the new CD (!), and doing promotions-related research.

I have 4 shows in May in Cali—check out the info here. Hope to see some of you there!

Sorry I’ve been MIA on my blog lately, guys! Things have just been so busy. Plus, I’ve had so much on my mind that when I thought of blogging, I just felt like I didn’t know where to start. But, things are starting to become more clear and so I’m ready to blog again. I’ll be playing some shows in Cali in the next few weeks, so check out the show dates here.

I just finished the photo shoot for the artwork for my new album—coming out later this summer. Here is a little videoblog about it.