Drumroll please…..yes, that’s right my new online store is FINALLY finished! That means you can get your very own copy of my new album, “This One Chance”. Heck, you could even get a few copies and give them as gifts. After all, music is the gift that keeps on giving, people. And when you buy the music, you aren’t just getting some great tunes (if I do say so myself), you are also supporting my career and enabling me to continue making music for you. It is truly such a great privilege and I thank you for it.
You can go to my website and click on “buy” or you can go directly to the store: www.lauraharley.com/store.
You can order a CD and I will mail it to you OR you can download the songs. Thanks to everyone who has already bought the album and sent messages about it. I’m thrilled at the feedback! So, come on over and get your copy and let me know what you think (contact[at]lauraharley.com).
And hey, Minnesotans, I am playing a show at Plum’s Bar and Grill in St. Paul on Saturday, August 2nd at 9pm sharp. I’d love to see you there! There will be new tunes, old tunes, and even a brand new cover of a song that I love so much I just can’t stop playing it! You’ll have to come to the show to hear it….
Here it is, the new album cover! This first pic is the front album cover, designed by the very talented Dale Flattum of Copycats Media.
I wanted to have an abstract design on the cover this time, and Dale made this beautiful design. I love that it evokes so many different things:
–The black loop reminds me of a tunnel and the concept of going deep inside yourself;
–The little leaf-like image juxtaposed against the black loop reminds me of the concept of unity between spiritual and physical reality;
–The heaviness of the black loop mirrors the heaviness you can feel when thinking about the title of the album (”This Once Chance”—i.e. this one brief life) and the leaf mirrors the joy that can come from the same concept (i.e. we get this precious one chance and it is a gift).
And besides all of those deeper concepts, I just like the colors a whole lot and it just looks totally cool.
This pic is the back cover (photo by the excellent Daniel Corrigan).
Every time I pick up this new album, I have a little thrill shoot through me. yay!
And very, very soon you can have your very own copy, too….
These days, since I travel so much and am in so many places, home is an elusive concept. I find that I feel most at home when I am playing, writing, or promoting my music. Right now I am in L.A. doing a ton of music work and it feels GREAT! It is like finally coming home after a long journey, or eating a tasty Snickers bar, or swimming in a cool lake on a hot summer’s day. Ahhhhh!
I am in a little music frenzy, my friends. I am booking shows, writing songs, creating new promo plans, making videos, and meeting lots of new people with whom to share my music. Yippeee! I know some artists would cringe at the idea of having to do all that work, but for me it is like the best gift to get to spend time on it. It feels G-O-O-D. Sure, there are challenging moments, disappointments here and there. But who cares? I am pursuing my calling and that is what it is all about.
Related to that, I know I have been promising for a while that my on-line store would be ready for you to purchase the new CD. It has been taking longer than I hoped and we are having some technical difficulties. But, I have been assured by the resident technical guru here (aka Teddy) that the store should be ready very soon!! So, stay tuned and I will let you know as soon as it is ready. Thanks for your patience!
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:
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.
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!
