Singer-Songwriter Lauren Monroe Announces Album, Releases New Single and Video

Lauren Monroe - singer, songwriter, and healing artist - announces her third album, Messages from Aphrodite, with the release of the new single, "If You Want." Co-produced by Monroe with the renowned Jim Scott, "If You Want" features a guest performance from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rick Allen, drummer of Def Leppard, and Monroe's husband and frequent collaborator.

With its old-school Americana groove and splash of Southern soul, "If You Want" would slide seamlessly into a 1970s playlist featuring Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. The song embodies Monroe's messages of positivity, love, and healing through music. "In every moment we have a choice to live in love or in fear. To live in love or anger, in love or worry. In every moment we have the opportunity to choose love over and over again," she says. "I believe that love is not just a feeling, it is a place, a home, a sanctuary of hope and meaning, but only if you choose it."

Music and healing have always been a focal point in Monroe's life. Through performance, storytelling, and art, she creates an intimate experience for her audiences, showing them how music can impact healing and growth. Earlier this year, she and Allen played some intimate East Coast club dates during which they also displayed their mixed-media art, which was then auctioned online to benefit Raven Drum Foundation, an organization they founded with the mission to serve, educate and empower veterans dealing with PTSD and combat trauma, people in crisis and other at-risk individuals.

The title of the new album, Messages from Aphrodite, references the ancient Greek goddess of love in its myriad aspects, and signifies the emotional expanse of Monroe's songs, to which she brings a rarefied degree of insight and compassion, enabling her to nimbly plumb the depths and scale the heights of the human condition in her songwriting. Producer Jim Scott, who's worked with more than his share of legends over the years, bears witness to Monroe's alchemy. "Lauren is a special artist," he asserts. "She's tuned in to the spiritual workings of the heart and the mystical nature of the universe. She's an empath, a healer, a teacher, visual artist, producer and songwriter; I also think she's a time-traveler. Her songs guide, direct and uplift and are sonically beautiful."

The songs are enlivened by Scott's deft sonic sculpting of song-serving performances from musical luminaries such as guitarists Greg Leisz (k.d. lang, Matthew Sweet, Bill Frisell), Tyler Bryant (Larkin Poe, Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown), Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam), Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams) and David Garza (Fiona Apple, Watkins Family Hour); bassists Bob Glaub (Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon), Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple) and Mai Leisz (David Crosby), keyboardist John Ginty (Neal Casal, the Allman Betts Band); and backing vocalist Tammi Brown (Bobby McFerrin, Quincy Jones). In addition to Allen, the Heartbreakers' Steve Ferrone and young dynamo Beth Goodfellow (Iron and Wine, Allison Russell) anchor the proceedings from behind their drumkits.

Monroe will be dropping a string of singles and videos in anticipation of Messages from Aphrodite, and touring surrounding the release. She'll next appear on May 23rd in Nashville, TN, at The Lounge at City Winery. Fall dates will be announced soon.

LAUREN MONROE ONLINE

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Photo Credits: Rick Allen

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