Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
All Music Guide:
Boston-native Lori McKenna grew up in a household filled with the rhythm and pleasure of good music, some of it happily supplied by her brothers. Music was almost always a part of family get-togethers. With such a background, it's little wonder that when McKenna grew up, she chose to become a professional singer and songwriter. In 1998, McKenna finished up work on a debut offering, an album titled Paper Wings and Halo. It was an impressive first release, filled with folk-flavored numbers like "What's One More Time," "Would You Love Me Then," "Paying the Price," and "Hardly Speaking a Word." The album won McKenna numerous rave reviews from critics and was picked as one of the Top Ten albums of the year by the Boston Globe. She has also been named as New Artists of the Year and Outstanding New Contemporary Folk Act. For 2000, McKenna began recording a sophomore album, Pieces of Me, released in early 2001. "Fireflies," "Never Die Young," and "Pieces of Me" are three of the tunes that fans will find on this offering. She had a few talented guests help out on some of the songs, including artists Kris Delmhorst, Richard Shindell, Mike Rivard, Ellis Paul, Billy Baird, David Goodrich, and Jennifer Kimball. The Kitchen Tapes appeared in 2003 from Gyrex, followed a year later by Bittertown on Signature Records. Unglamorous was released by Warner Brothers in 2007.
Wikipedia:
Lori McKenna (née Giroux) (born December 22, 1968) is an American folk singer/songwriter. She lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts with her husband and five children.
Early work [edit]
McKenna started writing songs as a teenager, and became a professional songwriter at the age of 27, when she was already married and had three children; she began singing at open mike nights in Boston, notably at the Blackthorn Tavern in nearby Easton, and eventually at her own shows. Working with her then manager Gabriel Unger, McKenna released four critically acclaimed independent CDs: Paper Wings and Halo (produced by Seth Connelly), Pieces of Me (produced by Crit Harmon), The Kitchen Tapes (self-produced demos), and Bittertown (produced by Lorne Entress). During this period she recorded for Signature Sounds, won awards from ASCAP and the Boston Music Awards, performed at the Sundance Film Festival, the Newport Folk Festival and played many sold-out venues in the Northeast.
Songwriting and music career [edit]
In 2004 McKenna signed a publishing deal with Nashville's Harlan Howard Music after fellow singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier shared McKenna's Bittertown with Melanie Howard. McKenna gained more attention in 2005, when Faith Hill recorded covers of four of McKenna's songs – three of which (including the title track) appeared on Hill's 2005 release Fireflies, the fourth as an exclusive to the iTunes Store.
McKenna parlayed her contribution to Hill's Fireflies into both an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with Hill, and a record deal with Warner Brothers Nashville. WB soon re-released McKenna's Bittertown on its label. In 2007, McKenna toured with Hill and Tim McGraw on the Soul2Soul Tour, accompanied by singer-songwriter/instrumentalist Mark Erelli and guitarist Russell Chudnofsky.
In addition to her own albums, McKenna has contributed a cover of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" to the 2005 "High School Reunion" compilation. In 2007, McKenna recorded a cover of Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" for the American Laundromat Records benefit CD Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young For Charity. Also, McKenna helped write "Most of Me", "Latest Mistake" and "Can't You Just Adore Her?" on Mandy Moore's album Wild Hope (2007), and "Everblue" on Amanda Leigh (2009). Also of note, Lori McKenna's song "Bible Song" from Bittertown was recorded by country artist Sara Evans on her 'Real Fine Place' album released in 2005. Lori also contributed a song titled "I'm Workin'", recorded by Tim McGraw on his Let It Go album, released in 2007, as well as a song entitled "True Believer", recorded by Jimmy Wayne on his 2008 album, Do You Believe Me Now.
Unglamorous, was released on August 14, 2007, from Warner Bros. Nashville and McGraw and noted Nashville producer Byron Gallimore’s label, Stylesonic Records. The album has released two non-charting singles. McKenna parted ways with Warner Bros. in 2008.
UMPG Nashville signed McKenna to an exclusive publishing agreement. Her penultimate album is called Lorraine and was released on January 25, 2011 under Signature Sounds.
Her latest album is called Massachusetts, published on April 23, 2013 under the label 1-2-3-4-GO!.
