Barbara Lynn Doran A little Q&A with country-pop-rock singer-songwriter, keyboardist / guitarist Barbara Lynn Doran Leicester Bangs: Tell us a little about yourself, and your band (if applicable). Barbara Lynn Doran: I was born a raised in Scarborough, Ontario a main suburb outside Toronto.  I have always been a musician and a singer. Music has always been a haven where I could escape to, a place to express my feeling from love, frustration to sadness, and where I could figure things out. It has kept me sane through the trials and tribulation in my life and for that I am thankful.    LB: How did you start out making music? BLD: I started singing as soon as I could string a sentence together and coming from a family of musicians definitely can influence you.  My grandfather played the piano from ear, and all my uncles are musicians and have played in bands at one time or another. My mom is a beautiful singer, but to this day suffers from severe stage fright.  I learned to play the organ when I was eight years old, and began writing songs at 16.  I played in every school band possible, stage band, concert band (playing flute) and sang solo at the school mass as well.  I decided to pursue music more seriously when I was twenty and recorded my first demo, taught myself to play guitar and put together my first indie band.   LB: Who did you grow up listening to and how do they influence what you’re doing now? BLD: My favorite artist when I was young was Olivia Newton John, I had all her records and knew all her songs by heart.  I was obsessed with Grease and knew all those songs too.  Then when Madonna released her first album I was hooked on her, but they wouldn’t let me sing “Like A Virgin” at my Catholic School talent night - go figure.  I bought all her albums and learnt to sing all of her songs.  Then I found the likes of Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, The Cranberries, Sarah McLaughlin and Alanis Morissette, and began listening to music from so many genres. Unfortunately, this lead to extreme confusion about where I fitted in and I have to honestly say it took years for me to figure this out. Many people kept telling me I should sing country music, but I didn’t grow up listen to country. My mom loved The Beatles and my dad was a huge Elvis fan.  So until I really started to listen to country music, as many of today’s country artists crossed over into the world of pop / rock music, I couldn’t see why I was being told that.  It was at that time I realized that the artist I’d become, fit perfectly into this new sounding country music.   LB: Tell us about your latest release. BLD: I’m so excited about this release, not only is it my first country music release, but I’m also excited about my co-writer and producer Murray Daigle and the many doors this release is opening up for me.  Although I’m releasing the album track by track digitally, the full CD release should be available by the spring 2010.  We are taking our time to record each track to make sure they are just the way we want them to be.   LB: Do you get out and play your music live, and if so, what can an audience expect at one of your shows? BLD: Right now I’m not performing these songs live, but I will be putting together a band for this project sometime this fall.  I have a lot of stage experience so I try to keep my show high energy; I love to dance around the stage I have a lot of trouble staying still, so if you catch a show expect me to be burning some serious calories. LB: What aspects of playing and recording music do you most enjoy? BLD: I really enjoy connecting to the audience when I perform live and I feed off the energy of the crowd. If the crowd is more of a listening crowd then I tend to cater to that and if they are on their feet dancing than I’m in heaven and I come to life.  When it comes to recording I love the quiet of the studio where you can hear yourself well and try to capture that performance of a lifetime.  I don’t care if it takes one hour or a whole day as long as in the end I’ve got something I can be proud of. LB: Where can people find (and buy) your music? BLD: Currently my tracks are available at CD baby and soon on ITunes (links below). www.cdbaby.com/cd/BARBARALYNNDORAN www.myspace.com/barbdoran Photo by Ivan Otis Barbara Lynn Doran