Laura Cantrell was born and raised in Nashville, and even though she was surrounded by country music, she never thought about being a singer or songwriter when she was young. She relocated to New York to attend Columbia University before the performing bug bit her. After graduation, Cantrell worked full-time at a bank, hosted a country radio show on WFMU in Jersey City, put together a band, kept writing songs and started making records. She used traditional country songs as a template for compositions of her own that stretched the boundaries of the music and won her a legion of loyal fans. BBC DJ John Peel called Not The Tremblin’ Kind, her 2000 debut, “my favorite record of the last 10 years, possibly my life.” Cantrell made two more albums in the 2000s, balancing well-chosen covers with her original material, but on her new album, No Way There From Here, she presents 11 originals with only one cover. Cantrell will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Cantrell: I love the old-time urban of this downtown fixture. Built in 1902 and modeled after a shopping arcade in Italy, it is both retro and modern, with natural light filtering through a pitched glass ceiling, mirrored walls on one end and an art-deco façade on the downtown branch of the U.S. Post Office. I used to wander around downtown a lot when I was in high school, and the Arcade always felt sort of dreamy and surreal with its mix of local shops and old storefronts and that beautiful light. Now it is a haven from the chain stores and tourist traps of Lower Broad. So mark it in your mind if you’re downtown and want a shoe shine, meat-and-three lunch, some hot peanuts, almond bark or a bag of popcorn. Plus the upper level features several local art galleries and one open gallery day a month so you can soak up some culture, too.
Video after the jump.
