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 met Camera Obscura at John Peel’s 65th birthday party where they’d been hired to be one of two party bands (the other group, Slightly Soiled, were old timers who played in John’s local pub). I’m glad to say I’ve continued to cross paths with Tracyanne Campbell and the members of CO ever since. Funny enough, I seem to always hear Tracyanne’s voice in stores or public spaces over the sound system. Her songs are rather sneaky, seemingly unassuming, but they pop up everywhere, her vocals unmistakable as the band creates these lovely foundations for the songs. I was honored to write a song with Tracyanne for this album. One of my favorites, “Glass Armour.”
