It's all about the song
Katey Laurel
I guess I started out wanting to be a singer and piano player…when I was six I heard a family friend belting out “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess at a dinner party and I was hooked. I grew up writing poetry, drawing pictures, singing and playing piano and french horn. My first attempt at writing a song was in first grade with a couple girlfriends on the school bus. The same three of us used to make up songs to sing in church when we were teens later on, but I never took songwriting seriously until I met friends in college who were pursuing being singer/songwriters. I started out singing backup vocals and playing keys in a girl folk rock trio, and then naturally ended up co-writing. I looked around at friends, had a little bit of a jealous bone, got competitive and thought to myself, “I write poetry, and I play instruments by ear, why can’t I write songs like they do??” I sat down at the piano with a pad of paper and pen and got to work. Hours upon hours later, I have written hundreds of songs, and I think they get better as the years go by. Now it’s an expression as natural as breathing, most of the time. Occasionally I have a tough one that takes a lot of discipline to get out. I have won and placed in a number of song writing competitions as a result, and I would continue writing whether or not it ever becomes a stable living for me.
I expect that as I hone my craft, I will be able to reach more people with my stories and messages (positive, hopeful and occasionally quirky)…hopefully I’ll be able to earn a sustainable living from placing songs where they can be useful (film/tv/ads/other artists). For now, I sing my songs since no one else is going to. Yet. I've had a couple artists interested in cutting a couple co-writes. I plan to keep writing with others and growing my songwriting/lyric skills.