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Saturday, 22 March, 2008 11:19 AM
CMA New Artist Spotlight: Laura
Bryna
Photo
by Dana Tynan
Laura
Bryna
| By
Bob Doerschuk |
| ©
2008 CMA Close Up News Service |
While attending high
school in nearby Mount Airy, Md., Laura Bryna performed in Washington,
D.C., with the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo
and took classes at the Kennedy Center's Summer Drama Workshop.
As an undergrad at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, she considered
careers in archeology or anthropology and somehow found time to
become fluent in French.
Yet she set all that
aside and moved to Nashville, partly because of the comfort Country
Music had offered during the six months her older brother spent
in a coma, induced by a brain aneurysm, at age 13, which followed
the sudden death of their father. Once settled, Bryna juggled music
studies at Belmont University, internships at Sony/ ATV Music Publishing
and DreamWorks Music Publishing and volunteer work for the Make-A-Wish
Foundation, a commitment she honors on her first single, "Make
a Wish," in which innocence and generosity trump the sadness
in an ailing child's life.
All of which leads to
Trying to Be Me, her Equity Music Group debut album, produced by
Roger Sarchet, with Kyle Lehning co-producing three of its 12 tracks.
The optimism of "Make a Wish," her sole co-write on the
album, spills into "Life Is Good," whose message is as
appealing as its title. And "640 Battlefield Drive" tells
a wartime story told too often, involving a mother, her soldier
sons and a life-changing letter.
Bryna's performance,
ambitious and deep, sophisticated yet rich in down-home authenticity,
shows that she's already succeeded.
IN HER OWN WORDS:
A PHRASE YOU REPEAT
"Super-fantastic."
ACTRESS TO PORTRAY
YOU IN A BIOPIC
"Bette Midler or Dolly Parton."
MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
YOU PREFER
"Anything that can get me from Point A to Point B."
BOOKS ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
"Believe and Achieve by various authors; Always Believe in
Yourself and Your Dreams by Patricia Wayant; and Success One Day
at a Time by John C. Maxwell."
TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
"Countrypolitan Laura Bryna: The Gal with Big Hair Who Does
It All in Heels."
On the Web: www.laurabryna.com
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