Meet Lou Brown- Our musician friend from the UK

     I (DM) asked Lou Brown to  stop by   the blog and introduce herself.  She came into our lives  March of 2008.  Lou had contacted us the Fall of 2007 about an tour of the Midwest- she is a singer/songwriter from the UK.  Anyway, we told her we would love to help out if we could, so we rented a local coffee house for a concert.  It was a week full of memories for all of us.  I can still see  a picture of Lou and Aimee having a snowball fight in Western Iowa…plus the look on her face the day after they’d all spent a sleepless night in a building that may have been haunted.  You’ll have to ask her more details about that if you’re curious.   Anyway, please give Lou a hand….(sound of clapping  can be heard as she approaches the mike)…

       Hi,  My name is Lou Brown.  DM asked me if I would consider making a guest appearance on his blog….
       There is something about Doug’s  family that warms my heart every time I think about them. Our paths in life crossed when I came over to the mid-west to tour last Easter. As a songwriter here in the UK I felt like having a mighty adventure and taking my music to an area of The States that not many of us Brits visit that often. Sure, loads of us go to New York for shopping or Florida for the theme parks but Iowa, nope I don’t know anyone else that’s been to Iowa except us.

Lucky me I say, for my few brief weeks I spent in Iowa were the most humbling of my life. There is something about the mid-west which we just don’t have over here. Yes, we have history a plenty, beautiful palaces and Royal estates, our villages, towns and cities are all firmly established and it only takes us a couple of hours driving to reach France and the rest of Europe. But Iowa has a sense of community and hospitality which I have never experienced. I will never ever forget driving in the thickest fog ever in the middle of the night up a dirt road to Doug and his wife’s B&B in Iowa, the moment when Aimee and I opened up the guest room door to find, fresh towels, the electric blanket on and the packet of Butterfingers on the pillow. I have never ever been so grateful to anyone in my entire life, I was missing home like crazy, the three of us touring together were starting to get on each others nerves and suddenly we had arrived in paradise.

In a world where the media are ramming fancy new products, brands and technology down our throats, where our young people view their future aspirations on being on Pop Idol or America’s next top model rather than hard graft and apprenticeships and where the current economic climate brings a fear into every household across the globe that we might not be the ones to survive the recessions. I remember that moment at Doug and his wife’s Country B&B and hold to it tightly to remember that life is actually about hospitality and opening our doors to others and simply having the time to be interested in someone else. Those small things in life are priceless and outweigh any amount of money we can be given or fancy clothes we can wear.

So it was my music that bought me to Iowa and it is my music that brings much adventure into my life. My new album is due to be released over the next few months and it has taken what seems like lifetime to get written, recorded, mixed and produced. This is the first time I have ever undertaken a recording with a very strong sense of what I wanted to achieve. I find that I am often too influenced with other people’s opinions, of my want to please others and my lack of faith in my own abilities. But this time, it was me, my music and my sounds. So I find myself with a strange fear in the back of my throat. It is a fear of a multitude different questions, “what if no-one likes it?” “what if no-one buys it?” “where are we going to find the money to get it printed up?” “what if it a success and I actually have to fly into the blue sky of my dreams?”.

Then I find myself thinking about President Obama. Dom and I stayed up through the early hours of the morning to watch the results (the time

difference between our nations is annoying sometimes!). That man has overcome so many embedded prejudices just to be in the running for President and now he sits in the White House. Wow. Not only is he African American and his middle name rings of media placed fear that everyone with an Arabic sounding name could be threat, but he is not even from a family of political weight or vast wealth. Now that’s inspirational, and if that man is brave enough to overcome all that then I need to be just 10% as brave to attempt to realise my dreams.

So, I’m off to travel my adventurous road a little further and hope that it is one that ends in a beautiful place. I’ve no doubt it will take me to number of other cities, towns and countries. But I hope, one day, it will bring me back to Doug and his wife’s  B&B for a butterfinger and some time with their family.

If you would like to hear my music you can find me at:

www.loubrownmusic.com

or

www.myspace.com/loubrownmusic

If you are reading this in The States and would like to purchase my albums it is cheaper to buy in dollars at:

www.cdbaby.com/loubrown

I also make beautiful bedspreads, if you would like to look at some of my textile designs you can find me at:

www.loubrowndesigns.etsy.com

or

www.myspace.com/loubrowndesigns

Thanks for sharing some time with me,

Lou

 

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Tags: friendship, house concert, Life, music, personal, relationships, spirituality, thoughts, Uncategorized