Lori McKenna to visit Scituate River Club Music Hall

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent

Singer-songwriter Lori McKenna will visit Scituate’s River Club Music Hall on Jan. 21, bringing her rustic voice and storybook lyrics to the small stage once again.

Already, the concert is on its way to selling out -- listeners excited to hear McKenna perform items from her most recent album, Lorianne.

Based on her mother, whose name McKenna shares, the artist delves into what the woman was like before she passed away when McKenna was seven years old, and explores what life is like now that McKenna has reached the age her mother once was.

As nostalgic as it is, McKenna accomplishes the impossible, creating lovable songs out of what were once painful memories.

It’s perhaps why country greats, such as Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood, Alison Krauss, Keith Urban, and LeAnn Rimes have all recorded songs McKenna wrote, and why McGraw and Faith Hill asked McKenna to tour with them a few years back.

In an e-mail interview with The Boston Globe, she takes us back over what the songwriting experience is like, and how she got to where she is today.

Boston Globe: Were you naturally drawn to this genre of music?
Lori McKenna: I was raised on singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Neil Young and Carole King. I write from a simple-life sort of place and I think that lends itself to folk or country production. I didn't grow up listening to country music. I think because I have Nashville connections now people put me in that category.

BG: In your youth, did you experiment writing in other music styles?
LM: Not really. I like all sorts of music. But I'm stuck on lyrics. So the music I'm drawn to is almost always lyrically based.

So is it about being able to tell a story or is it about something more?
LM:For me it's about telling an emotion more than anything. If the story comes out in the explanation of the emotion, then that's cool too.

BG: Which song off of your new album is your favorite?
LM: It's hard to pick favorite songs because you like them for different reasons. If I had to pick it would be "Buy This Town." I'm proud of that song. I think it feels like it should.

I call that one my love song to Stoughton, Massachusetts, but it's really to the people here. And it pretty much wrote itself - usually when they write themselves it means it's a good song.

BG: Are all your songs based off an innate feeling or experience you’ve had?
LM: They don't always start that way, but I think the goal is to make them feel like they did. Sometimes a song starts with just a title. Then you have to draw the emotional side out if it so that it can connect to something.

BG: Going back to beginnings, your mom played piano, your dad sang. How much of your parents' musical ability influenced yours?
LM: My family has always been my greatest musical influence. Someone was always playing the piano in the living room and my brother Richie would be in his bedroom playing guitar. I followed in Richie's footsteps because he is a songwriter. I'm not sure if I would have thought of it on my own.

BG: Much of your personal life is ingrained in these lyrics, they feel very real – do you think that’s why your songs are so popular and why other country music stars have latched on to them?
LM: I think it's important to be honest in a song. You have three minutes to get your point across, to put an image in someone else's head and make them feel what the person you're singing about feels. I'm not always the characters in my songs - but I want to try to imagine how that person feels. I think people look for honesty in music. Those are the songs that I'm drawn to.

BG: You’ve had experience doing the Nashville thing, touring with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and you’ve returned to Massachusetts to smaller venues – which you do you prefer?
LM: I belong in a smaller room. My time touring with Faith was amazing, and I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of it. They made us part of the family and part of the show and the audiences were incredible to me. But it's hard to reach 15,000 people with what I do. I need to take it 200 at a time. I'd rather have everyone feel like we're in some living room somewhere.

BG: This concert in Scituate I’m told you’ll be performing without a backup band. Is there something more intimate in doing a solo show?
LM: I love playing with my band - we have amazing players in this town and I'm lucky to know them. But I don't want to lose the ability or the confidence to get out there by myself with a guitar. I play with great players and I rely quite a bit on them. But there's something great about being alone every now and then - maybe without a set list and just seeing how the audience feels about what's happening. That's when we're really all in the living room.

To buy tickets to McKenna's concert, on Jan. 21 at 8 p.m., click here.