Album Notes

Singer-Songwriter Lauren Monroe Releases CD The Freedom Sessions Malibu, CA – Independent recording artist Lauren Monroe has released her debut CD “The Freedom Sessions.” Produced by Rick Allen, legendary drummer of Def Leppard, “The Freedom Sessions” is a collection of Americana acoustic rock performances that crosses over into the genres of blues, country and pop. The music of Lauren Monroe delivers a message of healing and hope with honesty and raw vulnerability. All 10 original songs take you on a journey of transformation for the New York City-born vocalist, songwriter, musician and teacher. Lauren’s roots are in acoustic rock and folk music. Her passion for spiritual awakening led her around the world shaping her true nature as an artist, storyteller and cross-cultural healer. Born out of life experience, the mystical and the sacred infuses her music with sounds and imagery that speak to our current changing times. “The message is love,” says Lauren, as she grounds her spiritual activism in music that gives people a sense of healing, salted with the sawdust-on-the-floor honesty that defines Americana. Artist Biography Born and raised in Queens, New York, Lauren Monroe grew up around music. Her father was a gregarious singer who belted out show tunes for the neighborhood, and her grandfather was a bluegrass-loving fiddler who handed Lauren her first guitar at age six. Her progressive parents were learning transcendental meditation and Lauren was meditating regularly by age five. At that early age she also discovered her gift of healing and music became a way to channel these unexpressed experiences of connection. Surrounded by bluegrass, folk rock and other roots music, Lauren soon wrote her first Americana-flavored compositions, and started a lifelong path as a vocalist, songwriter, and musician. The Catholic folk masses she attended as a child inspired her to use music as an offering. As she grew as a musician, Lauren also explored multi-denominational and cultural experiences of music, faith, and community healing. She traveled the world working with healers from all traditions – Maoris, Benedictine monks, North and South American shamen and Hindu masters, eventually becoming a cross-culturally trained healer. Lauren began performing on acoustic guitar in San Francisco in 1992. Later she moved to Boulder, Colorado and formed her band, Coy Kindred. The band traveled throughout the Western United States, playing its rugged blend of rock, blues and funk at festivals, theaters and saloons. Lauren began working on her solo debut album, The Freedom Sessions, in Boulder, and completed it after moving to Malibu, California, where she lives with her husband, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen. The Freedom Sessions is the fulfillment of a goal that Lauren first identified in childhood – that she was meant to share her experiences of the mystical world. Lauren’s desire for learning and sharing experiences of healing has allowed her to help people worldwide. She is the co-founder of Raven Drum Foundation (www.ravendrumfoundation.org), where she facilitates healing drum and empowerment circles in the U.S. and abroad, as well as promoting and co-teaching trauma resiliency work with Iraqi vets.