Born in Maysville, Kentucky to Allene and Bill Soward, Lolene is a natural born creative artist. Lolene's mother imbued a love for music in Lolene from her earliest years and encouraged Lolene to follow her dreams of singing and playing guitar. Lolene learned early at her mother's side as she watched her mother and aunt Francis perform as the Singing Dugan Sisters. Allene's had traditional country and folk roots, and Emmylou Harris was her most favored artist.
Lolene received the gift of creative writing from her father. As a young man, his accomplishments included writing jokes for George Burns and co-authoring a novel, The Damned Don't Cry. The novel was subsequently produced as a major motion picture starring Joan Crawford. Lolene absorbed her father's wit and critical thinking skills that she applies today in her songwriting. Lolene's music will always reflect her love for them.
Lolene's school years included a sharp focus on music. She sang in the school chorus, learned to play guitar, and performed with friends. In 7th grade, she and two of her friends won a 4-H Talent Show and subsequently appeared on Lexington, Kentucky television where they sang Paul McCartney's "Yesterday."
Lolene has formed many enduring relationships based on her music interests, and she never passed up an opportunity to make impromptu stage appearances with these friends. She truly became a student of music, rooted in traditional country and folk. Like her mother, Emmylou Harris has been a dominant influence on Lolene's music for many years. However, Lolene has been influenced by a broad range of artists such as Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Rusty Young, Bonnie Raitt, Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, the Eagles, and the Dixie Chicks. Obviously, Lolene's love for music extends to a wide variety of musical expressions.
Lolene has always dreamed of performing and writing music, and she kept this dream alive in the face of adversity and the almost constant skepticism of the world's naysayers. Life sometimes seemed to place interminable barriers between Lolene and her dreams. Lolene once lost her guitar due to financial struggles and a failed marriage. Some skeptics seemed to revel in her struggles.
In 1989, Lolene met her husband, Richard, and he quickly learned about Lolene's dreams and recognized her special talents. On her birthday in 1989, Lolene received a new guitar, the one that she plays to this day. She pursued training in voice, advanced guitar, and electric bass. Lolene has also developed an affinity for the harmonica. Lolene began to believe that her dream could become her reality.
By the mid 90s, Lolene began to turn her attention to writing. She drew upon some ideas that dated back to her school years. While she had never extended those early ideas to paper, these ideas had been a constant companion in her own mind for years. Her first song, "Wasting Your Time" has its roots from those early days. Subsequently, Lolene wrote "With Someone," a ballad inspired by and dedicated to her mother.
Now, Lolene is actively engaged in her writing and works daily on new song ideas. She draws from her own life experiences for her songs. Lolene's songs reflect a keen observation of human relationships. For example, "With Someone" is based on Lolene's observation that long term relationships sometimes end when one person decides the grass is greener. When this happens, it can be difficult for the one left behind, whether a spouse, a parent, or a very special friend. Lolene frequently begins the writing process with a catchy phase that forms the nucleus of a chorus. She then creates the verses around the chorus. Examples of this process can be found in "Don't Wake Me Up" and "The Deal's Gone Down."
Lolene holds a special place in her heart for Mr. Jimmy Fortune of the Statlers. He has supported her and encouraged her to never give up her dream. In recent years, Jimmy Fortune has given freely of his time to offer advice and comment on her songs and singing. Recently, he was so kind to say he was a "Lolene fan." Lolene is forever grateful to Mr. Fortune for his kind words of encouragement and support. They have been instrumental to Lolene's keeping her dream alive.
In 2000, Lolene prepared demo tapes of three of her recent songs and sent them to a few publishers of country and pop music. Colonel Buster Doss responded and encouraged Lolene to pursue not only her writing interests but also her singing. In April 2002, Lolene completed her the studio work for her debut CD, "Lonely Dealin's," all under the artful eye and ear of the Colonel at the Bayou Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Obviously, Lolene can never express the depth of her gratitude to Colonel Doss for opening doors and giving Lolene an opportunity to convert her dream into reality.
"Lonely Dealin's" is a twelve-song anthology about human relationships. Eleven of the songs are original materials. Since July 2001, Lolene has released six of these songs as singles to worldwide radio market, and three of these songs from the CD have received wide airplay around the world to appear on the various Top 40 charts in Europe and Australia. The airplay for the lead song on the CD was sufficient to propel "Slow Burn" to #2. Worldwide airplay of her 2001 releases from the CD were sufficient to propel Lolene to the #73rd most played artist in the world for all of 2001. Airplay for her first release, "Don't Wake Me Up" was so strong that Lolene rose to #11 on the same most played artist chart during the last two weeks of July 2001.
Lolene invites you to explore her web site and let her know what you think about her music. Lolene is hopeful that fans will find the entire collection of songs on "Lonely Dealin's" worthy to include in their personal collections.
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