Lori Harris remembers hearing Aretha Franklin for the first time. Sixth grade. Noisy bus. Head cocked, mouth gaping, now all there was was Aretha. Soul identification. Click. Life-change. Zoom.
Lori grew up singing Amy Grant, but after Aretha, she went for soul, to Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Annie Lennox, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, so many others. Cutting her teeth onstage in country, blues and jazz bars while learning the craft of writing good lyrics in the halls of higher learning, Lori came back home to Jesus one day and now she uses one life-change to connect souls to the other.
She pairs passion with skill. Seekers, new believers and veteran faithful alike enjoy Lori’s intelligent, soulful, candid style that delves into the “more.”
"I write about contrasts, longing for more. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven, the ‘more’ we all want. It’s what makes people write songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side. We were made for more. Everybody wants to cross over into something else and become able to really walk in the ‘more.’”
The songs of Lori’s first full-length album release A Different Kind define this ache, offer hope, and dwell on the process of handling “more.”
“After you decide to believe in Jesus Christ and leap into this new life, you still have to grow into it, what C.S. Lewis called ‘working death backwards,’ and that’s really hard! I want share this path with people, put words to what we’re going through so we can all sing it out into the air. The music is organic and sort of raw to express that feeling of growing.”
Look for themes in Lori’s lyrics: change, beauty, love. Look for wandering, getting lost, homesickness and return. Look for God’s expression as He looks at us. Look for encouragement, a twist on suffering, a will to love against the odds and win. Look for epic-thinking that makes life more fun and marriage more manageable. Look for power to fly in God’s Spirit and surrender. Look for peace in an anthem you can sing at the top of your lungs. Look for delight that lasts and lasts and lasts.
A Different Kind released in October of 2008. See www.loriharris.com for new information, stories behind the songs and to contact her. Let the One behind her life-changes move you into the "more." Click. Zoom...
Read more...