姓名： LoniLamm 英文名：- 性别：- 国籍：- 出生地：- 语言：- 生日：- 星座：- 身高：- 体重：-
I was born in a little (now big) town called Fallbrook in the state of beautiful California. I grew up there until I left for college. Music has always been something that has flowed through my veins. I wanted to create an album that many would love however it took about 19 years to learn how to channel all I wanted to do. It would take the right sound, the right lyrics, the right experience,and the right team, and most of all the insane passion to fulfill it.
So here we are... I can say now at 29, I have all those things in my favor!
Ask ANY musician if their journey of turning their dream into reality was easy and fast, I bet they'll tell you no...at least I would.
So what has my journey looked like???
When I was in high school I had the rare opportunity of being picked up by Columbia records as an addition to a girl group. They were trying to re create Spice Girls. Did anything ever come of it?...no...but I met amazing people along the way who, fortunately enough, took care of me. Most of my senior year was spent traveling from Fallbrook to LA to work with vocal instructors, choreographers, photographers, and those in A&R. I felt like I was "there"...I was 17...of course I felt like this was my big break!
Right before I graduated high school Columbia scheduled our HUGE showcase we had taken a year to prepare for. Long story short...after the performance, the A&R department wanted us to meet the music executive that would be managing us and basically launching our careers . So here we all were in a circle...us (the girls), the senior VP of Columbia, the A&R reps, and the music executive. The first question he asked was, "where do you see yourself in a year?" Every other girl in our group had a dream to sing. So their answers embodied that desire. Well...I had that same dream too, but that wasn't my answer. "I'm going to go to college... and then I will look at music again." Had the VP of Columbia taken a sip of the hot drink he was holding, I'm certain he would have spit it everywhere. His response was immediately followed by my response..."no you're not...your gonna be a rock star."...to end this story...I started my first semester of college that July and never regretted that decision. I had my dreams but I would learn two things over the next 10 or 11 years; first, dreams may not disappear but over time they take different shape. Second, I was going to have to let go of the reigns and let my Heavenly Father take hold if any dream was going to happen.
The blessing of music opportunities, over the next 8 years, would come in and out of my life, however music at this time was taking a back seat to things of greater importance. This doesn't mean music wasn't important to me or that I didn't want it bad enough, it meant my family was more important. I had an understanding of what my Heavenly Father saw would bring me the greatest happiness; being a wife and mother was just that.
Letting go of the reins?...That didn't come easy nor comfortably.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that our trials are tailor made for us. We aren't to compare our trials with those around us. When we personally experience a trial we have an emotion that is tied to it..that emotion is real and it's there for a purpose. I do believe there will always be someone around the "sufferer" that has it worse, but that doesn't make the sufferer's trial any less important. Although my trials may be different from yours, they do have one thing in common...they all have the capacity to bring us to our knees; the ability to ask our Heavenly Father for help. I'm sure many of you have been told at some point in your lives that Heavenly Father will never give you anything more than you can handle. Better worded...Heavenly Father will never give you more than you can handle WITH his help! So when your trials come, remember, it is your Father in Heaven stretching YOU into what He knows you can be.
Two years ago He must have seen something I didn't...the need for more growth. My hardest trials thus far, came in what I describe as a cluster. I was dangerously comfortable in life...going with the flow...then they hit...one right after another. I felt like a weight, heavier than the world, rested on my shoulders and I was drowning. Earlier when I said I was dangerously comfortable in life, meant that I had stopped doing the little things. I wasn't reading my scriptures, praying regularly, keeping my Heavenly Father in mind on a daily basis, etc. I felt that I was okay and when I got to pray, read, and ponder, it was like charging a battery but not a daily one...it would get me through couple weeks...month...whenever I found the time. I'm here to tell you, this process doesn't work and it gives Satan a playing field.
The emotions associated with these particular trials got so bad that the "numbness" I was feeling turned physical...I noticed one day that I couldn't feel my finger tips. I believe there are two different types of trials we as human beings experience. There are those we inflict upon ourselves by our own free agency which He allows to happen; and there are those I mentioned earlier, trials that are tailor made for us and given when Heavenly Father sees we are ready to grow more. I clearly was experiencing both. I had two choices.. I could wallow in my misery which would have led to unnecessary unhappiness, or I could endure these trials with every ounce of strength I had left in me...which wasn't much. So I took a chance...
Although my life felt like it was spinning, there was always a place that tugged in my heart...it wanted me to remember...remember what always had been consistent...it was love...the deep love and understanding my Savior had for me....and where I came from...the very same place we all came from.
Early one morning, in the process of finding "me" again, I drove to a place where I go when I need to sit in quiet to feel comfort and gain insight. I remember praying ...praying harder than I had ever prayed before. I still wondered how I was ever going to get through it all but this time I had hope and faith that the spirit would whisper EXACTLY what I needed to hear...I just had to be patient...something I am in no way good at. Almost instantly a series of thoughts and feelings started occurring...most will remain personal. However, the biggest thought or vision in my mind, was this music.
I left that place with a renewed sense of hope and the desire to do my part but I also left with one burning question...HOW?
I began making changes in my life that would propel me to better places. I started doing the little things again and this time I did them religiously. Days, weeks, and months went by of which I would pray for guidance on what to write, what the music should sound like, and most of all who would be a part of it...who would put it together...who could I feel vulnerable with yet safe. Remember, this all went on for a period of 2 years. There were days when I would walk out of vocal training when I felt that my voice just wasn't there. There were many late nights when I would bang my head on my computer keys, or pile crumpled up pieces of paper in a corner. Some days I would pray for guidance and it just wouldn't come. Other days I would be so emotionally exhausted, I would have to walk away from it. Just when I would be ready to throw my hands in the air, something would give in just a way that I knew I was supposed to continue. I was being taught lessons in faith...did I trust my Heavenly Father would help me see this through?
While creating this album, many doors shut in my face but when one was shut He always opened another. This was how I was blessed with Gena Jacob an amazing vocal instructor. This was how I was blessed with an amazing opportunity to record with my amazing brother Blaine and Our Waking Hour. This was also how I was introduced to the incredibly talented musician and producer Erik Seime who spent hours mixing and mastering so that you all could one day go on this journey with me. Aaron Harvey who graciously spent time tweaking little things here and there when the sound needed it. My favorite photographer Ed Alexander who I have known for years and trust with my whole heart and soul, shot the very photo that I felt captivated my feelings for my Savior. The oh so talented Colton Holliday who graphically designed the cover to A Journey Back AT ONE with little direction. Then there was Southwest Airlines who always ended up giving me miles for one reason or another so that I could fly back and forth to TX to continue recording. Every little thing that happened to bring this album to you had Heavenly Fathers "signature" on it.
When I listen back to this album I feel many things but most of all, I feel a sense of hope. Hope that I know you can feel. Each song was written out of experiences I had but they were written in just a way that you will find yourself saying..."This song was written for me."
A Journey back AT ONE is a reminder that you are never alone during the storms. A reminder that our Heavenly Father can see right into our hearts and wants to help us more than we can imagine. A reminder that He created a plan long ago that allows us to start over again when we feel there isn't much left to begin with. Finally the reminder that trials although painful, if handled WITH him, will turn out to be some of the most beautiful blessings we will ever be given.
