FROMONLINE | 2013-05-06

By Tami Lange
May 6, 2013
337

By Tami Lange Its a good thing Taylor Lamborn doesnt mind driving, because logging the miles is what keeps both of her completely unrelated careers going. Lamborn, a Maryland native and 2011 graduate of The College of Wooster, is still making Wooster her home away from home, working in town while making inroads into the Cleveland music scene and beyond. Although she graduated with degrees in communication studies and studio art and works in marketing and public relations by day, most evenings and weekends will find Lamborn performing original music -- influenced, she said, by jazz, blues, funk, rock n roll and country. But, she quickly adds, Im rooted in folk, considering I am a girl with a guitar. The girl with a guitar started as a girl with a piano, when Lamborn said she would skip family bridge games at her grandmothers in lieu of playing piano in the basement. I would manage to entertain myself for hours on end, she said. Then she got a guitar and started putting more structure to her music. By high school, she said, her mom was trying to convince her to try out for American Idol. I threw a tantrum, she said, adding that she wasnt at all interested in the celebrity aspect of the music industry. While at the COW, Lamborn found writing and performing her own music was actually therapeutic, so she decided to take her guitar to Larrys Music Center and get it fixed up. Laughingly, she recalled the staff telling her it probably wasnt event worth fixing. They found her something better. I wasted years on a crappy guitar, she sighed. While in Wooster, Lamborn fell in with some local musicians, including those in the Funk Country Store. One night, one of the bands members informed Lamborn she would be opening for them at The Market Grille in downtown Wooster. It was really fun and a little intimidating, realizing I was so different from the normal performer, Lamborn said, noting she showed up way before performance time and perhaps was a bit overly prepared. I was a little bit of a stress case. But she was hooked on performing and wrote her own music since, she said, I was always really bad at learning covers. She played anywhere and everywhere – paying gigs and charity events. She also worked with Gabe OBrien of Larrys Music Center to create her first CD. The CD release party was held at The Olde Jaol, where Lamborn was then working. It just spiraled from there, she said. So, last year, she took her act on the road: from Toronto to Montreal to Cleveland to Pennsylvania, to New York, to Nashville to New Orleans to Los Angeles to Salt Lake City to Boulder to Chicago back to Cleveland through West Virginia and back home to Maryland. And how did that go? I loved it, Lamborn said. I learned a lot. Id like to do it again. Along the way, she was one of two winners in the House of Blue Showcase Exhibition in January and got to meet with an executive from a large music label. It was really great, according to Lamborn, and it turned into more like a consultation. At this point, however, I'd rather stay independent, unless a really strong independent label was interested, she said. For now, she is living in Lakewood, commuting to Wooster three days a week to handle marketing duties at Produced Water Absorbents, a spin-off of ABS Materials, where she started her post-college career. The rest of the time, she is off to find bookings – often in Cleveland – while still playing in the Wooster area when asked. In fact, she is playing May 21 at the Cause for the Paws, a Wayne County Humane Society fundraiser at SoMar Wine Cellars. So someday, will she have to make a choice between her two careers? I really dont know. Music will always be a huge part of my life. As for now, she said, she is doing a really good job of balancing things. but I definitely have my freak-out moments.

FROMONLINE | 2013-05-06

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