Kennesaw's own Lauren Morrow joins the Peach Jam Podcast to talk songwriting, seeing her parents as real people, and her love of the Atlanta Braves. Peach Jam Podcast features songs and stories and songs recorded live in our GPB studios from a variety of incredibly talented and diverse bands and artists who call the Peach State home. 

Lauren Morrow on the Peach Jam Podcast

Lauren Morrow on the Peach Jam Podcast

Credit: GPB

Lauren Morrow lives in Nashville now, but Kennesaw is home for her.  She joins host Jeremy Powell to discuss songwriting and storytelling, learning that her mom is a real person and not just an authority figure, and her love for the Atlanta Braves.  

 

Jeremy Powell: Why is it hard to describe what kind of music you play? 

Lauren Morrow: I think because I have a lot of different influences that I tend to draw from. So I know that, like, my voice can sound like country esque and I can write kind of country type songs, but I have a lot of influences in like 90s Alternative and, you know, and indie rock and stuff like that. And I think they all kind of come together in our music and it's hard to. I don't know. It's just hard to kind of like put a real, you know, like label on it.

Jeremy Powell: And so the first song, Viki Lynn is about your mom. Tell me about your mom.

Lauren Morrow: My mom is a very complex person. That would probably be hard to sum up in the amount of time that we have. But what I generally say when I introduce the song is that my mom and I are very close, and we've always been really close with each other. There was time periods in our lives where we weren't as close and generally when I was a teenager, etc., you know, and I always thought that I always knew she was cool, that I would never allow myself to admit it. And she would tell me these stories about when she was like 16 and she would be sneaking out of our house and she'd go hang out like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers and Wet Willie and all these, like, other bands. And and she'd be like, You know, Lauren, I was, I was cool once and blah, blah, blah, or whatever. I'd be like, Oh, whatever. And in comparison, though, when I was 16, I was like, lined up outside of a Barnes and Noble dress, like Harry Potter. Like waiting for a new Harry Potter book to come out. So I always talk about how, like, she's way cooler than me. She has better story that, you know, she's just she's lived a lot of life and she's awesome. And so I felt like I started thinking about her and Jason, my husband had written this riff for a song, and I just started thinking about her life and it just really kind of came out. And sometimes it's like that with songs. 

Lauren Morrow and Peach Jam Podcast Host, Jeremy Powell

Lauren Morrow and Jeremy Powell

Credit: GPB

Jeremy Powell: How does she feel knowing that you can now see her as as a whole person rather than just as your mom? 

Lauren Morrow: Yeah, I think that she I mean, she loves that. Like she my mom too. If you if you ever were to meet her, like, she has a huge personality. She's very gregarious and she she fills a lot of space in a room and in a good way. And I think that she's, you know, immensely proud that there is now come a time in my life when I can recognize her as a person and her accomplishments and also like forgive her for her shortcomings because she's also just a human, too. And there's just been a lot of really nice growth that has happened in our relationship the older that I've gotten. 

Lauren Morrow: So I went to Georgia State University and I have a degree in English and a minor in British and American cultures. 

Jeremy Powell: And then that transfers to your songwriting because you write a lot of stories. 

Lauren Morrow: Mm hmm. Yeah. I think, you know, I've always. I've always been. Ever since I was young, would get interested in the lyrics, in songs and the ones that tell stories. Like, I remember when I was a kid, I was obsessed with Janie's Got a Gun by Aerosmith, and like, which was trying to, like, decipher the story when I was a kid of, like, what happened to her, you know? And I feel like that is kind of the that's kind of what I, I don't know. I just tend to write more story, you know, things now, I guess. 

Jeremy Powell: Is that why you find it difficult to put your music in a box? Is it because you're drawing from those influences like you mentioned earlier, you know, the alternative rock and indie rock and things like that. And then when you're writing stories, they're not typical country or Americana stories. 

Lauren Morrow: Right. And like, and there's not a ton of, like, storytelling, I think, like I do in a lot of like, indie rock or like rock, you know, too. So it's kind of I guess it is kind of strange. I never thought of it like that before where like you're like kind of telling a story like that is a more of like country Americana, you know, trope, I guess to use like in telling stories, but doing it with music that sounds more like alternative, I guess it's kind of an interesting thing. 

 

The Peach Jam Podcast from GPB features songs and stories from a variety of the incredibly talented and diverse bands and artists who call the Peach State home. Recorded live in our GPB studios you get a front row seat for the intimate musical performances and free flowing conversation from a truly eclectic variety of Georgia musicians. You can find more at GPB.org/PeachJamPodcast and please download and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform as well.