Laura Sawosko’s new album is Not What I Do, continuing her line of Singer-Songwriter genre with country and Americana overtones. She has her own, unique sound, her own, unique genre spin, and Not What I Do feels like a penultimate accomplishment for now as her first record with major backing. “The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been…(this) album,” she has said to CanvasRebel Magazine. “I have learned so much as a singer-songwriter in Nashville and have put every aspect of myself into this album. It will be my first official album release with the assistance of Olivia Management and a Publicist.”
URL: https://www.laurasawosko.com/
Like much of her earlier work, Not What I Do deals with the painfully personal. Sawosko is wise in pouring her heart out into tracks simultaneously resonant with country fans, and listeners who enjoy a good story. In a world of sound bites and catchy, vapid lyrics, Sawosko reveals what a purist’s version of music is really about. While the production and sound mixing of Not What I Do is top-notch, the songs are acoustic and deliberately simple. There’s no sense of muddying the waters. By listening to a Laura Sawosko record, the beauty of it is it feels like you get to know her. Biscuits & Gravy is particularly hard-hitting, frankly discussing amongst other things Sawosko grappling with her own sexuality.
“This year I have been composing the songs and recording them in a Nashville studio. This album encompasses love, loss and all the in between. My Father recently passed away and it was an emotional journey channeling such loss through music, but such an honor…I never want to shy away from difficult topics because it is an important aspect of the human condition.” This humility likely stems from the hardscrabble path Sawosko has taken to get to where she is today. That humility is part of her prowess, it forms the bedrock of her successful niche as an artist.
“I believe the life of a songwriter is greatly misunderstood,” Sawosko said in CanvasRebel interview. “Too many people view being a musician as a hobby rather than a job or career…It is an endless task of creating, learning how to be your own sound engineer, manager, booking agent, website designer and roadie. There is great expense for instruments, equipment and studio time with little to no income coming in until you are one of the lucky few to break through the music machine of top 20 Country…
Being a female in the Country music industry is another story. Radio airplay for female artists is almost non existent and so is the pay compared to our male counterpart. When I perform at writer’s rounds, it is usually 15 males to every one female. It is one more hurdle to jump through in order to be heard and appreciated. My main focus is loving what I do and I believe the rest will follow.”
Gwen Waggoner
