Skirt! Magazine

"Laurel Lee Welch-Pioneer" Skirt! Magazine, June, 2008

“I’m such an ego-maniac when it comes to performing,” says Laurel Lee, songstress and staple of Laurel Lee and the Escapees. She moved from Oregon to Jacksonville two and a half years ago for a dose of sunshine and to write her album Eastward Pioneer. She frequents low-key venues that showcase her lyrically structured songs. “I sing because it’s cathartic,” she confesses. “I sing because I have something to say and I want to let people know that they’re not alone.” In college she helped launch a radio station and at age 29, she taught herself to play guitar; she still sees herself as a work in progress. “I will never be done. I will never take a break.”

Now, Laurel Lee is going to grad school to get a degree in education in addition to her many musical gigs. She currently teaches social studies classes to UNF seniors. “I gave them my CD,” she says, “But I want them to be thinking about economics...It’s inspiring for them. It’s encouraging for both parties.”

Her first song on her album, “I Don’t Miss Missing You” is about a “push-pull” relationship she had for thirteen years. “I was so sick of it,” she says. “One day I was thinking about how I’ve been doing really well and a line came back to me:I don’t miss missing you.”

(Skirt.com, http://jacksonville.skirt.com/node/6146, full page article 11”x17”, printed in the June, 2008 Jacksonville edition. )