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Artist Overview: Country Singer Laura Bell Bundy

Broadway Actress Returns to Country Music Roots

She's starred on Broadway and scored a Tony nomination, but for aspiring country artist Laura Bell Bundy it's all about the music these days.

Growing up in Kentucky, country newcomer Laura Bell Bundy immersed herself in the music of her idols, superstars Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire. But somehow on the way to her current recording career, the theater stage sidetracked her.

Then again, both of Bundy?s longtime country favorites, Parton and McEntire, have had a go at Broadway, as well as TV and then some. Thus, perhaps the singer-songwriter?s time on the theater stage, where she earned a Tony Award nomination for originating the lead role of Elle Woods in the Broadway musical Legally Blonde and also originated the role of Amber Von Tussle in the Tony-winning Hairspray musical, was right on track, after all.

Tony-nominated Actress Goes from Broadway Stage to Country Radio

Looking back, the 18-year-old Bundy moved to the Big Apple to attend New York University and run on its track team. While there, she forged a country duo with her then-roommate Amber Rhodes, and together, they penned and performed songs in various New York clubs.

?Everything we did, our Kentucky came out,? recalled Bundy in her label-generated artist bio. ?We were in the middle of New York singing country songs, which was kind of our gimmick in some way. We took it very seriously. Then we decided to do our own thing.?

Nevertheless, it was Bundy?s acting, including a two-year stint on The Guiding Light soap opera and her work on Broadway, that paid the bills.

?People can look at it and go, ?You went from Broadway to doing country,?? Bundy said via her bio.?(But) I actually went from the country to Broadway. I?m from Kentucky and I always listened to country music. When I started writing songs, it all came out country.?

Country Singer Credits Broadway Success for Current Music Career

Now signed to Mercury Records, the nearly 29-year-old Laura Bell said it wasn?t her intent to be a Broadway contender, but if not for the experience, it?s unlikely Music City would have come calling when it did.

?I moved to New York and my intention was to have a music career, not to do Broadway,? she explained in a January e-mail correspondence. ?For me, it was like I had two different baskets of eggs, and one was the acting basket and the other was the music basket, and the acting basket of eggs hatched first. ??

As it turns out, Bundy says she?s glad her musical eggs ?were incubating, ?because she?s now in a better place both emotionally and in terms of her ability to express herself, thanks to accruing a bit of simply living.

?I have more life experience to talk about when I write music,? Bundy shared via the aforementioned e-mail, ?and I?m a better performer now that I?ve been doing it for so long. My ability to put on a good show is stronger now, and I?m more in tune with who I am.?

Still, by her own estimation, ?It wasn?t until I was on the Broadway radar that Nashville noticed me. Isn?t that ironic? My showcase was my show, in some ways.?

Record Label Unveils Kentucky Musician's Debut Country Song, Video

These days, the Lexington-born entertainer is officially among the ?noticed by Nashville? ranks and celebrating the Jan. 19 iTunes release of her debut single, Giddy On Up, and its companion music video, which premiered on Country Music Television on Jan. 17, 2010.

?This is a dream,? Bundy said via her bio, regarding her forthcoming CD?s release. ?It has been a dream since I was a kid. I think I always wanted to be an entertainer. There?s an element of that at the Grand Ole Opry, where you can be funny and also be a singer. That is what I really want, that full scope of being a true entertainer.?

As for her newly unleashed freshman song, the upbeat single is a Bundy-inked ?kiss-off? to a cheating lover, and the tune?s accompany video is fun and saucy, with the triple-threat artist putting her stage skills to good use via her portrayal of a dancin? saloon girl, complete with high kicks and payback-inspired gun slinging.

Achin' and Shakin': Laura Bell Bundy Creates New Country with Variety

The Giddy On Up track is a preview of what?s to come on Bundy?s inaugural CD dubbed Achin' and Shakin', which is set to be released later this spring. The disc is a concept album that, like its titled indicates, features songs about matters of the heart and rowdier musical fare.

??Two records, one woman? is my motto,? joked Bundy, who penned all but one of the songs on the album, in her biography.

As for the Achin? side of the project, it?s a collection of country numbers that are characterized as slow and sultry. Meanwhile, the Shakin? group of tunes?including Giddy On Up?is chockfull of sass, humor and attitude presents Laura Bell as a modern-day Loretta Lynn-meets-Minnie Pearl, if you will.

?I have two different sides of my personality,? she explained, referring to the CD?s pronounced divisons. ?I have a crazy, wild, humorous, outspoken personality, and then I have a depth that only opens up when I am alone or with one other person, and that is captured with this album. I really couldn?t do one without the other.?

Contemporary-Country Artist's New CD Inspired by Her Southern Heritage

Described as ?country?s answer to Norah Jones,? Bundy lists her grandfather, a DJ and newscaster with ?a voice that was reminiscent of Bing Crosby,? as her strongest influence. He introduced a young Laura Bell to the sounds of Patsy Cline, Frank Sinatra, Pearl Bailey and Willie Nelson, all which she took in.

?For me, being in Kentucky, the world was country music, and as I got older,? Bundy has said. ?I listened to country and oldies, (and) it?s all in this album.?

A Nashville resident since moving to the country-music mecca in 2008, Bundy?who also starred in the big-stage production of Wicked?describes her Achin? and Shakin? album as being a culmination of her experiences on and offstage combined with her musical experiences, songwriting and Southern heritage.

?Songwriting and recording is my passion; this is my love,? she confirmed. ?There?s a part of myself that has come out that I really like and it?s very important to me.?

Source: Suite101.com (By Lisa L. Rollins)

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