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Susan Lainey has been surrounded by music all her life. When she was young, her family always got together on
Sunday afternoons to play live music, mostly country and rock & roll.
She loved the torch singers like Patsy Cline, Connie Francis and especially Keely Smith, whose voice, she says,
“feels like velvet in your ears.” One night, when she was about 12, she saw Joni Mitchell on TV. From that
moment on, she never wondered again “what I would do when I grew up.” By the time she graduated from
Fairhaven (MA) High School in 1972, she was known as “the girl with the guitar.”
As a teenager, she began performing at coffeehouses and churches, and jamming with other players to the folk,
blues and country rock of the 60s and 70s. In 1973, she joined Silverado,
a four-piece country rock band that toured throughout New England, playing ski resorts, colleges, festivals
and jamborees. Later, she toured northern New England with several bands including
Harvest, Amsara and The Home Brew Band,
a six-piece country rock band that performed for the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, NY.
She moved back to her hometown in 1979, still writing original songs but mostly performing covers at local clubs.
After marrying, she worked for a number of years in the health care field, including as a music facilitator for
adults in day care and preschoolers, and started to pursue a degree in gerontology or music therapy.
But the siren call of music lured her back. “I knew I couldn’t ignore my music anymore,” she says.
“I had to find a way to make music my living again.”
So in 1995, she formed her own business, In-Tune Consulting, which provides music programs for over
50 health facilities in the SouthCoast area. She also does private gatherings such as weddings, anniversaries,
wedding and baby showers, memorial services and dedications, birthday parties and more. That same year she
performed in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium for a Talent Showcase Contest. She says, “I didn’t win, but
it sure was a thrill to sing on that stage where so many talented people have stood before. I even got to meet
the legendary Kitty Wells, my grandmother’s favorite songwriter.” In 2003, she branched out into the house
concert circuit with her first annual Spring Equinox House Concert.
Her professional career of 30-plus years culminated with the release of her first CD, entitled simply
“Susan Lainey.” The CD features 11 songs with a country-folk flavor written by Ms. Lainey, along with three
oldies and three gospel hymns. Her songs have been described as “call[ing] forth images of singer Judy
Collins and songwriter Karla Bonoff. They show a keen understanding of popular song forms from a gifted poet,
as well.” (The Standard-Times, 3/30/03)
Ms. Lainey says the release of her CD allows her “to share her music” with a wider audience.
“Music has the power to connect people on a very basic yet spiritual level. In happy times, it uplifts and
inspires us; in troubled times, it can console and even transform us. This music I make is a gift,
and I thank God for it everyday.”
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