The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Local folk artist wins award in Syracuse
Lauren Mettler: Folk artist wins Sammy Award
SYRACUSE, N.Y. >> As she rushed to the recent Syracuse Area Music Awards ceremony from her day job, twice-nominated singer/songwriter Lauren Mettler said she didn‘ t even have time to take off her coat before she was whisked to the stage to accept her own Sammy Award on her arrival.
“The people on stage helped me take my coat and scarf off,” she said, “and then my brother handed me the award. I didn’t even know which one it was.”
Mettler said she was out of her job in Sherburne at 6 p.m. on the March 3 day of the awards presentations, and changed her clothes and did her makeup on her way to the Palace Theater in Syracuse while boyfriend Keith Jones drove. Their race against time and against traffic paid off, as she was met at the door with the news that she had just won the Sammy Award for Best Folk Recording of 2016 for her album “Patchwork.”
Her brother Joseph Mettler was even at that moment up on stage accepting for her -- knowing she was right outside -and stalling as best he could in hopes she could join him there in front of the audience.
“I arrived just in time to run down the aisle, make a breathless, scatterbrained speech, and accept an award for ‘Best Folk Recording,’” Mettler posted on Facebook that evening shortly after the gala. “Thank you to the board of the Sammy Awards, to everyone who supported the making of ‘Patchwork,’ and also to my brother, Joe, for stalling so I could accept the award on my own behalf.”
It was the proverbial “village” that helped her create her disc, and a full list of those benefactors appears on her Facebook page. Mettler thanked especially Jeremy Johnston at Subcat Studios in Syracuse for mixing and mastering the album, as well as the musicians who played on it, including her brother plus Alex Lavon and Brendan O’Connor, all of the group Rabbit in the Rye, along with MasonMcDowell and Taiward Wider.
She was also nominated for a Sammy Award in the Best Singer/Songwriter category. Being given her Sammy among the crowd of her musical peers was especially gratifying, Mettler said.
“I felt humbled and grateful to be acknowledged on that level, among such talented, beautiful, and hard-working musicians,” she explained.
Mettler, a Sherburne-Earlville Central School class of 2006 graduate, started writing her own original songs 12 years ago, playing music that blends folk, bluegrass, jazz, and often-ethereal vocals with an empathic accessibility. The daughter of Diana Kupris-Mettler and Martin Mettler, she said her early days were always surrounded by music in their home.
“Patchwork” was started in July 2013 at Hamilton Music Studio and its companion “A Handful of Soil” in January 2014 right in her childhood bedroomturned recording studio. Mettler even launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of the discs, and both discs were released simultaneously last fall.
The journey was a successful yet often-challenging one, as in addition to the normal rigors of writing and recording not one but two albums, Mettler also had some health issues … she was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease 12 years ago, just about
the time she started writing her original music. But even an occasional hospital visit couldn’t derail her ambitions in releasing her music -- an endeavor acknowledged with not only the kudos of the Sammy Awards but like accolades from other listeners as well.
“There were a lot of challenges along the way … even without the health issues, putting an album together a lot of energy, a lot of devotion, and a lot of courage,” Mettler said. “To finally have it done, to finally be able to hold it in my hand and to have the whole thing complete is almost surreal in a way.”
Now, Mettler said she would like to get a band of her own together to go out and take her music to venues throughout the area. She would love for the combo to include keyboards and a cellist, and will keep the music in the same vein as her albums. But she isn’t looking for stardom, she admitted -- Mettler prefers to keep true to her hometown roots and perform for smaller, more intimate au- diences, traveling as far as her appreciative fans will take her.
“I am hoping to get my music in as many ears as possible,” she said. Mettler would also like to do a follow-up disc in the near future
Her upcoming solo gigs include:
• May 3: The Center for the Arts in Homer, opening for Cheryl Wheeler and Lucy Kaplinsky May 16: The Local Music Project at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton
• July 13: On the Green in Hamilton
Full details, and any added dates, will be announced on her website.
Mettler said she feels the duo of discs now stand as a testament to many of her own feelings.
“It was one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever done,” she admitted. “.It feels good, like an encapsulation of all of these really important sentiments. I don’t even know who will be listening to it -- someone could be listening to it right now.”
For more information on Mettler’s music, find her on Facebook or visit her website at: www.laurenmettler.bandcamp.com