In a city full of musicians trying to get noticed and make it out of town, one artist is embracing exactly what many wish to escape.
Lauren Crosby, a 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Georgetown, Maine, decided to come to Memphis, hoping to share her music with the South.
"Well, kind of the whole reason I came (to Memphis) was for music. School is just school. It can be done anywhere, but I would like to make connections down here and just explore," Crosby said. "This place has a lot of nooks and crannies that I've found, which I absolutely adore, and I've really fallen hardly in love with it."
Crosby described her music as an acoustic mixture of folk and blues. She cited Melanie Safka as her biggest musical influence but said she also draws inspiration from artists like Joni Mitchell and Fiona Apple.
While she has been singing in front of live audiences since she was 14 years old, Crosby said she just started doing solo gigs for the first time this summer. Even though she is new to both solo performances and the South, it hasn't stopped her from getting her name out in the local music scene. Crosby performed at Otherlands Coffee Bar in midtown, and she recently performed at the Hard Rock Café downtown.
Several bands that also played at the Hard Rock Café asked her to open for them in some of their upcoming shows.
"I got asked to play in Southaven next weekend, and I met some people who want to record me," Crosby said. "I also met some touring bands who are interested in playing some shows with me."
The sophomore education major is spending the semester at the University of Memphis through the National Student Exchange Program. She chose Memphis, because she had never been to the South and didn't know much about the culture.
"I'll be honest with you. I don't think I've ever seen more than five black people together at once," Crosby said. "There's very little ethnicity in Maine, so coming down here was a very big shock to me, but I love it, actually. You can just soak up personalities and cultures."
Crosby said she gained about 75 percent of her fans in Memphis from sitting outside her dorm playing guitar and singing.
Jenny Johnston, a senior health service administration major, saw Crosby play at Otherlands Coffee Bar earlier in the semester.
"She gave everyone there chills," Johnston said. "Everyone who played that night was talented, but I thought Lauren was the best."
That was the first time Johnston saw Crosby live, but she had heard some of her music before she went to the singer-songwriter night.
"I often think sometimes I love music too much to be a musician," Crosby said. "You know, I'll listen to something and think 'This is amazing. Why can't I write something like that?' So, I get all down on myself, but then I play a show and people are like 'You're so good. You're music is amazing.' And then it just all makes sense. I just get such a high from it, and that's when I know that I want to be a singer-songwriter."
Crosby will perform at Java Cabana in the Cooper-Young neighborhood at 8 p.m. Saturday. There is no cover charge.
