Lauren Crosby was born in Georgetown Island, Maine and raised in a blue-collar fashion by a lobsterman, her mother, and two younger sisters. Her voice is an oceanic-like force praised for its uniqueness and range. Her songwriting reflects the imagination of an old-soul, while her style tilts between a harmonic blend of salt and wit.
Lauren began gigging underage in bars in the mid-coast region when she was sixteen. In college, during a semester away studying blues and jazz vocals at the University of Memphis, she found herself at Bob Weir’s (of the Grateful Dead) TRI Studios in San Rafael, California after winning a songwriting contest hosted by Weir himself. From there, Lauren recorded her debut self-titled album at the age of nineteen in Brunswick, Maine. This album aided Lauren in gaining the attention of listeners from all around the state of Maine and beyond. She then went on for another semester away in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she became infatuated with the sounds of the southwest.
In the spring of 2016, a month before graduating from the University of Maine at Farmington with a teaching degree, Lauren recorded Back River Beauties with a live audience in her hometown, Georgetown, Maine. This album served as an open love letter to the Island and all the people in it, with songs written solely about rural Island life in Maine. Directly after graduating, Lauren left on her first self-directed, full-length west coast tour with her longtime bandmate, Aaron Nadeau.
Returning from her first tour, Lauren left for six months to teach English in South Korea. She then took a gig teaching in a Yupi’k Eskimo village on Alaska’s Bering Sea. While teaching in the last frontier, Lauren received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English and Music in Thailand. She left in the fall of 2017 for a year to fulfill her duty as an American ambassador/teacher/musician. In Thailand, Lauren studied eastern music and quickly learned how to speak Thai. One of her biggest projects was translating a song written by the music teacher at her school from Thai to English. This song went on to both the U.S and Thai Embassy’s, where it received deep praise from both countries.
Between beep-bopping back and forth between Maine and away, Lauren has shared the stage with various Songwriters and Jam Bands–including: Garnet Rogers, Jonathan Edwards, Assembly of Dust, Drake White, and most recently, LISSIE.
Upon returning from her time abroad in the fall of 2018, Lauren recorded her Sophomore studio album, I Said Take Me To The Water at Acadia Recording Company in Portland. Lauren states that this album is the most personal, musical journey she has captured. With its worldly influences, Lauren delivers the tracks on this record with a brutally honest heart. I Said Take Me To The Water hosts songs that delve deeper into Lauren’s feelings and observations as an outsider, and a young woman. With her team of all-star musicians, Aaron Nadeau (Workin’ Dead), Justin Maxwell (Maine Dead Project) Ryan Benoit (Hambone) and producer Todd Hutchinson (Acadia Recording Company), she carries the listener away from the picturesque Maine village to the vast corners of a much bigger world. There are hints of the southwest, layers of the blues, bits of her travels, and small pieces of her home state.
Lauren will be joined by her longtime bandmate, Aaron Nadeau, along with established Portland multi instrumentalist Justin Maxwell, and percussionist Ryan Benoit, to bring to you her much anticipated Sophomore studio album, I Said Take Me To The Water.
About Natural High Jumble:
Natural High Jumble, a sharp and energetic trio, rises out of Western Maine’s rolling hills. Lindsay Mower, principle songwriter/vocalist/bassy rhythm guitarist (western Maine songstress); Matt Mower, drummer/percussionist and Joe Hodgkins, lead/rhythm guitarist, bring to the stage a soulful, grooving blend of folksy, bluesy jazz rock.
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