LORI MCKENNA

Unglamorous

2007-07-23

Lori McKenna lives in Stoughton, Mass. (pop. 27,000), and her MySpace page reads "Lori McKenna - Singer, Songwriter, Wife, Mother." She wrote three songs (including the title track) for Faith Hill's 2005 album, Fireflies, and she blends folk, rock and country with the ease of a mother spreading peanut butter and jelly on Wonderbread. And in her fifth album, she makes it clear that it's all about her unglamorous family. The first track, "I Know You," is a gritty portrait of Gene, her husband of 18 years ... "You have too much pride to be a thief, and just enough gut to be a fool." In the album's final track, "Leaving This Life," McKenna delves into sadness caused by her mother's passing (she was just seven at the time), and the title track is about her five children ... "with eyes just like mine" ... and a hectic family life that once involved driving the kids to school in a Ford Windstar minivan with 150,000 miles on it. – Sara Cosgrove

Quick Links:

• Myspace page