Thursday, April 19, 2018

How Gigi Love Got Her Start

By Melissa Scott


This is a performing artist who is the original Trails & Rails Troubadour. Trails & Rails is a program that has been organized by both the National Park Service and Amtrak as a way of getting people to enjoy the natural wonders of national parks all from the comfort of an Amtrak train. As a part of this program, Gigi Love performs both on these long train rides and at breathtaking performance sites in many parks across the country.

Love's devotion to these beautiful parks led her on a journey that lasted for two years from 2015 to 2017. On this journey, she went to over twenty national parks so that she could see for herself the beauty that was there, and so that she could learn as much as she could about the communities and history. Taking plenty of notes along the way, she was able to create from her experiences a number of the songs that are on National Parks Centennial Songs, her full-length album.

This is a type of music that takes the listener on a journey, even when they are not really enjoying a live performance on the train. The lyrics and bluesy melodies have a way of conveying the dreams and visions of the storyteller so that the audience becomes completely wrapped up in it. Her songs often depict the travels she has gone on.

Dallas is the place where many great musicians got their start, and it is the place where Gigi was born and grew up. When she was seven, she knew she wanted to sing and play guitar, and got right to playing and practice as much as she could. By the time she was twelve, she was already performing at some big-name place.

The name recognition of this artist comes from some of the big venues that she has had the opportunity to play. A lot of people might recognize her from when she performed at the Closing Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. She is also known for her opening performance for the Dave Matthews Band.

Love's association with the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance has included the Suzi Wollenberg Folk DJ Showcase in 2016 as well as touring with Kate McLeod. She has also toured with Duncan Phillips, who is Utah Phillips' son, in a Utah Phillips tribute band called Burns on the Plush. Love's performance on these songs gives a whole new life to these classics.

Beautiful national parks is what inspired Love's album celebrating the centennial. She saw the importance and wonder of these places, and wanted to use the power of song to help people become more aware of it. The songs she writes are carefully crafted to reflect the uniqueness of each place, so when one actually does visit there, the sounds perfectly fit the experience.

When Gigi performed at Yosemite and a rock climber offered to sell her his mandolin for $25 so that he could have the gas money to get home, she didn't know it would be a pivotal moment in her career. She bought the mandolin, and then took it up into the El Capitan Meadow. There, she sat and wrote her first national park song: Yosemite Gold.




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