Thursday, March 15   8:00 p.m.
Habana Calle 6   (709 E 6th St)

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"Another young 'un with skills beyond her years....She's got an accessible breathless voice, her lyrics are poetic and free of pretense and she's a natural guitar player." -The Santa Cruz Sentinel
"Being a teen prodigy in the pop music world can be a curse. In some cases, though, it isn't all self-defeating hype, such as with 18-year-old folkie Lauren Shera, whose melodic ear is impeccable and demonstrates promising signs of a true talent." -Metro Santa Cruz

Lauren Shera has been listening to music and attending concerts since she was in the womb; Hailing from a very musically-oriented family , Lauren grew up in New York listening to an eclectic range of artists, but was always drawn to folk music. Just before her ninth birthday, she and her family relocated to northern California, where she currently resides. Growing up in a close-knit community of homeschooling families that often had parties centered around a circle of musicians playing folk songs, Lauren decided to give the guitar a try and began taking lessons around the age of thirteen. Soon after, she took the plunge and dedicated herself to writing and performing, making her small-town debut at various coffee house open mikes and book store music nights . Since then Lauren has slowly but surely paved a path for herself in the world of contemporary folk music, and with the support of her friends and family, as well as some extremely supportive well known artists, Lauren has been singing her little heart out and touching people throughout the Bay Area for the last five years.

Her first self-released album, "A Million Light Years Long" (2005), was a special limited edition batch of individually packaged CD's, all signed and numbered by Lauren and featuring a handful of her unique songs. A segment on the making of her album was featured on KQED, the Nationally recognized San Francisco PBS television station, for their show entitled Spark, which highlights the finest local and upcoming Bay Area artists.

Lauren has recently completed her second album, "In My Bones", a collection of songs that weave evocative yet plain spoken poetry with haunting melodies, backed up by her intricate fingerpicking and masterful production. The album promises to be a moving portrait of her rootsy, hands-on upbringing, paying homage to her eclectic musical influences and blending it with the skill and eloquence of a true singer/songwriter.

At the age of eighteen Lauren has appeared at numerous Bay Area clubs and coffee houses, as well as the Sausalito Arts Festival, The High Sierra Music Festival, and more recently performed at a tribute concert to Bob Dylan in New York City, to benefit the Music For Youth Foundation. She has also opened shows for Joan Osborne, Greg Brown, Iris DeMent, Todd Snider, Jason Mraz, Willie Mason, Holly Brook, Mindy Smith, Jon Cleary, Kristin Hersh, Sonya Kitchell, The Ditty Bops, Vashti Bunyan, Tim Reyolds, Tony Rice, and Phil Lesh, who said of Lauren, “…Every generation or two a voice comes along that redefines what you thought you knew about music and touches you deep down in your soul...her voice is going to define the next generation of folk music”.