Lauren Daigle: To the Super Bowl from the Depths of Despair

Grammy-winning artist Lauren Daigle joins Arroyo Grande for an intimate conversation about faith, resilience, and the unexpected ways suffering can shape our purpose. From battling illness as a teenager to finding her voice through hardship, Lauren shares how adversity led her to music, her experience overcoming fear and anxiety, and the powerful role faith plays in her life. She opens up about performing at the Super Bowl, her journey from rejection on American Idol to multi-platinum success, and why she believes hope is always within reach—even in our darkest moments.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll never forget saying God, you know what am I
supposed to do with my future?

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Is? Is this going to be the rest of my life?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Am I just going to be kind of like bedbound
or homebound forever?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
What was the hope you found in that misery?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I remember specifically asking God, if you get me out
of this, I will sing about the hope that I
have found here.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
When you got the call that you would be opening
this super Bowl in New Orleans, singing America the Beautiful, you.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thought, what I hang up the mountain and I go
Hope beautiful, and I immediately start practicing. I'm like, Okay,
let's see how can I use this song to cut
through to people who might be jaded toward our country.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
The mayor came out and said, love you that you
placed residents in danger? Do you feel vindicated all these
years later? Yes, five years later, you're on the biggest
stage in New Orleans. I'm ran an Arroyo. Welcome to

(01:13):
Arroyo Grande, where we dive into the wild currents of
the culture and dredge up perspectives and practical life lessons
from incredible culture makers. Grammy winner Lauren dagel is coming
up in moments, but I don't want you to miss
a show. Go subscribe and like us wherever you get
your podcasts or on our YouTube channel right now, go

(01:33):
do it. Lauren Daegel is performing at the super Bowl
in New Orleans, her hometown and mine. When we sat down,
I discovered not only a soulful, spirit filled powerhouse of
a singer, but one who found her calling in moments
of suffering, in illness, in hardship. And I think we
can all do the same. You've got to hear this interview.

(01:56):
Lauren Daegel is an award winning, multi platinum selling artist
is the only woman, incidentally, to score five number one
hits on Billboard's Christian Singles charts. She sells out arenas.
She recently released an album, appropriately called Lauren Daegel, and
we talked about it all in New Orleans. As you

(02:16):
will hear, Lauren, thank you for being here. We were
in full disclosure. We have met before, but the first
time I met you, I thought this is a kindred spirit.
I mean, and I know we're from the same part
of the world, so we kind of have a lot
in comments and thank you for that.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
The same when I met you. I was like, oh
my gosh, this is my my god, we're so good meeting.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Tell me why your mom called your house the music
box when you were growing up.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
So when I was a little girl, I did not
have any training or anything in singing.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I would just put my feet on the floor and
start singing all the time. She said she could tell
from a young age my brother would. I loved Celine Dion,
I loved Whitney Houston. Right, So what is very obvious
about their voice?

Speaker 3 (03:04):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (03:04):
They belt, they're singing at they're singing at.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Sir, You're belting all day long in diapers.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
All day long. And she would call the house the
music box because she would say, I knew that you
were awake, not because I could see you with my eyes,
but because I could hear you singing.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
When did you know that you wanted to really do
this or that you had the cape. Look, there's a
lot of people who sing, but they shouldn't. When did
you know this is what I should be doing or
want to do.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I when I was a little girl, I remember being
in kindergarten and there was this kid that was asked
the question, what do you.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Want to be? When you grow up for whatever reason.
They didn't ask me, but I said, what would I
want to be? And I went home.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
I remember so specifically going home and sitting and thinking
about it, and I knew that I wanted to sing.
In that moment, I said I want to be a singer.
It was right after I'd heard Whitney Houston and I
was seeing it literally back in the day when you're
sitting next to the radio wishing that your song would
come up on, you know. And so I remember being

(04:10):
young and really wanting to do it. But I went
to an academic driven school in my older years, and
I ended up getting sick with this illness and I
was placed on homebound for about two years. And during
that season it was an automune disorders.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
They were tell me about this. It's a bizarre you
thought it was mono nucleosis. You're what fifteen fifteen?

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay, yeah, the kissing disease. They're like, you're kissing to
me to I was like, I'm not kidding anybody, but
they I was like, tell me who, because that'd be fun.
Now I'm kidding.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
So I ended up getting mono, but it was called
CMV as a.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Rich magolo virus.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yes, it is just like a mega virus. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
So to this day, I knocked you out for two
years now.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
And here's the thing is, I've actually had other doctors
since then talk to me about it, and they they said,
it's not actually that that is extreme, but it was
that I had something with my A and A tighters
which is like your loops, tighters and things like that
were so off that it made that a lot more
extreme than what it was. So still to this day,

(05:15):
I don't really know. I still don't really know. This
is one of my absolute quests in life is to
figure out a little more about autoimmune because it's kind
of this blanket thing. If you have anything with autoimmune,
then they just kind of put you in a category
and that's that.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
But your two years at home, I mean this is
the middle of the home.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yes, Yes, and my mom and dad the only real
treatment was kind of like chemo. And my dad worked
in pharmaceuticals and so he knew what was capable and
so he was like, we're not doing that. Yeah, So
it was kind of a Grin and Barrett situation. I
was I would sleep for about fifteen hours a day,

(05:53):
eighteen hours a day with only enough energy to wake
up and go to the sofa, and then I lay
on the sofa for the remaining It was pretty intense.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
And your mom even offered to quit her job teacher, right, Yes,
she put her job teaching to come and care for you.
Why did you say no?

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Because I was having such incredible these moments of like
what do I want to become? I found myself in
this kind of moment of I don't want to say despair,
but it was pretty hopeless there for a moment because
there were no answers, but I knew that my life
was being affected. And it really makes me think about

(06:29):
the kids who were in hospitals, the kids who have
I was just experience experiencing extreme fatigue. But there were
no ports, there were no in gtubes. The list could
have gotten a lot more intense.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Right.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
So, in this moment of Okay, what am I supposed
to do about this? I remember specifically asking God, if
you get me out of this, I will sing about
the hope that I have found here for so long
in the midst of what was feeling so hopeless, he
came in and brought a lot of hope and I

(07:04):
started seeing pictures of different award shows or stages, tours, songs,
all these things. And granted I'm not like a trained singer.
I just sing around the house for fun. Literally, wasn't
even in the church choir. Like we're talking and.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
You're sixteen at this point. Yes, up in your.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Prayer loft, up in my prayer loft.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I go up there and every day I would just
ask him questions and I read. I was reading a
little devotional it was called one Minute of Praise, and
I was like, I can read for one minute. I
got that we're going to be just fine. But that
became contagious. Was that took over that one little thing.
And then I started reading the Bible and I'd read
and read, and it was that thing I couldn't get enough,

(07:46):
you know where it was very interesting and I've heard
people tell me these stories like, oh, when.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Someone told me about Jesus.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
I opened a Bible and it transformed my life and
it was like the words came alive off the page.
It was one of those types of experiences where he
was my only friend, genuinely, Like all of my friends
are getting cars and they're driving there, going and having
a good time. They're going to parties every weekend and
going to the football games, whatever, And I remember I

(08:16):
had to really preserve as much energy as I could
to go and do one activity, you know. So God
really became my friends.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Like it happen.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
I mean, it's like a desert experience where you're going away. Yes,
why But what did that hope? What was the hope
you found in that misery?

Speaker 1 (08:34):
I remember specifically getting these pictures, and that was the hope,
I said, God, or am I going crazy?

Speaker 2 (08:42):
I thought for a moment, maybe I'm getting cabin fever.
Maybe I'm going crazy. There's something what's going on?

Speaker 1 (08:47):
And the more I asked him questions, the more he answered,
And in the answering was where the hope was really found.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
And it was through I will touch on this.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
A lot of people think God's voice is audible all
the time and all this.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
For me, that's not how it was. It was.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
I would ask a question and then something in life
would present itself, like I'll never forget saying, God, you
know what am I supposed to do with my future?

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Is this going to be the rest of my life?
Am I just going to be kind of like bedbound
or homebound for forever. And if so, I mean that's
where the hopelessness came in. I was like, I don't
want to I don't want to live. I don't want
to do this.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
And fast forward, as I started asking him questions, I
would see things. I found myself studying red carpets.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
I don't know why, Well, now I know why.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
On television I would I would just watch interview after
interview after interview, and I would study interviews for whatever reason,
but I think it was because it allowed me to
see the person, just moments of the person behind the art, and.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
That was really compelling to me. And so as.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
I would ask God questions, he answer with something like
something in an interview, something hopeful in an interview. I
remember Stephen Baldwin was being interviewed one time and he
talked about how Hollywood needs people who actually believe in God,
like really believe in God.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
And my mom calls me in the room. It's like, Lauren,
get over here, listen to this. Go to Hollywood. No,
I'm kidding, but she was just like, really, well, you tried.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
To go to Hollywood with American idol?

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yes, for whatever, And you made it. I mean you
made it to the to the cut off. You went
to Las Vegas for one of the seasons, but they
didn't pass you all the way through, and you thought,
what that had to be their spiriting after all of this.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
The first the first time when Ryan Seacrest opened the door.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
This is after Simon Kyle. It's the Green Mile, right.
You walk in and you find out am I going
to the live show or not? We had just finished
Hollywood Week and I got told no. This is crazy.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Every morning that something in my career doesn't like when
I'm waiting on an outcome, and that'll come.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
The reveal is supposed to be that day.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Anytime, whether it's a show, whether it's an interview, whether whatever,
I always get this feeling in my stomach. And that
morning I knew. I woke up and I knew, no,
I'm going to get a note today. I'm going to
be told no. So just brace like, embrace it and
get ready. So I'm getting ready for the day. Finished
with Simon Kyle. He tells me no, and I sit

(11:33):
with my mom. The door opens, sorry, the door opens,
and my mom is there, and tears just start rolling
down my face and she goes, no, no, no, She
said this, She said, you believe the no of man
or the yes of God. She said, if God told
you that you're meant to be in this space, he'll
make it happen.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
None of that. Ah. My mom is awesome. She is
such a champion, just an incredible person.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
And so I was like, you know what, I cried
about it. Day next day I woke up and I
was like, all right, what's next. I got to figure
out another way.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
You know, they're also trying to put you in a
little box. I mean they're trying to kind of shape
you quickly into a pre existing Yes artist. Yes.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
I found out someone once told me there that it's
really more of a casting call than it is, you know,
to build an artist.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Build a town.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah, And that was really reassuring to me, and it
allowed me to approach the experience very different. I think
that was the second or third time that I went,
and I was like, you know what, that's great that
it's good for me to know that, and I can
let bygones be bygones.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
And I've been back to the show.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
It's the same producers, Megan and them, and we've had
a blast.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, you've performed with the kids, with you, with the judges,
the great So it kind of came full as many
things you in your career, which we're going to talk
about in the second. So tell me you go to LSU.
You're singing with a band called the Assembly. Yes, and
they make a demo and that really is the key
to unlocked what happened? What happened?

Speaker 1 (13:06):
It was was crazy that this story Still every time
I get to talk about it, I'm like, did that really?

Speaker 2 (13:12):
This is wild? You know. So I grew up.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Here, went to LSU, this band I was singing covers
with and all of these places all over Louisiana. They
introduced me to The Assembly. So I just sang background
vocals on their demo, just for two songs. It was
a one off, like I wasn't even a part of
the band. I was just singing in the studio and

(13:37):
kind of like a session singer, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Incredible.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
But they were the ones who got the call from
my current record label or my.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Previous record label.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
They got the call and they were like, hey, by
the way, uh, there's a female that dropped out that
was coming up as an artist. Would that background vocalist
want to just come up as a solo female artist.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Like, well, let's call her. They call me.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
They're like, hey, a record label wants us to fly
out to an indie artist retreat.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Okay, I'm from the swamp, all right. So I hear
Seattle in the Cascade Mountains and all this stuff. I'm like,
sign me up. I don't even know who these people are.
Sounds great, I'm going to Seattle, like there was. I
had no idea what it was even for.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
I thought it was just to learn about songwriting, kind
of like what was a workshop? And it was to
get signed, by the way, I thought they called it
an indie artist retreat, So I thought it was some
sort of workshop where we were going to learn about
the music industry.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
And what did they hear? So what did they tell you?

Speaker 1 (14:39):
They heard the morning of the showcase where we're supposed
to sing for the record label, the lead singer of
that band gets an emergency appendct me. So I step
in and I sing lead for one song, and it
was I know, people say it was truly an out
of body experience. I remember singing the whole everything in

(15:02):
my I had my eyes closed and everything went white,
like bright white, like the light that people see when
they die. That was what was happening. And when I
opened my eyes, I did not think that I was
going to see what. I didn't think I was going
to see the room. I thought I had been taken somewhere.
I was like, oh, something's I don't know what just happened.
And then I opened my eyes and I see the

(15:22):
people like that. I was in the room with duh.
And right after I walk off stage and the one
of the executives comes and sits next to me and said,
you know, what do you think about coming to Nashville?

Speaker 2 (15:34):
And I said, oh, I love it? And they're like, no,
what do you really think about it? And I was
like no really, So I dropped.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Out at LSU and I moved to Nashville and I
was signed right right then.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
And then twenty fifteen. How can it be gold status?

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
A bunch of singles hit number one singles?

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah? Crazy? Well, I mean I think that that record
had the most number one singles on it. I think
don't quote me on staf some really bad with my own.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
Well yeah, I mean, you are in your career and
it's just twenty fifteen till now ten years you are
the only female artist to get that number of number
one singles on Billboard's charts among Christian singers. The woman, Wow,
you didn't know that. No, that's true. I looked it up.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Oh my gosh, see that these things, this happens a lot.
We're all Vina interviewed. I'm like, are you fair? It
still blows my mind, it really does.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And that label was I was so green, Like I'm
talking so green. I had never I had been in
a code write one time. I was writing songs in
my bedroom. That goes back to that period of time
where I was starting to find this hope.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
In that two year period.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
When that period, Yes, I would write, I would sing.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
I would practice Son of a Preacher Man and by Areta,
by Joss Stone.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
I would get in the mirror.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
And I'd practice over and over, and it was just
I remember singing in the shower and really kind of
trying to train my voice. And then I ended up
taking voice lessons.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
I showed a church to the church choir, Yes.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yes, and then his name is Nathan and Nathan Sam
and he I would scrub the toilets and I would say,
I'll be your maid. Let me scrub your toilets. I'll
clean your whole house in exchange for voice essons. So
I did that, But I say that to say so
to understand how little experience I had to be in

(17:31):
a position to get signed. Nowadays, a record label wants
you to have basically anything short of a Grammy. They're like,
if you are almost at a Grammy, then that's when
we're going to sign you.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
You know, with TikTok and all this stuff that's blown
these artists up.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
But I fold the hunger and you wanted it so
bad you're willing to scrub toilets.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
For yeah, Oh yeah, absolutely that is still in me.
I think about it all the time. I do.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
I'm like, Okay, what have I not? What are areas
that I need to be scrubbing toilets?

Speaker 3 (18:03):
Like?

Speaker 1 (18:03):
What are areas of my life that it is time
to learn? And you need to humble yourself and try, yeah,
and learn something new.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
I love that. I love your I love your the
innocent pursuit of it too. You're going at it for
the right reason. You want to learn the skill, you
want to get this, you want to perfect this gift.
You feel you've been given, and how many people waste
their gifts.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
I know, I know, it's sad. You watch people with
so much potential. You're like, oh, you.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Just need one person to like course correct in your
rocket fuel.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Who were your major influences when you were a little good.
Was it a musical household? No?

Speaker 2 (18:38):
No, no. My dad worked in pharmaceuticals. My mom was
a school teacher for a little while, but she was
truly a stay at home mom. She was the best.
But I had a very music loving household. So my
dad he would always play the dollar game right where
he would turn on the radio, of course, because that

(18:58):
was the way that he could listen to whatever you
want it.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
And it was all classic rock like Eagle ninety eight
point one, you know, and yes it's Baton Rouge. And
we would sit there play the dollar Game, Fleetwood, Mac,
Journey Heart, you know, all these bands.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
And I didn't know it at the time.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
I was just a kid having fun with my dad,
but it was training my ear and so we were
raised on that.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
And then my aunt lived across the street.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
From us, and she was always playing Motown, Marvin Gay,
Aretha Franklin, like she just loved soul, and so I
feel like the balance of having those two ends of
the spectrum really taught me a lot.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Now, you know, they called you the Christian Adele. I
call Adele the secular laurens Haagel. But put that aside.
Do you does that make you uncomfortable when you hear that,
when people say you're the Christian Adele.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about it is
if she ever hears it. That's the only thing, because
I'm like, oh, oh, Gosha. Hope that she doesn't think
that I'm coming for her in any sort of way,
you know what I mean. She's brilliant and I really
like love.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
I have so much respect for her artistry and her
dedication to writing. I tell everybody this, I say, listen,
Adele was writing Chasing Pavements when she was fifteen or
sixteen at school. Meanwhile, I was writing things that I
need to quickly burn to that nobody finds out that
I was that bad of a songwriter.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
You know it was. And I tell people that to
give people hope, because so many kids are out there
that are like I want to be a good writer,
and sometimes it just takes the people around.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
You and here you are about to open on one
of the biggest stages in the world at the super Bowl. Yeah,
when you got the call that you would be opening
this super Bowl in New Orleans singing America the Beautiful,
you thought.

Speaker 2 (20:53):
What when I was in Australia on tour and I
picked up the phone and there was a little bit
of the is this real? Is this actually gonna happen?

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Is it real?

Speaker 2 (21:02):
I want to know that it's real before and get excited,
you know.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
And then it became Yeah, it was real. It was
a real call, and I was I was tickled. I
was like, this is crazy. And the thing that makes
it so special too, I remember when we were when
we were doing the These are the Days music videos.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Videos which are all shot the warlong, explosive kind of
Marty Graw, hilarious, wonderful.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Uh I just writed it.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
To be exuberant. Every everything about that shoot was just
so much fun. Hansen Snowblize, they were the ones hand.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Out and crawfish beads short, I mean, everybody and their
dogs in this thing. I was waiting for Al Hurt
and he Fountain to rise from the green to come
back and play back up for you.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
That would be very space. But yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
So afterwards, Troy Trombone Shorty, he puts his arm around
me and he says, you have a brother here, like
and we had worked together coultiple times prior to that,
but just knowing that he was basically accepting me into
the fold.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
New Orleans is thick. Okay, they are not messing around.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
They have their people, have their place here, they have
their clicks, they have their people. And so for him
to do that and say, you know, hey, I'm a
brother here. I'm someone that is for you in this city.
That meant the world to me. And then you see
these moments where it is true. He told me, he
said I wanted to play America the Beautiful and I

(22:34):
was like, who can I get to sing this? And
he said, you were the first person that came to mind.
You know, those are the moments that I'm like this
this became even more special because.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
I'm sure playing it together? Yes, yes, what do you want?
First of all, what does that song mean to you?

Speaker 1 (22:50):
Oh my gosh, well I remember, So this is this
is what I really did. When I got the phone call,
I was like, holy cow, and what any dreamer artist does?
I am a full blown dreamer. I hang up the phone.
I said, yes, mister, I will take the offer. Thank
you so much, mister Boatman hang up the phone.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
And I go, oh beautiful, and I immediately start practicing.
I'm like, Okay, let's see where does this How does
it feel the most human in my voice?

Speaker 1 (23:22):
How does it Where will it cut through to this generation,
the age that we are living in right now, the
political climate that we're living in right now. How can
I use this song to cut through to people who
might be jaded toward our country or might not love
what we have in this country or what we've built
in this country. You know, how can I use this

(23:43):
song and the line? And I'm not trying to sound
cliche at all, because I know, hello Christian or whatever.
But when it says God shed his grace on me,
that line, it just really gripped me to the core
in a way. I Mean, I've sang songs all over

(24:04):
talking about God, right, but when you see a song
that is meant for something else and it still includes
the power of God in it, that to me is
it's meant to honor our nation and show.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
The beauty of our nation. Right.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
But they also know while God has done something for
this nation. There's something unique about this and that to
be able to sing that song with a true conviction
versus just oh yeah, I'm just gonna jump up on
stage and have this opportunity.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
Well, you know, a woman, Catherine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics,
but the music was written by a choir master at
a church, Samuel Reward. So when I heard you were singing,
I thought, wow, this is kind of this song coming home. Wow,
I've heard a lot of artists sing this, but because

(24:52):
of your particular background, I thought this song is going
to live in you when you sing this.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
That's how because of the root, that's how it feels.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
And the arrangement is so honoring to New Orleans and Troy. Really,
he and his crew came up with this arrangement. I
was out of town so I couldn't be in the studio,
and he sent it to me and he said, you know,
I wanted to give a hat tip to New Orleans
because we're here, but I also know you're from Lafayette,

(25:22):
so I wanted to give a hat tip to Lafayette.
So he came up with this arrangement that rhythmically suits
both places. That is so Not only are the lyrics
in the potency of it coming from that church background
right that I feel like I will be able to
sing with my heart and soul, but it also represents Louisiana,
which is just it's so pure, like it's authentic.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
That's the best thing.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Well, I just saw you a few weeks ago in Washington,
and Washington be a rough crowd. That's probably the hardest
audience ever because they're only worried about themselves and their
own power, and I think any performer getting up in
front of them, it's so hard. You brought such grace
and soul to the offering. I thought, wow. And people

(26:08):
were out of their chairs. This was a dinner yes,
and people normally would sit and watch from afar. They
crowded around around the daist. I mean, it was really
something to watch. I always watch audiences. You always can
tell from the audience what's really happening. Yes, And they
rose up and as you started singing, these people started
moving closer. An active friend of mine was next to

(26:30):
me and said, this girl's got sold of course, she's
got solid from New Orleans, Louisiana. She's got plenty of soul.
Tell me take some back to twenty twenty. You were
riding your bike here in New Orleans and this is
during COVID. Everything's locked down, you can't go outside. You
can go outside, but you're not supposed to congregate. And
there was a group of Christians praying and you're just

(26:51):
biking by what happened.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
So I was on my bike. I knew Sean.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
He had told me I'm going to be in town.
I'm singing at this event, and that I found out prior.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
That it was.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
Approved, Like he got permits and everything, right, so it
was approved by the government here, but you're outside, but
I'm outside.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
And two weeks later there was a convention, so I
think it's all right.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
And so I was riding my bike and I get
a text from him and he says, don't make me
call you up on stage from the from the microphone,
and so.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
I was like, okay, I'll make my way up there,
you know. And I walk up and he was like,
where's your in Ears? I was like, in Eres? I
was clan on what And so I'm just I was like,
I'm my bike is right here. I'm just you know,
out coming see you.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, what's going on and and he was like, just
jump on stage, and I said, okay, great. So I
jumped on stage and there was so much there were
so many police and they had barricades and all this stuff.
I was like, okay, So clearly this is okay. That's
what I thought. Clearly, this is okay. And honestly though,
it was such a moment to look out. This is

(28:12):
the reality, regardless of what media and anybody wants to say,
to look out and see so many people that were
truly desperate, like actually desperate people staying in their homes
for so long. Finally the city has started to open, and.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
But they're praying in public.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, it wasn't like a negatative.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
In public, which is a constitutional right. The last time
I checked.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, yes it is.

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Public assembly and prayer. Yes, the praise of God is
allowed under the constitution, no matter what. Yes, the mayor
came out and said love you in public, that you
placed residents in danger, and then she urged Dick Clark productions,
you were supposed to sing at the rock and New
Year's Eve celebration from New Orleans. Now that helps put

(29:00):
everything in context, because two weeks later they were having
a Rock in New Year's Eve celebration in New Orleans. Meanwhile,
she basically wanted to put you in time out for
daring to pray in public two weeks early. Yes, what
did you think at that time? They bumped you off
the roster even you weren't invited.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Yeah, I was definitely not invited.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
And I think from that letter too, she quoted she's
a weapon to society.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
That was another bit of the vernacular, and I was like, wow.
I didn't know it could be that powerful. I was like,
oh wow, but you know, truth be told the day,
so I when I saw that come out, I was shocked.
To be honest, I was like, wait, you proved of
all of this. You know what.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
This is kind of strange. And I went home to
Lafayette and I got in my parents' bed and I
pulled the covers over my head.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
As an adult, I was like, oh gosh, here we
are again.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Because there's no amount of public ridicule that is fun,
even if it helps your ratings help them.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
No, it's not fun. It isn't. But I learned a lot.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
I learned so much through that experience and learn What
I learned is that when people need an element of hope.
Coming together is one of the most beautiful things. It
is one of the most incredible rights that we have
in this country. It is, and I think to take
that away from people is so disheartening, especially in a

(30:28):
time like that.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Do you feel vindicated. Do you think it's God's hand
that all these years later, yes, five years later, you're
on the biggest stage in New Orleans, Yes, representing the
city or state.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
It was powerful to see all of the people that
came around me during that time. I'll say there were
you or one of them, the.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Attorney General's office, the Lieutenant Governor's office, so many people.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Came around and said, hey, this is wrong. What you
are doing is wrong.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
And I remember my lawyer and my team saying, hey,
you just watch what happens.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
You should probably keep your mouth shut, because I was like, what,
this is a lie. Everything she's seen is wrong, you know,
And they were like, we advise you just trust the process,
just trust how this unfold.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
I had no idea that there were going to be
people that stood up for me, so then to see
that happen and all, and I just want to thank
those people.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
I want to thank you.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
I want to thank the people that came in, because
that was one of the greatest lessons to talk about
being taught something was you. There's this person. I think
it's an Exodus fourteen fourteen. It says you need to
be still. God will fight for you. And a lot
of times I want to defend myself. I got that
spicy cage inside. Don't let me, don't let me let
me anybody.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, and so I grew up in a Cajun family
and we you know it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
But I remember thinking, all right, let me let me
say exactly what I need saying, and they're like, no, no.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
No, be still gobblefied for you.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
And watching the amount of people that came around and
offered truth during that time was really it.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Was so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
So to get this moment years later, I would say
for anybody watching that has had their reputation smeared in
any sort of way and they are just waiting for
the moment of vindication.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
Sometimes it only takes five years. That's not too long.
In the same a thing, that's a pretty short window.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's a pretty short window, and it's I've had other
opportunities even before this. I'm just saying that to give
people hope. It's not fun to have your name smeared.
It's not fun to have your reputation smeared. It doesn't
feel good, but time will Hell.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, and people knew you were doing this out of
the goodness of your heart. You were praying with people
who were suffering. These are your people in your community. Yes,
And I just thought it was so vindictive for two
weeks later. Then the mayor shows up with other people
and they're shaking it now at the moon away from
where we are now, and this is normal. It's not normal,

(33:04):
but it is beautiful to see this comforull circle through you.
Thank you kind of like the candle and copy the kid.
Yeah and cool. Lauren Dagile reminds me of another songwriter,
Israel Balin Boy did he suffer and wait until you
hear how it ends. Israel was born in Siberia. He

(33:25):
was one of eight kids who migrated with his parents
from Eastern Europe to New York in eighteen ninety three.
The Balens lived on the Lower East Side in a tenement.
His father, Moses, couldn't find work. The only stable job
the man could maintain was that of a canter, leading
a choir at a local temple on high holydays, and

(33:46):
he would often bring his youngest son, Israel, with him.
Israel had a clear soprano voice, which he soon realized
he could raise some money with. As a newsboy at
the ripe age of eight, he made half a cent
for every paper he sold, but when he sold those
papers on the street corner while singing, customers would throw

(34:08):
in an extra penny or two. One day, while selling
papers near the docks, Izzy was knocked to the water
into the East River by a crane. When they fished
him out, he was still clutching the five cents he
made singing and selling papers. By the time he was thirteen,
his father suddenly died, and Izzy made an important decision.

(34:33):
After dinner one night, he packed up and, not wanting
to be a burden, left his mother and sisters to
make his own way in the world all alone. Israel
Balin had the sun in the morning and the moon
at night. If not a home, but he had his
wits and his voice. Wait until you hear how it ends.

(34:56):
Now back to how it ends. Israel Balein, the boys singer.
He was thirteen years old and fatherless when he left
home and went to make his way in the world.
He started working the Bowery in New York, singing in
saloons high class joints like the Bucket of Blood or
the Morgue. To entertain the barflies, he would improvise his

(35:18):
own off color lyrics to popular tunes of the day,
putting a funny or randy spin on them for laughs.
In those barrooms he learned how to sell a song
and what made patrons laugh or cry. In time, he
became a singing waiter at a place called the Pelham Cafe.

(35:40):
It was there that he taught himself how to play piano.
That we played mostly the black keys, so throughout his
life is he only composed in the key of F sharp.
Using this method, he sort of did what came naturally
and wrote his first song, a not especially great Italian

(36:00):
it diddy. It was called Marie from Sunny Italy, Israel.
Balin was twenty one and though no one recalls that song,
when The Sheep Music came out, like his lyrics, is
he put a spin on his own name as well.
The sheep Music read lyrics by Irving Berlin. Berlin would

(36:23):
go on to write some of the best known songs
of the twentieth century. God Bless America, Alexander's Ragtime Band,
White Christmas, White Christmas, I mean my Goodness. And he
composed a string of Broadway musicals. He even co founded
his own theater in New York, the Music Box. All
that from an inventive, hungry boy who sang songs for pennies.

(36:48):
There's no business like show business. Also of Berlin Tune,
as Izzy's story reveals, struggle can provide its own directional force.
Now you know how it ends back to Lauren Daegel.
You said twenty twenty that period you suffered from depression, anxiety,

(37:08):
panic attacks.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Yes, why, well that was the kickoff, one of the kickoffs.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
Is this in broglio with the mayor?

Speaker 2 (37:16):
It was.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
I would say that it changed my project, my understanding
of safety. When I was just doing some things in
my mind, so innocent, and you realize, oh wow, there
are vulturistic motives on every corner.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
You have a name now And I was like, oh gosh,
I never wanted that to be the case.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
You know, none of us do, none of us do.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
But in that I think that was a large portion.
I just moved back here from Nashville. I moved here
January twenty twenty, so I'm like, oh gosh, what a
warm welcome this is.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
I was like, oh God, welcome home, welcome home. And
you know, really the true reason for the depression and
the anxiety was fear, because I was like, the rug
has been ripped out. We got to live in America
under this nice glaze for so long, for so long.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
And I don't I'm not trying to get controversial or anything,
but I think that season was very eye opening. And
if you were someone who buried your head in the sand,
all the power to you. I have no I have
no idea how you were came out of that one.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
But that was not my case. The case for me,
I would research a lot. I found out it's kind
of more than you really want, more than I wanted
to know, Like, oh, I kind of like the idea
of just living oblivious to some things to keep peace.
And then you're kind of left with the responsibility of
the information, Like all of a sudden, now, well, what

(38:55):
I thought was just to be trusted is really isn't
to be trusted or the patterns or the system of
this world. Wow, this is pretty eye opening. You know.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
And I think that for me was the hardest part,
is reconciling how do I live in a space that
I can't necessarily trust anymore?

Speaker 3 (39:13):
But that experience comes well, thank God, I do.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Yes, great song, oh thank you?

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Did that come from during that period?

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (39:24):
That was that was kind of the climax of the anxiety,
if you will.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
I had never experienced I maybe when I.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Was a kid, like moving to a new school, you know,
having the butterflies, but not real not debilitating, you know,
and this was kind of new for me. So and
I definitely don't own like, I don't take ownership of
it at all. I think it was just a lot
of circumstance that was happening that instead of turning to faith,

(39:54):
that turned to oh gosh, how can I control this?

Speaker 2 (39:58):
And that's a lot of what anxiety is.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Is realize, oh, I'm colliding with the fact that I
am out of control.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
I can't control this. And that's where the song came from.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
It was purely out of the experience of saying, thank God,
I know you because I can't. I can't be the
one to dictate the next step in front of me.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
M So again, God uses pain and suffering. It's kind
of an artistic way for Lauren Dakele.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
Oh yeah, it's definitely a theme in my life. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
Who is referenced in that song.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
God, Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
And there was a really good friend in that time
that There was one night in particular where.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
I called them and I was like, hey.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
I don't know they have a medical background, and I said,
I don't know what is happening to me, but I'm
shaking all over like I was. Now, I know, I
was having a very severe panic attack, like maybe should
have gone to the hospital, but I was at a
family's house in the middle of Nowhere's Louisiana, and I
was like, the hospital's like two hours away, you know, yeah,
I'm not doing that. And he helped me kind of

(41:06):
like work my breathing into a pattern that I wasn't
hyperventilating and you know, and that song was written about
that experience. Truly, that was like the actual moment I
was like, thank God, God, thank God, I know you,
and thank God you put people here like this friend
of mine to get me out of the worst of situations.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
You know.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
That was that was one of the lowest points that
I'd ever gotten to and to see that there were
still people that God put in place to pull me
out was really powerful. Sometimes we feel in those moments
that we don't have people that can pull us out,
but He will always put someone.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
It's just as it. Are we going to accept the lifeline?

Speaker 3 (41:46):
What's the lesson there for you? Because obviously it's not
something you want to go through. None of us want
with for anxiety and panic and public ostracization and isolation.
And He'll listen, you don't want to go through all that.
But look at this incredible song that has brought such hope.
I watch bureaucrats in Washington burst into tears at a

(42:09):
dinner listening to you sing that song. It's brought a
lot of hope to people. Yes, what's the lesson?

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Oh, that's a great question.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
I think the lesson of pain is that sometimes pain
is not only for you. That can be really hard
because it's pain can be very isolating. And I'm not
even saying this in a savior esque mentality. I'm just
saying legitimately, I think that's how God operates sometimes, and
we don't want him to operate that way.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
We want to say God's kind, He doesn't do that.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yet No, Sometimes there are things that you go through
to share a greater glory, and that to me, as
much as it's not fun, it is very rewarding.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
The reward I'm here to add to the suffering make
up the sufferings of Christ.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yes, yes, it's so.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Hard to figure out what maybe we have.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
I know, I really think that's it. Sometimes pain is
not for yourself, it's for more than yourself.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
How do you write? Where do you write?

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Okay, so I write. We wrote a lot of that
last record here in New Orleans. Had I had my
writing team come down from from uh Tennessee, from Nashville,
and I said, listen, I want I.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Want y'all to know where I came from.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
And I've made records up here at that point it
was for nine years or something, and I said, not
a single one of you know, my hometown.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Get down here.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Let's see this like or at least the home of Louisiana, right,
and our personalities in the life and all of the music.
And so they came down here and it was so
much fun. The very first night I take them to
Frenchman Street, it starts raining.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
It is like a film. It's my producer actually said,
is this a movie set? He thought I took them
to a movie set. I said, no, this is Frenchman Street.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
This is Wednesday. Yeah I think it.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Was a Wednesday. I said, no, this is Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
And so we went to Frenchman Street and it starts
to rain and there's a jazz band busket on the
street corner, and it was so beautiful. And this car
drives by very dark tinted windows, and I'm thinking, not the.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
First night, not the first night. Come on and the
window rolls sounds slow, and instead of what we think
it could be, yeah, imagine it could be, trumpet pops out,
plays a solo over the band Bucky, and then drives
off and that was it. My producer said, Michael was
on it.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
He said to me, Lauren, that moment changed the trajectory
of this record. It changed everything for him. And I
think that's special. When you're creating a record, you want
people to understand the depths of your soul, the things
that inspired you, that influenced you, where you're at now.
It's very important. So where do I write? I've written

(44:58):
here andville.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
But do you write at home? Do you write write
at home? You write, I write a coffee shops someway.
I like the din of voices because it tunes everything out.
He helps me focus.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
I like that. Oh, I like that a lot. I
wish I might try that next time.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
You can't. Everybody will come up to you and demand pictures.
I always get in the corner and put my back
to the room. It's the only way to roll.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Okay, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Majority of my writing is in a writing room or
in a studio or I have a piano room at
my house, and so if I'm writing by myself, that's
where I'll go. But if I'm writing with other people,
then I'll go to the studio or the writing house.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Tell me about the Louisiana influence, particularly in this new
album called appropriately Enough. Lauren Dacer, where'd you get that
name from? It? Now you come from. But I've always
thought when people when people come to me and say, oh,
do you know Lauren Dagam? What do I know Lauren
Dagla Yes, I've got everything you ever recorded. It's belief,

(45:57):
it's brass, it's blues, it's so yeah, all of that. Yes,
it's all of that. But this new album is different.
What's different about it.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Oh, I really feel like this was the album that
I came into my own, you know that saying how
people say that it was because I had to go
through that adversity I had to experience. It was the
first step outside of music as I had known it.
I'd worked with the same producers the entirety of my career,

(46:30):
phenomenal musician, and we had a great time, but I
knew that it was time for a change, and so
this was the first record that I did with Mike,
and it was kind of my first record stepping out
on my own two feet, so scary, so daunting.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
I was like, okay, there.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
It was a season of so much new And after
two years of writing and working on the record, my
friend came to me and she said, what are you
going to name the record?

Speaker 2 (47:00):
And I said, I still haven't come up with a
name yet. She goes, I think I know why. I
said why. She said, because it should be self titled.
I said, do you really feel like that?

Speaker 1 (47:08):
She was like, Lauren, the amount of change that you've
gone through and the amount of believing that you could
do this, and all of that that this record required,
in particular, the amount of you having to voice your
your thoughts on certain like even I remember there was
this one moment where.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Mike he said, Hey, what what drum pattern do you
want him to play? We're talking like not I don't
even know if he was Grammy nominated, but he one
of the most masterful.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
His name is Nate, one of the most masterful drummers,
and he's Mike Elizondo, who is the world renowned bass player,
which for anybody who doesn't know music, bass and drums
or they hold hands, they are married there.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
They're everything. So Mike, who knows what that drum rhythm
can be for this particular song, asks me, Hey, what
do you want them to play on the snare? What
do you want to play on Tom's?

Speaker 1 (48:08):
And I'm like, wow, I have entered that is That's
the place that you wait for in artistry, where someone
of that palpable talent like Mike Elizondo is asking me, Hey,
what would you like you.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
I've read something where you said there were spirit songs
and there were soul songs. What is the difference?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Okay, so the spirit songs.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I didn't realize this at the time, but there all
of the songs I started noticing were in these two categories.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
But it was from this Bible verse.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than
any two edges sword sharp enough to cut through bone
and marrow, soul and spirit. So I said the same thing,
soul and spirit, Like how are those disconnected? Like what
is it that makes these two separate? And I, in
my own understanding of it, the spirit is the place

(49:06):
that God accesses within you know, you as a human,
but the soul is kind of the innate part of
the individual. So for me, it was kind of singing
to the heart of someone, but also singing through the
spirit to the spirit of someone. And I say that

(49:27):
in reference to that Bible versus, but really the soul
is this the.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Space that we can access you and me.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
The spirit is the place that God accesses everywhere.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
It's everywhere.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
And so that was kind of the design of how
to break these songs up, because there's songs about love,
there's songs about relationship.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
That's the soul. That's the thing that you and I
can say, oh yeah, I remember that breakup.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Or oh yeah I remember that, Yes, I remember when.
And it was the first time that I was really
showing my fans out side. They had only known this
one side prior, and it was.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Kind of just like, I'm gonna give you a little.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Bit more of what's happening in my notebook, just a
little peak. But I also know what it is that
makes you come alive as well, and then also with
the spirit, I don't ever want to make music that
people don't feel something different. I hear people say, even
if they don't know who God is, they're like, something
happens to me when I listen to your music. I

(50:25):
get goosebumps, I cry. It's different than anything else I
listen to. And I'm not saying that to not in
a braggadocious way at all. I'm saying that's the God element.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
That's the part.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Where He comes and speaks to them in the way
that I can't.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
You know, that's my spirit.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Oh yeah, a thousand Like when I'm writing from these
two landscapes, Oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
I know.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Okay, this one is one that I can feel God
meeting me in, you know. And that's not to say
that if you're writing songs about experiences that you go
through anything.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Like that, that it's not God as well.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
But I do believe that there are things that you
can feel.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
Wow, that touched me in a way that the other
song didn't. What is that?

Speaker 1 (51:14):
There's something because I'm the same individual writing the two songs.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
And this is so important I see people. Look, I
get this in my own life. You know. I write
children's books, I do comedy on television, I do serious stuff.
But the faithful part of me, I carry the light.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
Yes, is there all the time, all the time.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
It's the same. It's the same dynamo driving this thing,
no matter what I'm doing. Do you feel that same way?

Speaker 2 (51:40):
A thousand percent?

Speaker 3 (51:41):
And that's and that people try to put you in
a particular box and say, no, this is the only
way you can express that light.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
A thousand percent.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Well, I go look at my Instagram comments.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
That'll tell you everything you need to know.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
There is so much expectation to represent God only in
this one particular way, you know. And in my previous
comment about the landscapes of soul and spirit? Do I
believe that God can meet My friend grew up. His
mom was a bar singer, single mom, and she would
sit him on the bar, do her gig till two

(52:14):
o'clock in the morning and tell the bars and to hey,
you watch him, don't let anything happen.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Like a little kid, right. So he would just be
sitting there with this cocola, listening to his mom saying
fast forward. He's ten years old.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
He walks into his mom's room and he says, mom,
why don't you ever tell me about God?

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Why didn't you tell me about Jesus? And she said,
who told you about that? He said, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
I was just listening to this song Bridge over Troubled Water,
and God told me that he's real.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
I tell those religious.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Folks that don't like me singing in different places, it's
gonna be okay. God will use anything that he wants
to meet. He spoke to Paul through a donkey. I'm
pretty sure he can use this. I'm pretty sure it's okay.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
You know Aaron Neville, who was an old pal of mine.
We even did a little He would do my Christmas
show from time time we sang together, and Aaron would
say I said he would be in tipotins and they
would end the show. He'd get up and sing ave Maria.
At the end of the show. Wow, you could hear
pin drop in this grungy bar and at one o'clock
in the morning, pin drop, and then you could hear
people weeping.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
And I said, Aaron, what is that? He said, Well,
that's a god and me touching the God and them.
That's that's universal. That cuts through no matter what, no
matter what you're expressing, He's either there or he's not there.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
That's how I feel. I can hear it, you can
feel can feel.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
It, you can feel it.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
When that's the thing that becomes non human, that thing
there's That's what I mean by I wrote both songs.
Why is it that one meet someone in such a
very dynamic way and the others like, oh yeah, I
could just pass on that.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
Okay. I asked everybody who sits in that chair, these
arroyo grande questions, okay, fast questions. I don't want you
to think about them, just jumping.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
We call these rapid fire. We do meet the Q
and A every VIP rapid fire and it's Lauren.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Don't take long on this, Laurn rapid fire. Who is
the person you most admire?

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Oh my gosh, I would say collectively my family.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
If that's okay, well you surround yourself with me.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
I've seen you with man, I love that about That's
what I think keeps your spirit intact. It is because
I've seen you in public settings and on tour. That
family is always pretty colol. Yes, yes, who's the person
you most despise?

Speaker 2 (54:36):
That's a tough question. You told me not to dwell
on it. I don't have There's like not one person
that I can say I despise.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
That's I could think of one, but I'm not going
to bring her up anyway.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
I would love to have a conversation.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Yeah, yeah, we're going to talk about that off off camera.
What what is your best feature?

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Oh? Maybe my Oh god, that's tough.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
I would say, well, I don't know what this one
word would be, but my desire to relate to anybody
and everybody.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
What would that?

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Accessibility?

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Accessibility, empathy, empathy, empathy.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
What's your worst feature?

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Empathy?

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Yes? Your favorite book and the last one you read?

Speaker 1 (55:28):
Okay, last one I read was called Miracle and Voodoo Mountain.
It's about this woman from or from Lafayette moved to Haiti,
started this during the earthquake. Incredible story, very simple read,
really good Miracle and Voodoo Mountain. It's because I when
we were at that event, I met one of the

(55:50):
lawyers for the Human Trafficking Division of the White House,
and I was like, this is incredible to see the
work that is done. Her story kind of weaves in
to that tapestry a little bit.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
It was really beautiful to me. So I find myself
compelled by those stories. And then your question, favorite book, Okay,
this is a favorite book for nostalgia's sake, if we
can do that where the Red Friend grows.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
And the reason why is because it's the first book
I cried to.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
I remember laying in bed. I would read it every
single night with my mom, like we would.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
Read chapter after I just loved that book as a kid,
and I remember looking like reading the book and having
to pause for a moment and us looking at each other.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Tears are coming down.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Like way friendship and seeing loss, like real loss for
what a child can understand.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Even in that moment, you know it was. It was
complex to me, but very.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Soon Lauren Daigel fear, Mmmm, that's a great question.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
I think there's a I talked to someone about this recently,
the fear of the unknown, and that is.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
My nemesis.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
It's the fear of because there's so many things that
can fall into that fear, uh, the fear of the unknown.
Where it once was exhilarating, I think now I look
with trepidation, a little bit age.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
You'll do that to you and responsibilities and your audience.
And there's a lot more that walks in the door
when you're walking out. Yeah, happened than was before. So
that always what's your biggest regret? Do you have one?

Speaker 2 (57:44):
Oh? Do I have one? Okay, this is not going
to be poignant at all. Okay, this is gonna be
fear the unknown a little poignant. Great, this is just
real life. Chris Stapleton, we're in I Chris, if you listen,
I'm kidding.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
I remember it was was it right before? It might
have been right before twenty twenty hit? And he was
playing the Cajun Dome in Louisiana and I went with
my sister.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
We were backstage. I said hello to him, that whole thing,
and he said, hey, you want to jump up on
stage with me? I said, no, what is wrong with me? Why? Raymond?
Why in my hometown people.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
That they would win right there? Love? And I said
I said no.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
I said no.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
And you want to know why this is so silly,
I thought, what if he asks me to sing a
song of his that I don't know? What if he
has a song that I'm like.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
It's a deep, deep deep and I don't know it.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
Oh well, that's not that's not a bad reason to
say no.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
That it's a terrible reason, because any artist would know
I'm not going to put a girl on stage he
doesn't know the song.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
You'll probably ask you, do you know if Swanny before?

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Exactly?

Speaker 3 (59:03):
It reminds me of something else. I'll come back to
it in a second. The best piece of advice you
ever got.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Oh my gosh, I was thinking about it today.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Someone gave me this advice almost ten years ago, and
it's still showing up in.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
My life ten years later.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
True freedom is giving people the permission to misunderstand you.
True freedom is giving people the permission to misunderstand you.
That is the greatest advice, because, let me tell you,
when I want to raise my fist, sometimes it's because
I'm not operating in true freedom, because I'm being misunderstood,

(59:39):
and I'm frustrated that I'm being misunderstood.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
In this last question in the questionnaire, what happens when
this is over?

Speaker 1 (59:46):
When this career is over, when this life is over,
and when what part is over, I'll.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
Let you defer. Oh, that's true freedom. Like that, I'm
giving you true freedom. What happens when this is over?
I think I know what that means, but you may
have a different take on it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Okay. My mind went to two places immediately, so I'll
just tell you both in Okay, that's okay. First went
to Okay, if I get a different career, I am
going to the salon after this. Oh my gosh, I don't.
I actually haven't an Alcelona poyman.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
I know I've been talking to people who know you're well,
go ahead, Okay, what happens when this is over?

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
I have thought about going to law school, and I'm
really I'm really thinking about it, like not sort of
kind of like I want to say I'm going to
law school. I want to just put that out instead
of I think I'm going to law school.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
Why.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
I met with some friends of mine, some that are
in government, some that are in politics, and various people,
and to understand what your platform can do from an
actual stack firsthand.

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Yes, it is important to me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
I think I've realized that there's kind of a brick
wall you can hit even with a platform. And if
this is a responsibility, like to be able to open
ways for people who need true justice or who need
the freedom that we get to walk around with and
protecting the freedoms as well, like how do we how

(01:01:26):
do I do that with a voice?

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
And you're already doing that a little bit. The Price
Fund named after your granddad, Julian Price. Tell me about that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
Love him. Yeah, people think it's about the money. No,
it's about it's a.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Family name, my brother and my grandfather. And he was
someone I tell people this all the time. He would
talk to the President of the United States the same
way he talked to the homeless man. We would go
to Walmart and he'd be talking to the clerk, just
chat and chatting, telling them mainly about the state of
the world.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
He was one of those.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
But in a way that people loved him. We had
people that would come around the table and we called
it his coffee crew. And every day at nine am,
the coffee crew would show up and they would just
talk about current events and what's going on with the world.
And I lived with my grandparents for a little while
while I was going to LSU and they were. I mean,

(01:02:22):
it was some of the most incredible moments of my life.
But I say, I digress. He was one of the
figures that taught me the most about legacy because whenever
he passed away was when I really found out about
ways he was given to people behind the scenes and
for the listener, this is not.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
He was a blue collar worker. He worked. He was
a conductor on the railroad and we would go and
throw sack lunches to him, you know, and he would
do the route from New Orleans to bout Rouge and
just an incredible human.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
But he lived a lot of hardship Boston daughter. He
overcame a just a lot, and the person that he
became on the other side was the person who I
was like, wow, I'm so inspired by him. How do
we see this version of someone when they're in the
worst of times, because sometimes you look at an addict,

(01:03:15):
or you look at it and you can only see that.
But he was actually probably to date, the most influential
person in my life.

Speaker 3 (01:03:23):
Now I see him, he's incredible and the fun help
help see the elderly children.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Yes, I mean yeah, or in the widows and all
the yeah, because I've I've learned just as I've gone about.
I went into some of the prisons here, I went
to Angola, I went to San Quentin, Statesville, various prisons
around the country, and I would ask a lot of
these guys, like, what can we do to help this
to break this cycle? But legitimately, yes, through legislature, but

(01:03:52):
what is the core need of an individual that's coming
through this kind of track. You know, they call it
the public to prison pipeline. I'm sure you're very well familiar.
And I just asked them what can we do? And
they all said, get involved in after school programs, all
of them across the board. They were like, if you
get to these kids in an interim period where they're

(01:04:16):
going home from school to their home and their parents
aren't there, that's when a lot of the vulnerability. Yeah,
that's when it happened. And so I said, Okay, great
game on, let's do it. So we've partnered with so
many organizations around New Orleans. But then we expanded and
now every city that we go on tour with, we

(01:04:38):
partner with a local organization, whether it's instruments, whether it's
after school programs, whatever it is to keep these kids
kind of fortified through their adolescent years. That's really important
to me. And then we built a school in.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
The Congo with Bob Golf, which was really beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
And then we had another opportunity to partner with some
senior citizens and the who some have Alzheimer's but it's
music with Alzheimer's and kind of getting them financial aid
and things like that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Beautiful. Yeah, it's what a year you've had. Super Bowl? Uh,
Andrea Blechelli in at Madison Square Gardens. I mean this tour,
I mean it's pretty incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
It's been a wild time.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
You said something. You said, the Lord has shown me
what it is to have a craft and to serve
and honor him with it. Do you still feel that way?

Speaker 1 (01:05:32):
Absolutely? I think that that I might feel that way
till I die. It's the live spring, so the wellspring
of it all. If you don't have the life blood,
if you will, if you don't. The craft part is
the diligence, Okay. I want to honor you with the
diligence of working hard at something and loving it and
actually loving it. I think sometimes people think it has

(01:05:55):
to be arduous. No, it's like scrubbing toilets just to
hear what is a C chord?

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
How do I sing this?

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
How do I support you?

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
How do I support it? What do the harmonies teach me?
You know? And that honoring God with the craft.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
It is the work that you put in to say
I want to do this, but I also want to
love it. So I think that's serving it well the
best that you can.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
I think you're going to say, oh, no, no, I was
going to say, sometimes when you get frustrated about having
to work hard at something, it dilutes the potency that
God can sometimes build in those moments. You know. So
if you just keep the hard work Yoka's easy bird
in his like, if you keep it light, then there's

(01:06:42):
a lot that you can do and there's a lot
that you can transform well.

Speaker 3 (01:06:45):
On the new album, you have a song called these
are the Days, and I can't help but think these
are the days for you As I watch this, as
you listen to it and watch you expand and reach
more people, it is incredible. And to get Justin Timberlake
to do backups on twenty one or a song on
the album Pretty Good.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Crazy, How that happened? Okay? So he and Mike were
working on trolls in la and he justin asked, Mike,
is there anything exciting you're you know, working on? And
he showed them some of the stuff that we were
working on twenty one days being one of them. And
I was not in the room. I don't know. Justin Timberlake.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
This is not like a piggyback on his career by
any means. I don't know, but from what was told
to me, he got really excited about that song and
just told Mike I just want to sing on it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I don't need to be recognized. I don't This doesn't
hear any plain Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
When it went over and over again, you can barely
hear him. He's just hacking a little bit here and there. Yeah,
and it's all you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Yes, he built like the track, the list of so
on pro tools, the what's used to make a record,
those lines, I mean, he had so many different bars.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Very s behind me. Yes, but it is incredible the
Timberlake's doing backup for you, Lauren self.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
That's pretty uch.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
What an honor, what a joy.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is amazing being
with you. I love you, with you more to come.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
Thank you bet yes, thank you. Wow, she is She
is just incredible. Here's the whole. Lauren Daegel's story is
an example of the gift of suffering, if I can
call it that. I know it sounds weird, but with
faith you can sanctify and make sense of suffering. Sometimes
when you're in pain, when you're hurting, that's the moment,

(01:08:36):
as she said, to be still and try to discern
what's going on in my life? What am I being
called to? Am I using the gifts I've been given
and moving toward my vocation, my purpose in life. Sometimes
that pain is sort of an abrupt, unplanned time out.
Don't waste the suffering. God may be trying to get

(01:08:59):
your attention. At least that's what I heard during that interview.
I hope you'll come back to Arroyo Grande soon. Why
live a dry, narrow, constricted life when if you fill
it with good things, it can flow into a broad,
thriving Arroyo Grande. I'm raiming Arroyo. Make sure you subscribe
and like this episode, and thanks for diving in. We'll

(01:09:22):
see you next time. Arroyo Grande is produced in partnership
with iHeart Podcasts and is available on YouTube or on
the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.