LISA DAMES
By: Jeffrey Kurtis

Mother, wife, and rising country singer Lisa Dames took a moment out of her schedule to chat with Gone Country Magazine about her album "No One Like Me," her deal with the Waffle House locations, The Minivan Mafia, and more. Lisa is a bit of new and old country all rolled into one and is one of the artists that we completely believe you will love if you give her music a listen. See links below for more on Lisa and I want to take this time to thank her for her time and great interview.

1. Your album "No One Like Me" is out now. What can someone that hasn't heard it yet expect from the album when they hit play?

They are going to hear a little bit of everything on the album. It's got stuff like you will hear if you turn on country radio today and stuff like you'd hear if you turned on country radio 30 years ago. When we were picking songs for the album, I specifically was looking for songs that spoke to women and were about living their lives while juggling a family and career and I wanted to show that you can do all of that but still have fun and go out for girls night out and things like that. I wanted to hit every aspect of a woman's life including the romantic part.

2. On the album you worked with produced David Grow. How did his input help shape the sound of the album and make you a stronger artist?

He had a strong pop background and a strong studio background. Before we worked together on the album my only experiences performing was live performance, and more specifically musical theatre. So I was used to having to be heard in the back of a theatre with very little or no amplified sound. That is not the same type of voice that you have to use in the studio. With the theatre I was able to use my body language and facial expressions to sing the song where in the studio it is all your voice. David showed me how to use emotion within' my voice.

3. "I'd Leave Me" made a pretty big splash on clear channel's New! Music Chart earlier this year. Were you expecting the song to make that much of an impact and get your music out there as much as it did?

Yes (laughs) I picked that song as the second release because it was written by Brett James and Hillary Lindsey who wrote some songs you may have heard of, "Jesus Take The Wheel" and a song by Martina McBride called "Blessed." Also Troy Vergis, who wrote a song called "Wasted" and Angelo were co-writers on it. So I knew that no one could say anything bad about the songwriters on it. They couldn't look at the songwriters and say well we don't know any of them. The opening on the song is fiddle so people couldn't say that it wasn't country enough. My producer David did the backups on the song and I had him punch up his vocals on it so it sounds more like a duet than backgrounds. The message of the song is very accurate and anyone in a relationship could at some point say why is this person staying with me, I'd leave me. We were at KFAV in Warrentown, Missouri and we played that song for Mike Thomas and he said "wow, my wife can relate to this song. There are times when I come home from the station and I am a bear to be around." So it had that appeal and had the sound.

4. You also shot a video for "Just Another Day." Has the video started to gain television time on GAC, CMT, etc… and if not where can people view the video at?

We did a promo on the video last spring/summer and I hired Aristomedia for that for a 16 week run. GAC aired the video on their Sunday morning show "Positively GAC" and CMT.com added it to their website. CMT Radio nominated me as one of 2007's artists to watch. I also recently got picked as one of the top 64 unsigned artists for CMT.com's "Music City Madness 2" competition. To see the video you can go to my website www.lisadames.com

5. The video for "Just Another Day" was part of CMT's Music City Madness online competition where fans voted week in and week out. What did you learn from being a part of that experience?

I learned that people want to root for the underdog and I think my video was done too good. It didn't look like I needed help getting an audition for Sony, and didn't need the truck, or whatever; if you had a video that was too good then people weren't going to vote for you because they didn't want to just give you an opportunity like that since you were well on your way. So next year if I submit a video I am just going to submit a homemade video. If that's what people want to see then that's what I will do. If it takes lowering my own standards to get an audition with Sony then I will do what it takes.

6. What one song from your album is your personal favorite and why?

Well that probably changes every time I listen to it. But I would say that the first track, "Good Time Lookin'" is one of my favorites. It is about bunch of girls going out to the bar and looking at all the cute guys and that's me. I always say that I am married not dead and that song really says it all. I love that song and the writer on that one is Jill King. She and I wrote a song together, we have the lyrics not the music yet. I told Chuck (Manager) that I wanted to write with her and he called her and she said sure I will and we did.

7. You just recently teamed up with 36 Waffle House locations throughout your home state of North Carolina. Can you tell people how you both will be working together and how it will benefit you as an artist?

36 locations in North Carolina have put two of my songs, "I'd Leave Me" and "Just Another Day," the two singles on their jukeboxes. There are table tents, posters in the windows, signage on the jukeboxes pointing people to my songs. Gary Fly had a meeting with the CEO of Waffle House in Atlanta two weeks before I contacted him. In that meeting the CEO said that Waffle House had the second largest jukeboxes in restaurant in America behind Pizza Hut and it would be a great way to launch a new artist. So two weeks later I emailed Gary my typical email, "I am a 40 year old mother trying to make it in a 20 year old world, more specific, the country music industry. I hope my email peaked your interest in me and my music," blah blah blah. Gary got back to my email and said, "your email did peak my interest. I watched the video, listened to your music;" so we met at a coffee house, not a waffle house (laughs), and he said that he was a huge believer in fate and told me about the meeting two weeks before and in addition to that his brother was dying of stomach cancer and he related to "Just Another Day." When I first heard the song it took me back to when my dad died and Gary said it helped him deal with his grieving about his brother and facing the inevitable. So, he related to my music, liked my story, and said okay here's what I want to do. "I want to put you on our jukeboxes. We can start in North Carolina with my stores, and I am good friends with the people in the Nashville area." He asked me what else can I do for you and I said that I was good with this. So we found a place to get our 45's ordered and instead of just ordering the 36 or so that we would need, he ordered us 500 in anticipation of moving into other locations. The guy that owns the jukeboxes is a company called Matthews Music and they put me on jukeboxes not just for the Waffle Houses. Since we started this promotion and I met with Gary, I have been on the cover of Triad Living Magazine, Yes! Weekly just ran a story about it, we were on the Sealy/Fox holiday concert, and a story we did on Fox News in February re-aired in December. This has been steamrolling since it began and it is a really great opportunity for someone like me without a label backing them or a million dollars to throw at promoting. Between Thanksgiving and New Years, 1.1 million people were in Gary's Waffle Houses so that is 1.1 million people that had the opportunity to hear my music. I recorded all of their radio spots for the holidays and we are doing more spots in February, plus in store appearances in the 36 stores, Waffle House sponsored shows. And you know who else had a jukebox deal with Waffle House? Toby Keith, have you heard of him?

8. On your new website, www.lisadames.com you have a section specifically for the "Minivan Mafia." What exactly is the "Minivan Mafia" and why would it benefit your fans to become a part of this area on your site?

The Minivan Mafia is the official fan club of country music singer Lisa Dames AKA me. It's for those people that are pursuing their dreams but at the same time trying to raise a family and household. Its stuff that people like me can relate to. Like, how does one manage to pick up kids at school and then get one to soccer and the other one to ballet and still manage to get dinner on the table and do stuff for yourself. So many people are busy with kids and jobs and they forget to do stuff for them self. So many people have dreams and never pursue them. I didn't want to be one of those people that end up bitter because I never took a chance on my dreams. I didn't pursue them in spite of my family I pursued them because of my family. I wanted my children to grow up knowing that no dream is too big or stupid and that it was better to take the chance and fail then to not take the chance at all.

9. Just as impressive as your music career, many people would be surprised to find out that you have balance a family and home life as well. How are you balancing all of this now that your music has started to take off in comparison to how you did before the album was released?

There is not as much free time as I used to have so I have become better organized. I have a mac and an I-calendar that is color-coded. I also have a great posse of babysitters that I can call on my cell phone and they can be there in a days notice. If I need the kids picked up and brought home from somewhere I can get them picked up without having to make my husband drive across town. So it is more hectic now, but a focused hectic. I have direction and goals now and I know what I am working towards. Everyday I have another mom or a teacher at school say to me, how do you did it all and I say that I have a goal and I can see it and it's in reach.

10. What piece of advice can you offer to an artist that is looking to break into the music scene right now?

I have actually had a few of the local musicians ask me for advice lately and I tell them that you have to do 3 things for your business everyday. A lot of people call music an art and it is, but it is also a business and you have to treat it as such. So often people spend time song writing, practicing, rehearsing, but if you don't take care of the business side then… these three things I tell them to do everyday.

1) Find another website where you can upload your music to

2) Find 10 people on myspace that you can send friend requests to that may like your music, or be a producer, or another writer that you can write with

3) Send press releases to one publication

Just do something to get your music out there to people. You can be the best singer/songwriter in the world, but if you don't tell anyone about it then only you are going to know.