INTERVIEW: Singer Lolo is back, this time to ‘Support Every Mother’
Photo: Lolo will perform a benefit concert for Every Mother Counts. Photo courtesy of Andrew Sims / Photo courtesy of Emily McGill Entertainment.
The live-streamed concert by Lolo Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m. won’t be exactly like her other concerts. For one, she’ll be offering her thoughtful, energetic tunes virtually due to the continued dangers of the coronavirus pandemic. Also, she’s going to be singing for a cause — fundraising for the nonprofit organization Every Mother Counts, a maternal health organization.
Perhaps most exciting of all is that the special concert is being billed as a baby shower because Lolo, also known as Lauren Pritchard, is expecting herself.
“They can expect, to a certain degree, some of the standard Lolo excitement, except fans are pretty used to me hopping around on stage like a monkey, and that won’t be happening this time because I’m 35 weeks pregnant,” Lolo said in a recent phone interview. “So I will still be my same old vibrant self but have to make some alterations based on my physical state at the moment. I’m playing some new music tomorrow, which I’m really excited about, some music that will be out later this year, and then playing stuff that people will also be familiar with if they’ve seen a live show or have listened to my music before. So I’m really excited. It’s definitely going to be a one-of-a-kind experience for everyone.”
The show will be broadcast live from a unique venue in Lolo’s hometown in western Tennessee. The singer, who originated the role of Ilse in 2006’s production of Spring Awakening on Broadway, had lived away from the place she grew up for 16 years, a dozen of those years spent in New York City as a working musician and actor. At the end of 2018, she headed back to Jackson, Tennessee, where she has set down roots once again.
“We have this awesome venue in my hometown called Pub City Brewing Company,” she said. “It’s a lot like Brooklyn Bowl, if you’ve ever been in that venue, where it’s part restaurant, part bowling alley, part music venue, all hybrid-ed into one big awesome space. And they have a really cool stage there, and they’ve let us come in. They’re still in there brewing beer, of course, because they’re also a brewery.”
The concert will raise money and awareness for Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit that came on Lolo’s radar when she started to learn more about the healthcare difficulties faced by mothers and expectant mothers in the United States and around the globe.
“I had known about this nonprofit and knew a little bit about what they did, and then a combination of things — me becoming pregnant myself and just having to immerse myself in the world of pregnancy, delivery and giving birth and what that process is really like,” said Lolo, whose previous albums include Wasted in Jackson and In Loving Memory of When I Gave a Shit. “Combined with the fact that the coronavirus has again shined a light on people who are really suffering without healthcare.”
Lolo, who has written songs for Panic! At the Disco, said there may be one silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic and that’s the fact that many more people are realizing the healthcare system needs some changes in order to take care of all communities and individuals. People need help with the coronavirus and also basic necessities and care, and Lolo has come to appreciate that reality over the past few months.
“It’s more dangerous now then it was when my mother was giving birth … and a lot of that has to do with how much the healthcare system has changed,” she said. “My mom didn’t have healthcare. My parents were young parents. They were in their early 20s and still getting their lives together, and they didn’t have health insurance. And so they had the ability to go to the health clinic and have babies, and it was not a big deal. They were able to care for themselves and care for their children, and the healthcare system has changed so much. And there are so many people that don’t have access to resources, not just in other countries but here in the United States. So that’s what Every Mother Counts really does. They focus their efforts really everywhere, all over the world, in different parts of the world, but they also really focus their efforts here in the U.S. And I think there are so many people that aren’t aware of what women are really dealing with here in the U.S. and how scary it is actually to deliver a baby.”
She added: “And a lot of that is just access to healthcare and also access to resources and knowledge about what’s going on in your pregnancy, what happens in your delivery, those kinds of things. This organization works really hard to make sure that women can not only have better knowledge, but also find ways to get the care they need, so that they’re able to deliver healthy babies, but also not die in the process because it’s a real thing that women have to deal with now, which is crazy to think. I think a lot of people think that’s an issue of olden times or something, and it’s sad that it isn’t a memory of the past.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Lolo will live-stream a benefit concert for Every Mother Counts Thursday, July 9 at 7:30 p.m. The show will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube. Text LOLO to 44-321, or visit bit.ly/lolobabyshower for more information.
