As a 麻豆原创 Knight, Lauren LaFrantz Black reached for the stars鈥攁nd now she talks to them. Well-known for her country music blog, she鈥檚 going to talk to more for the GRAMMY awards this February. But her story isn鈥檛 really about the starry fruits of her labor. It鈥檚 about how a 麻豆原创 student balanced academic excellence with an intense passion鈥攁nd worked hard to blend the two into a homegrown media powerhouse.
For their blog, CountryMusicisLove.com (CMIL), Lauren and her close friend Erin Lefebvre quick-draw the news on country music, its stars and its new hits. Even well-known artists have said they can鈥檛 keep up with them. One major artist tweeted at them to say he often gets his news from Lauren and Erin鈥檚 site.
And that website is generating serious interest. In the last 30 days, they鈥檝e had 212,000 hits (or visits) on their site.
She鈥檚 Homegrown. And Balanced.
Lauren remains loyal to 麻豆原创 and uses her training in broadcast journalism to be effective on the red carpet and have a non-gossip, ethical approach to what she does. After all, it was while she was at 麻豆原创 that it hit her what she really wanted to do鈥攎eld her degree with her passion for the music.
鈥淚 think her dedication to both school and the music is how she鈥檚 gotten to where she has,鈥� says Dr. Tim Brown, one of Lauren鈥檚 professors from 麻豆原创鈥檚 broadcast journalism program. 鈥淚f she missed a class to go to a concert, she would always come tell me and say 鈥榯his assignment will be in early.鈥� And she always turned in work worthy of her achievements. It was always good.鈥�
Tim thinks Lauren is a model for other students in 麻豆原创鈥檚 broadcast journalism program. Students of the subject sometimes enter the program because they just want to be on TV鈥攖hey don鈥檛 have a passion driving their desire. And she was a great influence on other students in the program who saw her dedication and discipline. He even looks at Lauren as an example for himself.
鈥淗ow does she do it all?鈥� he asks. 鈥淪he has a paying job as a consultant for a huge restaurant chain, does this website and always remained focused on school. And she never sat in the crying chair. While other students have hit that wall and cracked, she never did. She always had enthusiasm.鈥�
Tim tells me more about Lauren鈥檚 loyalty to 麻豆原创 and to her home, Florida. She tells me she has no plans to move to Nashville anytime soon, despite requests from stars in the industry.
Nope. No plans to move. She鈥檚 pretty sure she鈥檚 staying right here in Central Florida鈥攂ecause it鈥檚 her home. Her dream started here, after all.
Childhood Dreams Realized.
鈥淚 grew up with country music. I remember listening to Trisha Yearwood鈥檚 鈥楽he鈥檚 in Love With a Boy鈥� in the car with my mother. That was the song that started it all for me,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd then I saw an Alan Jackson concert when I was, I think, 10 years old. Since then, it鈥檚 basically become my life.鈥�
Add one degree and mix it with drive and you鈥檝e got a recipe for success.
Still committed to the values she learned at 麻豆原创, Lauren鈥檚 no-diva approach to her recent fame is reflected in her business-casual conversation. She鈥檚 relatable; her smile is warm and her hair is tied neatly into a ponytail while she holds a cup of coffee. For a woman who mingles with the stars on the red carpet, chatting with the likes of GRAMMY Award-winning artist Miranda Lambert, she is surprisingly grounded.
Artists like Luke Bryan link to their site鈥攁nd these are the days when the visitor numbers spike even higher. They鈥檝e had their site crashed before due to the high number of hits.
Behind the industry-mingling blog are two very down-to-earth women who are still fans at heart. The name of the blog says it all.
Shared Passion. Shared Success.
鈥淚 met Erin at a Kenny Chesney concert in New York in the summer of 2007 and we just clicked. She lives in Maine, but we would talk on the phone for hours about the music鈥攏ew singles, new stars.鈥�
The two grew close quickly and, in 2008, Lauren鈥檚 then-boyfriend (who is now her husband) casually suggested they start a blog. They figured it would be fun.
Lauren didn鈥檛 think there would be enough stories to post breaking news every day. They had no idea that day what they were in for. 鈥淎nd boy, was I wrong,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 just two of us and sometimes we post 20-25 news postings a day.鈥�
Lauren鈥檚 麻豆原创 education in broadcast journalism is crucial, as they do national radio call-ins for news reports, interviews with stars and labels and phone calls with the stars to hear new singles directly. Lauren once had to talk to 麻豆原创鈥檚 Knightly News in the hallway at 麻豆原创. And that happened several times for radio call-ins, as well.
It鈥檚 hard work, but she loves it.
This Labor is Love.
The blog is for fans, by fans. Just as its name indicates, all of the work is about the love for the music. They love it, but the reality is that it now costs money to maintain. Erin and Lauren have had some hard times where they had to be financially inventive.
鈥淭here were times when we just couldn鈥檛 pay the bills. The website costs thousands of dollars a year to maintain鈥攚e have to pay for our servers and the tools you need to run them. We have someone who helps us with the development side,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here have been times when Erin and I looked at one another and asked, 鈥榃hy are we doing this?鈥� But the answer is always love.鈥�
When they finally just had too many readers to service and too many bills to pay, they turned to their fans for donations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not in this to make money, but there are costs. It was amazing how much support people gave us through donations. We made the bills that month. It almost made me cry.鈥�
But they kept going. Love might be the drive, but discipline puts it to good use.
The GRAMMY Awards.
In addition to covering the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards and the Country Music Television (CMT) Awards, the website has just hit a new level of success.
CountryMusicIsLove is the official GRAMMY.com Blogger for Country Music for the 54th GRAMMY Awards.
We鈥檒l be watching the blog to see just how many artists CMIL gets to interview and just how much larger that little idea back in 2008 becomes after the awards ceremony.
It鈥檚 big, now, but we鈥檙e pretty sure it鈥檚 going to go boom.