Loud Magazine: How did you get started in music?
Lynn Houston: My parents loved to throw parties on Saturday night and invite their friends over to dance. My four sisters and I would sit on the top steps and listen to Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Count Basie as the grown-ups danced the night away. I was given piano lessons at the age of 10 and learned to read music, but I wanted to be a baseball player, so I quit. I didn’t actually look at music as a career until a few years ago when I bought a guitar and started writing social justice songs, as I believe in equity for all. My early years listening to all those amazing artists certainly influenced me later in life.
Loud Magazine: What inspired you to become a musician?
Lynn Houston: My need to express myself in a new way….this time through music.
Loud Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about your background and upbringing?
Lynn Houston: Lucky in so many ways. Four sisters, two loving parents who had enough to feed, clothe, and educate us. Music in the house. However, I recognized early in life that I was an outlier and knew that I had to find a way to live under my own terms and not the norms of society, so I left. I became an actor and performed a one-woman show across the country. Ended up in Los Angeles and became a Hollywood photographer for about 10 years. My partner at the time and I went to Africa on a photo safari, and when I came back, I started taking flight lessons with the intent to go back to Africa and fly for the Red Cross. Those flight lessons led me to become the chief pilot of a flight school, which led me to the airlines, where I retired as an airline captain in 2006. At 57, I received my B.A. in Liberal Studies and my MBA in Nonprofit Management in my early 60s. We started A Different Point of View, a nonprofit that taught flying and leadership skills to youth in the juvenile justice system in 2011 and after I stepped down as the Executive Director many years later, I began my music career with the intent to continue the fight for social justice and equal rights for all people.
Loud Magazine: What's your favorite memory related to music?
Lynn Houston: Wow, that’s a hard one. Earlier in my life, I was a professional photographer and got to work with Etta James and Diana Ross on a show. That was pretty amazing. I also photographed Amnesty International, which allowed me to be up front when Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, and Sting played.
Loud Magazine: What's your biggest passion outside of music?
Lynn Houston: Supporting youth who need a helping hand.
Loud Magazine: How do you stay motivated and inspired?
Lynn Houston: I stay alert to the world around me as it influences all of my music.
Loud Magazine: What's your favorite song to play live?
Lynn Houston: Leader in the Crowd
Loud Magazine: What's your creative process like when writing songs?
Lynn Houston: If I’m in my studio, I might start with a percussive beat, then bring in other instruments until I find the groove. Other times, I write the lyrics and then create the music around them. I let the music take me someplace unexpected for the most part. It’s not always clear in the beginning where a song is going, and honestly, I really like not knowing until I’ve explored a lot of options. Words matter a great deal to me, but I have learned that the music plays the pivotal role in creating a song that people will listen to.
Loud Magazine: Do you have a favorite album or artist that influences your work?
Lynn Houston: Oh my, so many…I’d have to say Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott-Heron, Big Mama Thornton, and Leonard Cohen. There isn’t a musician out there who can’t teach you something. It’s thrilling to me to be able to make music. What a gift.
Loud Magazine: What's the most challenging part of being a musician?
Lynn Houston: Getting people to listen to your music.
