February Featured Artist, Laura Moore

February’s Featured Artist is Laura Moore, a 36-year-old singer-songwriter from Brantford. Moore, a registered nurse who worked in palliative care for nine years, sings under the pseudonym ‘Rosaria Miriam.’

Moore took piano lessons as a child and explains that she fell in love with singing at the age of six when she started singing lessons. She started writing silly songs around the age of eight, and it was a fun way to express her emotions and thoughts in rhyme form. Nearly thirty years later, Moore still enjoys songwriting as an outlet for expressing herself. Unfortunately, Moore grew a little self-conscious about her singing in her teen years and stopped altogether. Determined to overcome her stage fright and start singing again, Moore began playing at open mics in University and started to teach herself the guitar.

After years of songwriting as a hobby, Moore decided to dedicate herself to working on her songwriting and actually recording some of her songs in 2020, releasing her first ever EP in December along with some singles. The full EP, which is made up of five songs, will be available March 1^st, 2021. Moore lived overseas for the last five years and moved back home to Brantford in March 2020. Despite the fact that Moore is a skilled nurse in a pandemic, she found it incredibly difficult to find a job when she returned home. She decided to invest all her free time and effort into writing songs during the lockdown.

“Songwriting became a means of releasing my emotions and thoughts, but I was never analytical about my songs,” Moore explains. “I just liked the creative expression. I have never been someone who could keep my emotions inside. I have always needed an outlet, so songwriting became my outlet. It has helped me through difficult times in my life, but also as a way to deal with the emotional stress of working as a palliative care nurse.”

Moore has taken singing and piano lessons since she was a child, but it was only recently that she took online songwriting courses from Berkeley School of Music and the Toronto Songwriting School. Moore also had the opportunity to work on some of her songs in private sessions with Murray Foster, the owner of the Toronto school. Murray Foster is a professional musician himself (he played in Moxy Frũvous and then Great Big Sea) and has also taught songwriting for many years. Moore adds, “Murray has been a huge mentor for me. He helped by giving me feedback on my songs as well as producing them. He definitely made my first recording experience very enjoyable.”

There have been many people in Moore’s past who have inspired her artistic pursuits. She credits Tara Carpenter, the owner of GROWE Outdoor School, and her mother, Cheryl Moore, who makes really beautiful mixed media artwork, as two local artists who inspire her. Many may fail to see the connection between nursing and songwriting, but for Moore it’s a means of expressing her stress and emotions and channeling some of those inspirational stories into her art form. She explains, “Working with dying patients has definitely given me a unique perspective on life and given me the courage to do things I probably otherwise wouldn’t have done, recording and sharing my music being one of them. Working as a palliative nurse, I have been privileged to get to know the struggles and resilience of those I’ve cared for over the years.”

One of Moore’s favourite parts about being a creator is just sitting down at the piano without a particular idea or agenda and just seeing what comes out. She admits that it often surprises her, and it sometimes feel like “the song writes itself.” This past summer, she brought her guitar and a blanket down to a spot near the Grand River and just read, wrote, and played music. She says, “I love the trails by the river. After living away for so many years, it was almost like discovering a hidden gem.”

When asked what tips she has for developing artists, Moore shares, “Each person has a unique way in which they can share a part of themselves and their heart with others. Ultimately, we will all look back on our life at some point and reflect on whether we lived it well, took chances and followed our heart. Make time for what you love and don’t be afraid to share with others. Courageous vulnerability is contagious.”

Moore is continuing to write songs for her next music project, most likely another EP, and then hopefully a full album. She has also been busy practicing some cover songs, trying to get her repertoire down so that she can hopefully start to play locally once spring comes, assuming things will be opening up again by then. Her music is available online through HearNow, Spotify, YouTube and Bandcamp.

Follow Moore on her musical journey by visiting her on the web at rosariamiriam.com

Photo Credit: Shannon Mullen