UCO graduate is ‘Awake’ and singing
Jazz Lab to host rock-pop performer Oct. 21

BY TIM HENLEY

Published: October 11, 2008

EDMOND — University of Central Oklahoma graduate Marcy Priest will perform songs from her debut CD at the UCO Jazz Lab.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 21. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7. The Jazz Lab seats about 200 people.

Priest, 29, graduated from UCO with a degree in business promotions management and a minor in music. She will perform songs from her CD, "Awake,” and cover songs.

"I hope that they take away a lot of honesty and openness and a connection with the words and the music,” Priest said. "I want it to be a reflection of the gift that I have been given.”

"Awake” consists of seven tracks with a rock-pop theme. The CD kicks off with "Never Ending,” an up-tempo song with a rock feel.

Lyrics of the second song, "Runaway Train,” are about an individual going through the trials and tribulations of being in love.

Priest sings, "To live in lala land where love is easy, and it doesn’t seem to cost a single thing.

Here comes a different stage where newness starts to fade and discontentment moves in slowly.”

One of the more memorable songs on the CD is "House of Mourning.”

The lyrics describe death and the grieving process. Priest said she wrote the song after being asked to play at several funerals.

The CD concludes with the jazzy slow tempo "New Home.” The song describes how getting to start over feels in life and shedding baggage.

Priest wrote the lyrics for the CD, and her husband Bryan Jackson arranged the music. She said she draws from personal experiences and the people around her.

The UCO Jazz Lab is at 100 E Fifth St. For ticket information, go to www.marcypriest.com or call 359-7989.

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