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Read Heather Mason's Interview from the Sylva Herald
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SEALY RELEASES CD
by Heather Mason, staff writer Poetic, insightful, remarkable and beautiful are just a few of the words that have been used to describe Lori Sealy’s new album, “Begone Unbelief.” Sealy, a Cullowhee resident, is a songwriter at heart. She pours her soul into the 13 songs on her recently released album that deal with her faith in God and her struggles as a Christian. This album was born out of a time of crisis for Sealy, when her own faith was being tested. After a two-year period of spiritual uncertainty, Sealy wrote and produced a large amount of music. “I don’t think Christians think enough,” she said. “I wondered how I could take God’s word and put it in a form that can let the heart and mind meet. Music, by nature, meets the heart.” With financial help from friends, Sealy was ready to give her project life. She contacted Anthony Gravley, a producer from Addeybug Music Studio in Greenwood, S.C., who has worked with the likes of Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller. “This was the project I wanted to do. These are songs dealing with believers dealing with unbelief,” said Sealy. “This album is an honest confession.” With influences such as Bob Dylan and Sarah McLachlan, Sealy’s lyrics are engaging and thought-provoking and her sound is rich and rhythmic. “A songwriter is what I am and performing is what I do to get the music out there,” said Sealy. When she entered the recording studio, she had narrowed her list of songs down to 45. She then chose 13 that expressed the roller-coaster of emotions and belief that she says a Christian experiences. “I feel that it is a true representation of the Christian life, the ups and downs, the belief and unbelief,” said Sealy. Gravley recruited other musicians to collaborate on this project. Dale Baker, the Grammy-nominated drummer from Sixpence None the Richer; Reggie Sullivan, a bassist who toured with country music star Wynonna Judd; Becky Edmondson, background vocalist; Leah Wilson, flutist; and Kelley Robertson, cellist and violinist, all added their eclectic sounds to “Begone Unbelief.” Sealy’s lyrics are rooted in the traditional hymns that speak of struggle and pain. She says the old hymns of the 1600s and 1700s follow the patterns of the book of Psalms in the Bible. They tell the honest emotions of man, according to Sealy, and that’s what she wants to express with her music. |
Sealy started writing music at a young age and is a classically trained pianist, even though she has been diagnosed with a high functioning form of autism. She received an invitation to audition for the Julliard School in New York but was unable to attend. After high school, Sealy studied at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., where she majored in music and piano and wrote dark, political songs while embracing her atheism.
“I just didn’t see any authenticity in the religious world,” she said. Then Sealy met people in college who proved to her that being a Christian did not mean you had to have it all figured out, she said. Sealy had what she calls a “radical conversion” and later, in 1991, while attending a youth director’s conference, she met Phillip, the man who would become her husband. Now, 22 years later, Sealy and her husband have two children, Joshua, 10 and Elizabeth, 8. Phillip Sealy is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Sylva. After dealing with autism in her own life, Lori Sealy said her son has been diagnosed with a mid-to-high-functioning form of the disorder. With April being Autism Awareness Month, Sealy is donating $5 of every CD sold this month to the Autism Society of North Carolina. Sealy will be touring in both Carolinas over the next couple of months and says her live performances are more bare bones than the album. “I want people to feel like they’re in my living room,” said Sealy. “The unplugged setting is a better picture of who I am.” Sealy will perform at the Jackson County Library complex on Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m. |
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Christocentric songs that are pleasing to the ear, soothing to the soul, and engaging to the mind.