Lurleen Ladd is a performing songwriter and the founder of Wavemakers Women in Music. She enjoyed past business success in healthcare and the nonprofit arena, but music was the dream waiting in the wings. Since 2018, she has released two albums of original music as well as a Christmas album in 2023. Sharing her music is the joy multiplier in her life, but she is equally committed to helping other female musicians 40+ make strides in their careers. She founded Wavemakers in early 2023 to shine a light on inequities and opportunities for women in the music industry. Wavemakers is making waves of positive change for women 40+ in music.

3/23/23

Music and conversation with Austin artist and founder of Women in Music 4o+ Lurleen Ladd

Not Going Back - Lurleen Ladd

Hurricane Girl - Sue Foley

TeXas Gold - The Blue Bonnets

Hot and Bothered - Tameca Jones

4/4/23

Austin-based musician and performing singer-songwriter Lurleen Ladd is becoming the standard bearer for female musicians over 40 who are in a similar space. She started a dialogue and connected with several women nationwide last December when she released her second CD.

She’s been in corporate America, ran several non-profits, and as an entrepreneur but only “came out as a musician after I was forty years old. It was difficult for me to stand up and claim my artistic self. I struggled with that for many reasons, mainly because I felt I needed permission to pursue what made me happy.”

3/1/23

Austin’s music scene wouldn’t exist without the women who keep it going. his is Austin music: a little bit country, a lot of rock ’n’ roll (in one way or another). The current state of the music scene in the Live Music Capital of the World is fascinating, considering the last few years. According to the 2022 Greater Austin Music Census, the music industry overall has decreased about 10% since 2014 (which, to be fair, could be a result of survey fatigue from the community). However, the diversity of respondents within the industry has increased. The range of professions tied to the music industry range from the expected (venues, recording spaces, publishing, etc.) to the somewhat surprising (medical and the public sector).

3/1/23

Listen up! Thea Wood, the founder of the Herizon Music Foundation interviews Lurleen Ladd! They discuss Women in Music 40+, exciting events on the herizon and how Lurleen plans on changing the Music Industry. Sit back and indulge in ‘Backstage Chats with Women in Music’.

1/26/23

Music to Our Ears: A Singing Boot Camp for Women Our Age

If you dream of singing in places other than your shower or car, this retreat is designed to get you performing on stage in front of an audience.

After wrapping up the Sing Out Loud release event in December, I began to contemplate what comes next. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Julie Russell and Stacy Cohen (pictured above with me), our co-winners of the challenge, watching them perform, and sharing a wonderful sense of accomplishment and community after the show in Austin.

11/1/22

Right now, there is a new challenge encouraging the pursuit of musical dreams for women 45-plus.

Today singer/songwriter and business owner, Lurleen Ladd, knows from personal experience what it takes to make it in the music business and she joins Chelsey Khan to chat about the sing out loud contest, her career, and more.

11/8/22

Vocalist Lurleen Ladd launches Sing Out Loud campaign, encouraging women of all ages to pursue their creative passions. The campaign challenges women to submit a video of themselves singing for a chance to perform onstage with Ladd during her upcoming album release party. Participants must submit their footage by Nov. 11. The selected singer will be flown to Austin for the show on Dec. 8. The winner will have the opportunity of a lifetime. Performing onstage in front of an audience, with the support of Ladd’s entourage.

12/21/22

2022 Women of the Year: the Sane, the Strong, the Generous. From attempted coup to rollback of women's rights, it's a mad, mad, mad world. Here are 12 women who are kicking butt and helping to set things right. Every December we have the honor and pleasure of going back through the year to find the women who have made news, made leaps forward, or made our hearts swell. The task reminds of us of what went right over the past months when so much went wrong—lingering COVID, non-stop political divisions, threats from the far right, a war in Ukraine, the rollback of women’s reproductive rights.

9/21/22

Is it too late for a music career?

That’s a question that runs through my head often. Intellectually I know that each day I ask myself this question, another day has passed. If there is a “right time,” I’m steadily moving away from it. I can’t fix this problem, not without a time machine. The only thing I can do with the time machine I do have, which is my mind, is to go back and better understand the path I’m on.

9/30/22

Listen Up! We’ve Got Winners in Our Sing Out Loud Challenge

It has been a wild and wonderful Sing Out Loud ride from the launch of the challenge in September until now. In partnership with NextTribe, I conducted a nationwide search for a woman to perform at my second album release concert in Austin on December 8th. NextTribe helped get the word out by sharing my story and connecting with women who really love to sing but have been holding back for whatever reason.

9/26/22

4 Fearless Females 45+ Bring Down the House at LA Out Loud

We’re all about giving women the chance to stretch themselves creatively and otherwise. That’s why we used this LA OutLoud event to launch the Sing Out Loud Challenge with NextTribe member Lurleen Ladd, who was seated in the front row. Lurleen just started singing professionally in her 50s, and she’s inviting women to submit tapes of themselves singing. From all the entries, we’ll pick a winner and fly her to Austin to perform onstage as Lureen’s opening act on December 8th. Start warming up your vocal chords and send in those tapes!