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Leonard Peltier

The Dalai Lama

Orlando Sentinel
Calendar Magazine
March 4, 2005

30 seconds with Layla

A little bit of rock, a little bit of blues- as a singer-pianist Layla will tell you, the Orlando Rock Band has its own style. No surprise for a group whose Web site boasts two very different heroes: the Dalai Lama and Eric Clapton.
The band’s music has been played on stations all around the world, from Europe to South America . Before the Orlando Rock Band, Layla was the house pianist at several Central Florida hotels and restaurants and performed with other local bands.

For more information about the band, visit layla.org.

When (and how) did you get started in music?
My first memory was of me, age 3, sitting on the steps of our apartment building, singing for the world. My Uncle Jay, a gifted church musician, taught my cousin, Wanda, and me to sing harmony gospel music. I began my career at all-day sings in Miami with our gospel trio at age 4.

How would you describe your sound?
All I know is what other people say about us: We sound like the Doors, Enya, and Jefferson Airplane… mystical, psychedelic, bluesy rock.

Who has had the biggest influence on your music?
I spent years listening only to the rural blues of the ‘30s and ‘40s: Robert Johnson, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt- all the great bluesman. The real moment in rock came for me when I heard Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco doing “Ball and Chain”. It was totally spellbinding  ... took me into another realm. Right then and there, I said “I want to be her [Janis Joplin]!”

What was the last good album you bought?
Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings.

If you could perform with any artist, who would it be?
Eric Clapton because I love him and my name is Layla [that name being the same as one of Clapton’s most famous songs]. Years ago, I was at the Omni Hotel when Eric was across the street at the O-rena [now TD Waterhouse Centre]. Tons of people piled into the Omni before the concert and heard me play, so I told all my friends, jokingly, that I was Eric Clapton’s warm-up act. I would like to be that for real!

- Rebecca Swain Vadnie
rswain@orlandosentinal.com