Silver City, NM – On Tuesday October 20, Summer Osborne came all the way from Vandalia, Illinois to make her second appearance at WNMU. Summer came to WNMU last May to perform at the Center of Gender Equity as part of Summer Osborne and Sarah McCracken’s Left Coast Tour of Epic Mind Blowing Awesomeness.
Dr. Lydia Huerta said, “Dr. Bailey said that she liked the way she commanded the audience. I personally, just like the power of the music, it really moves you.”
Dr. Bailey added, “I think that she really embodies the message that we are trying to put out there for Glam Week, which is that diversity is real, it’s here, get used to it. So embrace it, celebrate it, and don’t be afraid of it.”
Summer has been singing on stage since she was very young and her mother put a microphone in her hand. She didn’t start performing her own original songs until 2005. She got into music originally because her mother was a music teacher, and made sure that Summer was involved in anything music related since the tender age of four years old.
Summer and her wife/manager, Lori, juggled careers in teaching and nursing, respectively, with Summer’s music career for years.
Summer went on to say, “The music started growing, this was in 2009, and my wife, Lori, was doing the business part of everything. Finally she was like, ‘Look, it’s too busy. I can’t do this and the nursing thing, and you can’t do that and the music, so we’re just going to get rid of the house, and quit our jobs, and go on the road!”
Rhonda McCall, who works in Student Affairs, is to thank for bringing the dynamic singer-songwriter-musician to Silver City. McCall and Osborne grew up together and are close friends. So, when it came time for Summer to start planning her tour, she contacted McCall and asked if they could sleep on her couch. Summer offered to play a small show at Rhonda’s house, but Rhonda had bigger ideas and contacted the Center to get Summer a real show.
“I’ve played a few universities, but I think with Western, I’ve become attached.” Summer tells us. She describes coming to WNMU as “serendipitous”.
It was easy to see why the students loved her enough to bring her back. She is an amazing musician who has a special talent for moving the crowd with a perfect combination of humor and philosophy, but even off of the stage.
There are many messages in her show about love and acceptance of yourself and others, but Summer says that the main message that she wants to get out with her music is, “Evolution of the world, one song at a time. I want to change the world by changing people’s minds about themselves.”
For anyone going through the struggle of coming to terms with themselves, Summer says, “If you ever question, always choose love. And I know it sounds cliché because they use it everywhere, but I honestly, I know like I know that it gets better. It does. It is so scary at first, and your mind kind of catastrophizes it, not to down play emotions, because those are real, but there are truly only miracles. Love yourself, regardless.”
Summer and Lori are already in the process of scheduling a re-appearance at WNMU in Spring 2016 for a few workshops and a concert, so keep your eyes and ears open.
