Ramblin' Rhodes: Country singer has mature outlook

Web posted Friday, November 3, 2000

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By Don Rhodes
Columnist

Valerie DeLaCruz says she's writing and singing for a mature audience often overlooked in today's teeny-bopper country market.

Don Rhodes has written about country music for 30 years. He can be reached at (706) 823-3214 or at ramblin@groupz.net. FILE/STAFF

In her album They'll Never Know, she writes of good friends in My Girlfriends' Quilt and the closeness of siblings in Sister (I'd Choose You for My Friend). She sings of broken relationships in This Is Me Leaving, Fool That I Am and Clean Out Your Heart.

And in the album's title cut, she writes and sings of her husband, Joe, who is supportive of her creative side even though he apparently doesn't understand why she wants to pursue show business:

``I know you don't share my dreams. Sometimes we're like two extremes ... But they'll never know how much you cried when you first saw our precious child. They'll never know that you stood with me all the while.''

The DeLaCruzes have been married 20 years and have two children: Alessandra, 15, and Michael, 13. You can read more about her personal and professional life at her Web site (www.valeriedelacruz.com).

Her album is one of the finest I've run across this year, with emotional depth and excellent music. She wrote or co-wrote seven of the 11 songs. The voice of this upper New York state resident is reminiscent of Canadians Terri Clark and Michelle Wright.

Her debut single, Hey! That's My Kiss, has been backed by a video airing on cable television's Great American Country network.

Valerie DeLaCruz has traveled a long road from New York state to Nashville, Tenn. SPECIAL

Yet she has three big strikes against her: She admits to being ``40-ish;'' she doesn't live in Nashville; and she's not signed to a major label. That means a tougher road to follow on the path to country stardom.

``My attitude and philosophy about life is that I have been blessed,'' Mrs. DeLaCruz said in a telephone interview. ``I don't look at things and say I can't do it. I look at things and say this is a puzzle that can be solved. I rise to the challenge. I feel it (musical success) can happen.

``You usually can find a way to make something happen, and you don't have to go through the normal, conventional channels. I can't pretend to be in my 20s because I'm not. But I have seen there is not a lot of country music for country music fans my age, and I hope to supply some of that.

``As for not living in Nashville, I am in Nashville almost every month, and I keep close contacts by phone and e-mail.''

Mrs. DeLaCruz, whose grandfather played the fiddle, grew up loving the music of rock songwriters who had something substantial to say, such as Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney and folk-country stylists Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt.

``There was a magic between Lennon and McCartney,'' she said. ``They were supreme singers and songwriters. Joni Mitchell continues to be my biggest influence.''

Mrs. DeLaCruz started performing at 15 and even opened for Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man, Seventh Son) at that age.

``He came to town and needed an opening act,'' she recalled. ``I don't remember if I got paid, but I still have the newspaper review that's yellowed. The writer liked my voice but said I didn't have stage presence.''

I couldn't help asking, ``Do you have it now?''

Mrs. DeLaCruz simply replied, ``Oh, yeah, baby.''

Valerie DeLaCruz "Hey, That's My Kiss" •  MP3 format •  Real Audio format •  Windows Media format

To learn that stage presence, she sang and played guitar with several acoustical harmony groups. She moved to Boston to study commercial art and toured with several bands on the New England club circuit.

She ended up working at a Sears & Roebuck store in Boston as a cashier for a year before talking her way into the advertising department, where she helped advertise Sears throughout the Northeast.

She put music aside for several years while her children were young and opened an interior-design business in 1984. But that burning desire to perform returned a few years ago, and she went back to music.

``I have a fabulous commitment of support from my family,'' she said. ``I had someone say, `How long will you give it before you go and do something else?' I just had this blank look. I don't ever see not doing my music. It comes down to finding a way for music to be in your life one way or the other.''

For Mrs. DeLaCruz, it is not so much the fame or the money she seeks as the people she touches with her music.

``I wrote Sister (I'd Choose You for My Friend) for my sister Jyl. I had a woman come up to me after I performed it at an awards show and told me that she had lost her own sister to cancer and cried. She said, `Your song meant so much to me to help me think about her.'

``I don't look at my life and think of it as ups and downs,'' Mrs. DeLaCruz concluded. ``I think of it as being blessed to be interested in a lot of things and to be able to do a lot of things.''

Don Rhodes has written about country music for 30 years. He can be reached at (706) 823-3214 or at ramblin@groupz.net

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