Overview

WOW! Thank you to everyone who has supported my campaign so far! I am so incredibly grateful and excited to make this album for you. Because we’ve made so much amazing progress so quickly, I’m hoping to add a BONUS TRACK! Any contribution goes a long way to get me to Boston and make this album bigger and better than ever. Thank you, again, and I can’t wait to make more music!

Hello world! My name is LaRaisha, and I'm a singer-songwriter here in the beautiful city of Detroit, Michigan.

I’ve been making music and performing my whole life, starting with show choir and jazz ensemble in high school, starring in numerous musicals (some of which I’ve won awards!), and later fronting a female-led party and wedding band in North Carolina. More recently, I’ve been recording and working with other songwriters and producers in TV and film and enjoying pandemic jam sessions with my talented husband. Working on new music during the past year has inspired me to take action in putting new music of my own out there. After pouring everything I’ve experienced in life into these songs, the only thing left is to share the sounds in my head and heart with all of you. 

The material is ready, and the musicians are waiting -- this Plaid Dog campaign is the final step toward creating my first ever, professionally produced studio album.

This campaign is raising funds for my professionally recorded album with Cairo Marques-Neto in Boston, MA. Cairo is a Boston-based producer and engineer with 15+ years of experience working with both established and up-and-coming musicians. Together, Cairo and I are digging into my original material, writing arrangements, and reaching out to local musicians to bring the songs to life. 

While I haven’t made it to Boston yet due to the current health crisis, I will––and I know this album will be worth the wait! In the meantime, I’ve been able to cover the costs of recording and producing a demo of one song remotely, with the assistance of some pretty amazing technology.

This first song is called “Get U Back,” and you can check it out below!

While I’ve been able to fund this initial recording process for "Get U Back" on my own, to create an album of songs with full production and studio quality, costs add up quickly. With that said, this campaign can give us a unique opportunity to collaborate and make great art together. Your donation will cover the following costs of my project:

1. Pre-Production: This is where everything starts. Cairo and I will start crafting the arrangements for each song slated for the album. We’ll hold rehearsals to fine-tune the songs and arrangements and talk through new and exciting ideas for how to approach the recording process.

2. Recording: This is when we enter the studio and start capturing the music and where the songs become what you'll hear on this album. This campaign will play a huge role in making sure we have enough time to capture great performances for every member of the band.

3. Mixing & Mastering: Each track will get mixed to create the right balance between instruments, texture and color that make up a track. As a final step, the album will be mastered from beginning to end so that the listening experience is cohesive and carefully choreographed from start to finish.

And what will you get for your generosity and support? So many awesome things!

I am so appreciative and grateful for any support you can lend to this campaign. In exchange for your generosity, I've put together a really exciting group of gifts that are available exclusively through your participation in this campaign.

Check out some examples below and a full list to the right!

It's hard to express how much this project would change my life.

I believe that music has the power to heal and connect us all to our shared human experience.  I am, for the first time in a long time, feeling brave enough to share my original music to the various communities I consider home and the world as part of that bigger picture.

Creating music is, for me, an organic collaborative process. I have to thank my fellow musician friends that have pushed me to be better, those who have supported me from high school to now, my family (especially my Dad) for giving me such a wide perspective on different genres of music when I was young, and my brilliant and lovely husband for listening to every idea and lyric when I’m crafting a new song.  Music helps us understand the experiences we have in life, and I’ve shared musical experiences with so many people.  My greatest hope is that this project helps me share my experience with more people and perhaps inspire others to connect more deeply to the world around them.

While it has been over a decade since I’ve made a music project of this caliber, I have managed and executed creative projects of all kinds, like developing and helping to manage a new performing arts venue in Southeastern NC, attending Graduate School in Detroit, MI for acting, and writing new projects and exploring opportunities in TV and film. All the while, I’ve been deepening my musical focus and writing, singing and recording. With your support, I will channel that consistent work and experience into something new and beautiful that we will have made together.

If you're ready to contribute, just click the "Back This Project" button on the top right of this page! Every little bit counts, and I’m so grateful for all your support.

If you have folks in your network that would be interested in supporting me, please feel free to share this page with them.

Thank you so much for checking out my campaign page. I can't wait to share this music with you.