MCC library employee tours the west coast as a musician
Justin Freemyer
Mesa Legend
Walk into the MCC Library and you’ll likely to find Laney Greynolds sitting at the front desk ready to help you with your paper or just point you in the right direction. This nearly ten-year library technician is also an accomplished performer. For the past seven years, Southern Californian natives, 52-year-old Greynolds has been performing throughout the west coast in bars, festivals, performing art centers and house concerts. She’s part of a duo with partner 63-year-old JC Scott. The group is known as “JC and Laney.”
Their style of music is a combination of pop, rock, comedy, folk and a touch of blues. “Our music is a result of everything we have listened to, it’s Americana,” Laney said. Despite the fact, the group performs about 100 shows a year in places like L.A., Seattle, Las Vegas, Portland and Phoenix, Tucson has become their home base. They’re considered the hometown band. They do a lot of house concerts there, where they stay overnight at a home and perform for a small group of 50 to 100 people.
The duo said they enjoy performing in this environment because of the intimacy of the experience for them and the fans. “We are entertainers, you have to have a good time and be emotionally moved by it. Which is our goal,” Laney said. This partnership started in Prescott at a bar called “The Birdcage” on Whiskey Row. Greynolds and Scott were sitting at the bar stools next to each other, but strangers. At one point “Bell Bottom Blues” hits the jukebox and the two began singing in harmony.
The duo said the bartender was so impressed by what the two strangers’ collaboration that he offered them a regular gig at the bar. A partnership was born. “It was kind of magic for us,” Scott said about working with Laney. “Solo is lonely.” Their list of successes is long. They have produced and released seven CD’s and were the opening act for country-western singer John Michael Montgomery. And just last year JC and Laney were nominated for a Grammy Award in three categories and received 1st place with over 5,000 entrants in Grammy sponsored contest in the category for Amplifier for their song “When it comes to love”. The song has 60,000 streams on Spotify and 100 thousand on SoundCloud.
“It’s a DNA strand,” Scott said passionately about singing. Singing has been a lifelong journey for the two Californians. Laney moved to Arizona in 1995 and attended MCC. During that time, she was a student worker at the library and was an exercise and wellness major. But Laney’s dream to sing. She has been performing since she was 18, singing in cover bands. She said she was influenced by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Journey, Bonnie Raitt and Kenny Loggins.
While Scott was inspired by storytellers like Bob Dillan and The Every Brothers. He reminiscent of his beginning, writing songs fresh out of the Navy in the 1970’s. His performing days started in West Hollywood with bands such as Redwood and 88 performing in places like The Rainbow Room, The Viper Room, Whiskey a Go Go and the Roxy. “I feel music today is going retro, the students and my children are always listening and talking music from the 60’s and 70’s like Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin, “Laney said.
According to the partners, they have fulfilled a lot of their dreams. Among those is having performed at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) and opened for a major act which was country-western star John Michael Montgomery. Among their goals for the future is to expand their band and contract a publisher to help them get their music featured on music videos and in movies. They say they’re aware of some the challenges they face today including age discrimination.
But, they add, it isn’t stopping them from doing what they love to do. “We ain’t done yet, we’re all over the place, we love being on stage and performing,” Laney said. In the last four years, they have headed north and established a summer residency in Williams, Arizona at a place called Bistro 66. Locally you can catch them at the Higley Performing Arts Center, Chandler Center for the Arts and their favorite place, Fiddler’s Dream in Phoenix You can catch the duo at the Tucson Polk Fest in the first week of May and at www.jcandlaney.com
