“My dad was a rocker for sure,” she says via phone from her Austin home. Britny Lobas will play her first Cleveland show in more than a decade when she opens for the Vindys on Dec. 30 at House of Blues. “I grew up in a musical home. You’re just born into that when you’re born and raised in Cleveland. I listened to everything. I started singing in the church so I listened to a lot of Christian and gospel music and Aretha Franklin and Etta James and the Beatles and Whitney Houston and all kinds of women powerhouse singers.”
When she was 19, she joined area cover bands such as the Girls Band and the Curve.
“At 21, my mom told me to get out of Dodge and go for it,” she says. “I had heard cool things about Austin. It was either Austin or Nashville, and I heard that Austin was popping off. I moved here in 2012 and immediately got connected in the scene down here. I had no idea what I wanted to do. I got connected with songwriters, and I realized I loved writing songs and performing.”
That interest escalated. But when the pandemic hit in 2020, her band fell apart and she didn’t know if she had the energy for a whole other project. At that point, she decided she would perform and record under her own name. The choice proved to be a good one, and she’s been particularly prolific. Every six to eight weeks this year, she released a single.
She says her latest single will be an emotionally charged re-recording of her song “Hollow.”
“Last June, I almost lost my life to addiction and alcohol,” she says. “I’m a year and a half sober in two weeks. I’m going in to re-record this song and release a new sober version of it. It’ll be a different production and a whole different vibe I think.”
The upcoming show with the Vindys stems from a “show swap” that took place earlier this year. Lobas got the band a gig in Austin, and the Vindys have returned the favor.
“I messaged [Vindys singer Jackie Popovec] earlier this year because I was a fan of hers,” says Lobas. “I said we should do a show swap. They played a show that I put together on Cinco de Mayo. Then, I got COVID. I never got to meet them. My band met them, and they played an awesome show [in Austin]. I am so excited to be opening for them. I’m flying my band up from Austin. It’s a huge moment for me. I don’t think I would be doing it if I wasn’t sober. It’s always been a dream to come back and play under my own name and play my own songs that I wrote. It’s something I always dreamed of doing.”
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This article appears in Nov 22 – Dec 5, 2023.
