Artist Spotlight: Dani Carson, Lawton native and aspiring musician

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - With the Country Music Awards taking place on Wednesday, November 9, we wanted to spotlight some local talent.

7News Producer Cade Taylor sat down with Dani Carson, a Lawton native, and aspiring musician, to discuss her artistry and how living in Southwest Oklahoma has influenced her.

“I’m from Lawton, Oklahoma, I was born here, and now I live outside of Apache. I’ve been an acoustic country music artist for about ten years. I like to think that I was raised in the city growing up, but I think I was born for the country. Growing up with my biological family, the closest I got to actually being involved with music was that we liked to jam out. There were seven kids and two adults, so we had our own parties,” said Carson.

She began her love for music at a young age, thanks to her biological family but didn’t pick up an instrument until she was adopted and living with her foster family.

Carson’s first performance took place at a young age in church when her step-sister volunteered her to sing the national anthem. From then on, she’s been working towards building a name for herself.

Growing up in Southwest Oklahoma and trying to break into the music industry in any capacity is a difficult feat to achieve and can become disheartening. For Carson, though, it allowed her to build character, make connections organically, and focus on her sound.

“I am thankful that I grew up in such a supportive community, especially how Lawton, even though we don’t have a ton of live music venues, we still have a lot of musicians, and we have a lot of people who are definitely trying,” said Carson.

Carson travels across Oklahoma, delivering her seraphic tone in the form of cover songs while still mixing in her original music here and there.

“Right now, I’ve been focusing so much on my technique and trying to get my voice to do things that are a lot more outside my comfort zone that I’ve been heavily focusing on covers, but not so much the writing portion. I’m also going through a lot of my own life experiences, so I’m kind of living the life before I write about it. As far as my songs I’ve written in the past and haven’t recorded them yet, it’s all a matter of just getting the funds.”

Recording studio fees are no joke, but for someone like Carson, the cost will soon be an afterthought once she garners the traction she’s been working towards.

Carson pulls from her struggles and everyday life to continue creating original content, finding her voice and cementing herself as one of the upcoming artists from Oklahoma to be on the lookout for.

“A lot of my songs that I write particularly come from personal experience; they also come from the incredibly diverse amount of people that I’ve met, especially from Lawton. Even when I got into the music scene, that’s even more diverse than just living in your own little community, and so definitely the people and the experiences that I’ve had definitely drive what I write,” said Carson.

To stream her music, you can find her on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at Dani Carson Music.

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