‘The Friendly Beasts’ a success single for Odessa musician

Although she hasn’t released a single for several years, Odessa musician Erica Lane’s latest release “The Friendly Beasts” is climbing the charts.

It was No. 5 on the Indie Music Singles Chart for New Music Weekly the week of Dec. 23, up from No. 6 the previous week. The song also is 37 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart as of the last report Dec. 13.

She’s also at 28 on the New Music Weekly Top 40 chart and 44 on Mediabase.

The album including “The Friendly Beasts” will be out next Christmas. You can see Lane on Basin PBS’ Main Street Unplugged — Yuletide Show at 7 p.m. Dec. 31.

Erica Lane is the name Erica Lane Garza uses for her music career.

“The last time I released a single that was actually on the charts was with my sister. And 2019 we got on … the Billboard charts. … That song was called ‘Lord of the Dance,’” Lane said.

That was performed by Le Sorelle, a duo featuring Lane and her sister Ashley Lundquist.

She released a song called “Live Again” in 2020, but didn’t market it or promote it. It’s purpose was to encourage people during COVID.

She released another song this Christmas called “Auld Lang Syne.”

“I did … an arrangement of that and it’s really, really pretty, and then of course, ‘The Friendly Beasts’ is the one that is on the charts right now and I also just released a music video for that. It’s on YouTube right now,” Lane said.

“The Friendly Beasts” is her arrangement. She noted that she didn’t write the song itself.

“It’s actually an old English tune that I just created my own arrangement of. I first heard it many, many years ago, like probably a couple of decades ago, when Garth Brooks released it. He did a version of ‘The Friendly Beasts’ and that’s when I first heard it and I thought, man that’s a beautiful song,” Lane said.

She recorded “The Friendly Beasts” with Tim Feerst, a lecturer and percussionist in the University of Texas Permian Basin music department.

“He was the only local musician. The other musician that was very key on this album was … Scott Mulvahill. He is a well-known Nashville artist. …. He’s toured all over the place. He is a very talented, upright bass and guitar player. He can play anything really. He even toured with Lauren Daigle for a while. He’s just an amazing music artist. He played a lot of the instruments on my single,” Lane said.

The songs were recorded at the Blue Rock Artists Ranch and Studio in Wimberley.

She added that it’s an “absolutely gorgeous place and very relaxing.”

“It’s one of those places you can show up and everything else fades away and you can just be creative and focus on making music. It’s great,” Lane said.

Feerst said any time he gets to collaborate with Lane is a true honor.

“She is an amazingly talented musician, and I am blessed to call her a friend. Recording at Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. To be able to work so intensely with both Erica and Scott Mulvahill (also an amazing musician) to find that right sound, that right interpretation, brings a kind of artistic fulfillment unlike any other,” Feerst said in a text message.

Lane said she was led to record more singles and work toward an album after a rough last few years with COVID. She said she’s now in a place where she can focus on music again.

She recently started a job as worship leader for adult contemporary services at First Presbyterian Church in Midland.

“It’s a wonderful place to work. I love it. The people are great. I get to make music there and work with a band and I’m having a great time,” Lane said.

Odessa musician Erica Lane sits at her piano at home. She recently released a single called ‘The Friend Beasts’ that has climbed the music charts. Lane also is a former Miss Houston and was in the top 10 in the Miss World Pageant. (Ruth Campbell | Odessa American)

She had previously been a choir teacher at Wilson & Young Middle School, but stepped away from that in 2017 when she had her son, Bowen. She has also taught private voice lessons off and on for many years.

“I kind of discovered that I had a real passion for singing when I was about 11. … I had been brought up singing in church since I was a little kid, but didn’t know that that was something I wanted to really take seriously until I was kind of close to junior high. Then I started to teach myself by listening to Disney songs on cassette tapes,” Lane said.

“I started to listen to the singers and I would listen to them so carefully. What is their tonality? What are they doing to be a good singer and I started to mimic that and taught myself how to sing from a young age. Then as I got older, I did get some training but I didn’t get really solid training until college where I was classically trained … At that point I was already learning to sing in so many different genres. I was trained … in opera and classical, but I also have learned through the years how to sing pop, of course, and country, jazz and everything else. I like it all,” Lane said.

She earned a bachelor of music in music education from Texas Tech University and just recently graduated with a master of arts degree in executive leadership from the School of Business at Liberty University.

“I did that online, but I flew up to Virginia and traveled to my graduation,” Lane said.

She added that she wanted to earn that degree because she’s always been interested in entrepreneurship.

“I wanted to learn more about it because I’ve always run my own business, in a way, when it comes to my music career. I just really wanted to get a better sense of entrepreneurship and that really helped me in that area,” Lane said.

Lane and her husband, Clifton, have a 5-year-old son named Bowen and she has two stepchildren, 17-year-old Kyle and 11-year-old Lauren.

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