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REBECCA REGO: Dreams (Aren't Made Here)

Listen to Rebecca Rego's "Dreams (Aren't Made Here)"

By Michael Schmitt
For RedEye

January 31 2008

Listen to Rebecca Rego's "Dreams (Aren't Made Here)"

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Rebecca Rego can be found at rebeccarego.com.

Life itself is the inspiration for Rebecca Rego's music.

"A lot of my songs I guess come from different stories and things that people tell me," the singer/songwriter said. "I carry a notebook around with me and record a lot of different things, and think of lines while I'm out … and kind of later go back and piece them all together and put them to music."

Rego started playing guitar when she was young and eventually studied classical guitar for five years at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. But it wasn't until college that she began writing her own songs.

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this after college," Rego said. "But, it's just so rewarding to do something that you love. … I don't know what else I would do."

Rego's music is primarily folk-influenced, but she would like to step beyond those roots.

"I'm trying to develop that country and blues sound. I'm really influenced by Wilco," she said. "I'm trying to evolve my sound a little bit."

Her matured sound will appear in Rego's first full-length album, which she hopes to release in late summer. She also plans to try playing with a supporting band on her upcoming tour.

Although she may reshape her sound and lineup, Rego still finds her lyrics from the extraneous nature of everyday life.

"Just recently my drummer…was just telling the story about a hotel she stopped at and this girl she talked to who was from Alaska," Rego said. "I thought it was really interesting, so I kind of worked that into a new song I was writing. At the same time I just played a gig at a nursing home--which was interesting--so I kind of combined those two things and made a song out of it."

She laughs, "Sometimes it's completely unrelated."

[ Michael Schmitt is a redeye special contributor. ]