NICHE: A WEEKLY PEEK AT AN EMERGING ARTIST
Val Goodrich

Keeping track of tunes in your head isn’t easy. Ask Val Goodrich.

For as long as she can remember, Goodrich has been a vessel for homeless melodies. Songs just take up residence in her mind; she doesn’t know why.

When she was a girl, Goodrich used to memorize the melodies until the songs numbered too many to remember. That’s when her parents gave her the best present she ever received - a tape recorder - and the music in her head was liberated.

"That’s when I really blossomed," Goodrich said. "The songs didn’t have to stay in my head anymore."

Almost 30 years later, Goodrich is releasing her second album, "Stray From the Middle," a bluesy folk-rock compilation of 11 original songs. Goodrich will celebrate the achievement from 6 to 8 p.m. May 22 during a CD-release party at Mojo’s, 1013 Park Ave.

She will be joined by several members of The Dynamics and Pete Szkolka, a member of the blues band Chump Change, who provided Goodrich with a studio in which to record her album.

"There are so many people who have helped me out with this project," she said. Local musicians Mike Cordeiro and James Carter helped produce the CD. Even Goodrich’s fourth-grade daughter is on the album, singing background on "I Worship You."

The three-year project has been a labor of love for the 42-year-old songwriter, whose venture into public performance began about 10 years ago in small local venues. She also accepted gigs at area festivals, where she often took the stage with nothing more than her guitar and a head full of songs.

"It’s taken a lot of trial and error," she said.

Goodrich grew up in Indianola, Iowa, with her twin brother, Dennis, and two younger sisters, Kathie and Debbie. Her father worked in the Firestone plant in nearby Des Moines, and her mother operated an in-home child-care facility.

"As a child, I don’t remember not having music as a part of my life," Goodrich said. "I always had a tune in my head when I was a child."

Goodrich received her first guitar when she was 8, and it didn’t take long for her to begin plucking out the songs she had stored in her head. Eventually, her father took an interest in the guitar, and they often played together.

"It became something that we shared," Goodrich said, "and that was very nice."

Although Goodrich participated in music at school and in church, songwriting and playing guitar were talents that, for many years, she felt more comfortable keeping to herself. Appearing on stage was out of the question.

Goodrich attended Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, where she received a bachelor’s degree in elementary and secondary education and a master’s degree in education. After teaching for a year in Keytesville, Goodrich moved to Columbia, where she helped operate a day-care center and later worked for another organization that assists families in finding day care.

Today, Goodrich works with the early-childhood special-education department for Columbia Public Schools. In her work with children ages 3 to 5, she often uses music as a teaching tool.

Being in the spotlight is a position to which the soft-spoken Goodrich is adjusting - not to mention seeing her picture on the cover of a CD.

"I’m not one who likes to talk about myself," Goodrich said. "It seems a little odd, a little embarrassing, but it’s part of what you have to do" to market your music.

For now, she is satisfied with a music schedule that allows her to continue teaching and to be home with her daughter. Music is her passion, but the children keep her grounded.

"When my daughter is in the school play or playing basketball, I want to be there for her," she said. "You only get to do this once. It’s my most important job."

 

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