Lady Liberty by Darla Gaitley © 2001

click to play ... Lady Liberty

Darla Gaitley has been a singer-songwriter for most of her life, beginning when she was a teenager in a small town in upstate NY not far from Woodstock. She was in an all girl pop band in High School, and then began performing in various venues as a solo folksinger during her college years.

Later on, after moving to the Atlantic City area, becoming a wife and mother, and holding down a 20+ year job in the newspaper business, she began to perform regularly throughout New Jersey.

Some regular venues included: Borders, The Grace Place, Atlantic City Seafood Festival, Tuckerton Seafood Festival, restaurants and bars throughout Cape May, Wildwood, and Ocean City First Night.

She was a founding member of Garden State Songwriters, a group which hosted a venue at Cygnus Creative Arts in Egg Harbor Township. Some well known folk acts appeared there, including Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Nancy Falkow, Elaine Silver, and Ruth Wyand among others. Darla had the opportunity to open for several top name performers during that time.

In 1999 Darla was selected to be one of 20 finalists to compete for an opening spot at the Lilith Fair in Philadelphia. She performed one of her original songs at the Theater of Living Arts in front of a full house and 3 judges. Although she did not win a spot at the Lilith Fair, the experience was fantastic, and further fueled her songwriting inclinations.
The following year she recorded a 4 song CD “Songs for Saving Babies” for the Atlantic City chapter of the March of Dimes, with all proceeds going to the organization. She performed the song for an audience of more than 200 community participants at their annual banquet at the Seaview Country Club.

On 9-11 Darla was at work when word spread about the first terrorist attacks on the Trade Towers and the Pentagon. She watched on a lunch room TV, with dozens of co-workers, as yet another plane went into the second tower. The sight of the Statue of Liberty “watching” as the towers smoldered was etched in her memory. The newspaper for which she worked put out a second edition that day ... then she went home and wrote the song “Lady Liberty”. It was recorded shortly thereafter as a CD single.

dcgaitley@gmail.com

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