• Listen to Lori McCracken’s music on Myspace

Lori McCracken grew up around country music, traveling around East Texas honkytonks with her parents’ band, her diaper hooked to her mother’s bass drum during shows. “It wasn’t a classic childhood, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Now, she’s following in her parents’ footsteps, singing and playing all over Dallas. McCracken’s music harks back to the good ol’z days of country music with influences like Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette. “I feel like now, music has lent itself to pop and pop country,” McCracken says. “I’m ready to get back to the good, solid, country music. Not much of the younger generation has heard this stuff.” She taught herself to play guitar at age 16 and never took a singing lesson because “you either have it or you don’t,” her mother used to say. To pay the bills, she works as a graphic designer in Plano, but has begun focusing more on her music. She recently recruited a bassist, Dale Stock, and a drummer, Sarah Biglow, to add more power to her acoustic performances. McCracken has written eight original songs, three of them signed to AudioMoxie records — “80”, “Unforgivable Sin” and her favorite, “Stuck in Life.” It’s about that undeniable feeling of wanting to move on from the usual. “Man, if I could just sing and play, I’d be so much happier.” For updates on her shows this month, check out McCracken’s Facebook page.