Local Country Musician Shoots Music Video in Lebanon

A local country music singer shot a music video for her first single in Lebanon this past month. Miranda Bury from Salem, Illinois, uploaded a music video on her YouTube channel for her single song “Janis And Dolly”, a single which was shot in Lebanon, Illinois, predominantly in The Gasthaus, a restaurant on West St. Louis Street in downtown Lebanon. 

“My cousin, Tristan, actually works there,” said Bury. “I reached out to him for ideas of ‘what’s a really cool, aesthetic looking place that we can make this video,’  and he said ‘I got it’, and we thought it would be really neat. 

“I called the owners up and they were incredible. They opened the doors on Monday when they weren’t open to let me in. They showed me downstairs and all the super really cool stuff. It is one of the oldest buildings in Lebanon and I thought ‘It was perfect’.

The song’s title was inspired by two of her favorite artists, Janis Joplin and Dolly Parton, as well as her style and sound she can provide for her songs and singing.

“I play a lot of Janis and a lot of Dolly,” said Bury. “I was thinking about ‘what’s really southern and what is really rock’, because I do both. I play a variety of rock and country at all my shows. This song I believe encapsulates what I’m doing right now.”

The song takes on a persona as well of being from a small farm town and not being from a bigger city such as Nashville. 

“Because we live so close to Nashville, but we’re not quite in Nashville,” shared Bury with a laugh. “Writing music here, I feel like if you sing country music, people not from here are like ‘well she’s not really country’ and I’m pretty sure I’ve been chased by every farm animal that exists so I think I’m pretty country and I think I can write country music.

“That’s what I wrote it (Janis and Dolly)  about, how it’s different writing country and you can still write country music when you’re not living in Nashville. Lebanon is such an iconic town in Southern Illinois too and looking back, that town, that restaurant, it was meant for that song. It was really cool.”

Miranda Bury grew up in Marissa, Illinois where she started singing at a young age but started pursuing a career in singing when she was 16. She plays at the Bullpen Bar and Grill in New Athens, Illinois the last Friday of every month, which coincides with a new single that gets launched on iTunes and Spotify that is released on the same date. The singles come from her first album which will debut June 30th, the last Friday of June. The album will feature seven original songs, all performed acoustically. She has her own Facebook page and YouTube channel, where her single “Janis and Dolly” can be found.