The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Connie Cyrus grew up singing the beloved standards now featured on her CD “Falling in Love.”

The matriarch of a pioneer farming family, Connie has always loved to sing.

“I started singing as just a child,” she said. “My mom had a beautiful voice — an operatic voice — and my dad was a Swiss yodeler, so we had music and singing around the house.”

And in the fields, too.

“You ought to hear her when she’s out baling hay,” said her husband Keith.

Connie never really thought of doing anything commercial with her voice. But with the encouragement of a local singer, she went into Clay Smith Sound Studios in Bend and got to work on tunes she’d grown up with.

“I thought I’d do something for my kids,” she said. “It was all completely new and Clay was just great to work with.”

Smith played guitar and piano and other instruments; Greg Byers provided trumpet. The instrumentation nicely complements Cyrus’ smooth, rich vocal delivery.

Cyrus still feels a little self-conscious about putting her work out in front of the general public.

“I never started out intending to sell them,” she said. “But people told me they wanted to buy them.”

Her CD “Falling in Love” is currently available at Three Sisters Floral and at the Aspen Lakes Golf Course Pro Shop. Other outlets will soon start carrying the CD.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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