Gayla Drake

Drake was born in Iowa on December 3, 1964. She began playing the guitar at the age of 4, and performed Old-time music, Bluegrass music and Celtic music throughout her formative years, finally recording her first CD of original music in 1994. She has released 14 additional recordings since that time, along with music for public television and independent films. She was interim managing editor of Premier Guitar Magazine for several months in 2009.

Gayla married in 1989 and divorced in 2014. She has one son, also a musician, Byrn Paul.

In 2014 she released a collaborative vinyl record with the Iowa-based band, Kodiak Flats, called Aunt G & the Stone City Nephews, featuring John Waite on lead guitar and backing vocals; Jake Niederhauser on rhythm guitar; Jim "Slim" Leland on bass; Dustin D. Busch on mandolin and slide guitar; and Pete Becker on nearly everything else. Gayla wrote all the songs, sang the lead vocals, and played fiddle on most of the tunes, and guitar on three.

At the end of 2017, Gayla is enrolled in the diploma program at the Sound Healing Academy in Cornwall and should receive her diploma in May 2019. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher and has multiple advanced certifications in Light Language. She teaches guitar, violin and songwriting, and is developing music for a series of Healing Sound House Concerts with Iowa violinist and Sound Healing Practitioner, Natalie Brown. Also in development is a web-based course called Songwriting Mastery, set to launch in 2018. She is a member of the International Institute for Complementary Therapists.[1]

• 1995 – Gayla Drake Paul
• 1995 – Waiting for the Spark
• 1997 – How Can I Keep From Singing?
• 1999 – A Woman’s Touch
• 2005 – The Time Between Times
• 2000 – The Next Hill
• 2002 – Retrospective
• 2005 – Restless
• 2005 – I Know This Road
• 2005 – Broken Blues
• 2005 – The Joy Tree
• 2006 – Here in the Center of the World with Eric Douglas
• 2006 – Ethik: Blues and Mud Flowers
• 2007 – The Wheel
• 2008 – Pour Me

• Gayla Drake website