SummerSounds welcomes youngest-ever performer to open St. Clair Park show

If Laura Rullo was nervous to play in front of what was likely the 14-year-old musician’s largest audience Friday, she didn’t show it.

She smiled, confidently strummed her guitar and added her own powerful vocal flair to songs that were popular long before she was born. Sprinkling in some of her own tunes from the amphitheater at Greensburg’s St. Clair Park, she made history in her first SummerSounds appearance.

“I like being able to get my creativity out there and people’s reactions when they notice that, it’s a lot of fun,” Rullo said.

She is the youngest person to ever play at the weekly summertime concerts, opening up the evening before funk and soul musician Dylan Triplett took over the mic.

Rullo said she has watched performers at SummerSounds in the past and dreamed of being part of the show.

So when Derek Woods of Greensburg, singer in a band bearing his name, asked to book her for Friday’s preshow act, she was thrilled.

“I was like, man, that would be awesome,” Rullo said.

Woods, who has been booking the SummerSounds preshow acts for eight years, said he zeroed in on Rullo because her songwriting and musicianship exceed her age.

“She’s been out there really working hard and it’s really making some waves,” Woods said. “She’s been doing all the leg work that she should be doing. She really deserves to be in front of the SummerSounds audience.”

“It’s always a really awesome audience, it’s an audience that comes to see music,” he said.

The Mt. Pleasant Township girl been gaining steam around the local music scene — Rullo has 80 gigs booked so far this year, even though she can’t drive to them, and said she gets to open mic nights as often as she can. She’s been making the rounds at local wineries, distilleries, the Westmoreland Arts & Heritage Festival and even a stage at Pittsburgh International Airport. While the latter two gigs have gotten her more exposure, the audience wasn’t stationary like at SummerSounds.

Rullo likes to mix covers in with original songs, focusing on country, rock and pop genres. On Friday, she did just that, starting off with strong vocals covering Pat Benetar’s “Shadows of the Night” and playing a mix of new and old songs before wrapping up with “Country Roads” by John Denver and “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes.

The choices might seem unexpected for someone her age.

“It’s what has always been on in the car since she was born,” said mother Nicole Rullo.

Laura Rullo, along with her 11-year-old sister Kara, got into music at a young age. They started learning to play the piano around 4 or 5 and shortly after began singing. Laura Rullo branched out into guitar and did her first open mic at 9, said her dad Dan Rullo.

“Ever since then, it’s been a steady climb, but the last two years it’s just exploded,” he said.

Father and daughter have played together, with dad on drums, in the worship band at Journey Church in Norvelt. Dan Rullo said that stage experience has added to his daughter’s confidence. Now, she’s doing two or three gigs a week, each lasting three hours.

“I think it’s just as much fun for us as it has been for her,” Nicole Rullo said.

Laura Rullo was in the studio this week recording her first original single that could be out by fall.

She credits guidance from local musicians, like Woods and Shiva Skydriver, for helping her create an authentic performance style and learn along the way. Rullo hopes to continue growing as a musician, while gathering a following in-person and on social media.

“I definitely want to take it as far as I can,” she said during an interview at St. Clair Park a day before her SummerSounds debut. “Stuff like this is definitely what I’m shooting for in the future.”