A singular singer-songwriter-poet-performer, author, policy social worker & former State Troubadour of Connecticut.

Lara sings & leads with authenticity, integrity, humor and heart, delivering performances that inspire, uplift and entertain — whether solo or with her trio, the Highway Philosophers.

The jury is in.

  • "...expertly written prose... songwriting at its best... musical timing, memorable melodies, and compelling lyrics. It's good for your ears AND your soul."

    Sound Waves Magazine

  • "Lara reminds us that music can be heroic when it springs from a strong heart. Walt Whitman would recognize his own soul in her expansive American vision, and there really is no higher compliment I can pay an artist."

    CT Public Radio host Colin McEnroe

  • “There are so many great lines, couplets, and extended metaphors in her work that I hardly know where to start... It's rare to come across poets able to inject such an achingly human and knowing warmth into their work... It's obvious that this musician-composer has hit her stride, that her star's still rising."

    -Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

  • “She possesses not only a huge reservoir of musical talent and a voice with a bell-like clarity, but a keen sense of global social concern and a fierce intellect… It might seem too good to be true, but true it is.”

    -Acoustic Live in NYC

  • “The abundance of singer-songwriters on the scene today requires a musician to really shine to rise above the crowd, and Herscovitch does that from the first line of the first song…”

    -Taconic Press

  • “Great writing makes for a rich tapestry of songs with themes that’ll stay with you after the last track has played… you really do feel richer for getting to hear Herscovitch’s stories and statements...”

    -Americana UK

“…a luminous voice and a buoyant stage presence... big-hearted lyrics embrace the sum of life… Herscovitch’s music blows on the embers of a lagging spirit or a dormant creative life.”
— The Boston Globe

Connecticut State Troubadour

Lara earned a Master’s in Social Work Policy from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts. She grew up in New York and lives in Connecticut, where she was selected by the Office of the Arts to serve in the honorary position of State Troubadour (think poet laureate, only music), 2009-2010.

The perspective & wisdom in Lara’s artistry comes from decades of humanitarian work in the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Africa, focused on education, community development, environmental protection, and justice system reform. This depth of experience & commitment resonates throughout her music, all traveling on a voice that Performer Magazine called “clear and smooth like expensive liquor."

If you read the “About the Author” page in her Shine Sister Shine book (hello, awesome you!), you know that Lara loves cats, bats, rabbits, and (other people’s) dogs. And New England autumn, jasmine tea, the smell of vanilla, Italian balconies and evergreens -- one of her favorite childhood spots was her grandfather’s Christmas tree farm in Maine.