Photo/DAN PELTON BRUCE LAING, a local musician, chronicles the ups and downs of life in his debut album, A Dream. A Dream, the debut album of Orangeville musician Bruce Laing, is a country and rock mix in which the performer opens up the book of his life and lays it on the table for all to read.

With the title track, A Dream, Laing pays tribute to "anyone who has their own brass ring they are reaching to grab. It sets the tone for the album."

The song is under consideration to be played at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

My Angel, the second track on the album, predates the other nine songs and carries a deep meaning for Laing.

"Three of my friends were dying," he recalls. "I was sitting alone in my place and jumped out of my chair at about 10 at night, thinking that one of them had just passed away. As it turned out, that wasn't the case, but the words and the emotions came out. I had the song together in about an hour."

A week after this incident, he lost his three friends; two died of cancer and the other "of old age."

This traumatic chain of events was a major motivating factor in Laing deciding it was time to record the album. He got in touch with Sean Baillie, a Juno-nominated producer, and, over the course of time and as finances permitted, he put the album together.

Not all the tunes have melancholy undertones.

For instance, the listener may want to consider listening to the fourth track, Hotel Motel Time, and fast forwarding to the seventh; The Next Day.

Hotel Motel Time — inspired by Laing's memories of the old Ivanhoe bar in Orangeville — is an up-tempo, somewhat raunchy tune about a lastcall Don Juan on the prowl for female company at closing time.

The Next Day - with its pulsating rock rhythm - is an anthem of all those who would be financially secure if they had a dollar for every time they woke up in the throes of a throbbing, dry-heave hangover and declared they will never drink again.

There is a definite symbiotic link between those two tunes.

Still, the album as a whole has been well received and Laing, who figures he "still has eight or nine albums in me," has already sold out his first run and is in the process of pressing more CDs.

His eventual aim is to push his work in stores and on the radio. For now, though, his work can be obtained on Friday nights at The Deck, where the Bruce Laing Band performs.