Deborah Vial has lived a colorful life. When the Dallas resident graduated college she spent years overseas performing for troops in Croatia, Macedonia, Iceland, Korea, Germany, and Finland to name a few. She's met NATO soldiers and marveled at men and women from utterly opposite worlds coming together for a common good, visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and walked the streets of Zagreb at the heels of the Croatian War for Independence with the threat of sniper fire hanging overhead.

"I have had more than my share of adventure while performing overseas," she says. "My respect for our military men and women is profound. We could not enjoy our collective life without them."

But upon returning to Dallas in 1996, she found that performing in the local bars wasn't that exciting any longer. "Britney Spears was climbing the charts with her disturbingly hairy Lolita act, and I could not find my place," she says.

Then, things changed. Vial got the opportunity to be an opening act at Lilith Fair in 1999, and this propelled her to leave her band and create her first solo CD. Soon she was opening for favorite artists like Concrete Blonde, Beth Hart, Ryan Adams, and Chicago.

She also met Caron Barrett, who owned a Dallas-based indie label called Last Beat. The two became partners in life and business, moved to Maui, and have continued producing albums (for themselves and others) ever since. Vial's work holds a solid rock vibe but with that lusciousness that can only come from a singer-songwriter; she's clearly living every word that comes onto the page and out of her mouth. It's full, rich, and passionate.

The latest album, Stages and Stones, was doing well in the indie music scene so Vial and Barrett decided to make a video from the single "Don't Make Me Take It." Enlisting openly gay director Israel Luna (Ticked-off Trannies with Knives), the video is a dark ode to obsession, both sexy and disturbing. Check it out and let us know what you think.

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Photos by Llevellyn Lightsey

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