Liz Longley has a gift for culling musical treasures as though straight from thin air. And now, the Berklee College of Music graduate and award-winning songwriter is set to share them with listeners on her self-titled album.
While her songs and vocals invite comparisons to Shawn Colvin, Paula Cole and Nanci Griffith—all artists she’s supported live—her latest effort spotlights a style and confidence that’s all her own. You can hear it in the subtle-yet-soaring vocals on “Memphis,” the dagger directness of “Skin and Bones,” the bittersweet farewell that drives “This Is Not the End,” which was featured on Lifetime’s Army Wives. They’re all cuts that dare you to hold back the goosebumps.
Liz’s singing never fails to thrill and enthrall. Her voice and tone, touched with the slightest of country inflections, pours out like clean, crystalline water. Still, she can roar like a waterfall or flow effortlessly along the bed her backing band lays down, as on “Peace of Mind.”
The new songs grew amidst a period of transition and travel in her life; moving between Boston and New York before finally settling in Nashville, and spending much of her life on the road in a succession of minivans. These numbers pack the punch of pages torn right from Liz’s journal. And fans have rewarded her transparency with tangible loyalty. Her Kickstarter campaign, well exceeded the $35,000 album-funding goal. “We reached the mark so quickly and I’m just really, really lucky to be connected to my fans,” she says. “ I feel like they’ve adopted me—like I have this big supportive family.”
Liz grew up outside of Philadelphia. A song she wrote in ninth grade—her first ever—earned a standing ovation at school: “I was unprepared for that sort of reaction and it was life-changing moment,” she says. “That’s when I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life.”
Her track record shows how much she’s grown into her dream, taking homr top prizes at the BMI John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship Competition, the International Acoustic Music Awards and the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest Songwriting Competition. But it all traces straight back to Longley’s first song. “Every time I get into these songs they resonate with me, lock with me, because they’re based on something I went through,” she says of the new collection. “I hope they connect with people and that they’ll help with whatever they’ve gone through. That’s what music does for me, and I hope I can do that for someone else.”
Anthony D’Amato recorded his first album, Down Wires, in his college dorm room in 2010, and NPR called it “a modern folk gem.” BBC Scotland named his second home recording, Paper Back Bones, one of the Best Americana Albums of 2012. He’s just released his third album – recorded in a farmhouse-turned-studio – The Shipwreck from the Shore – and the reviews have been raves. “Strikes every right note, incorporating classic folk, pop and even a little punk rebellion,” says USA Today. “Brilliant,” says BBC. “Turns heartbreak into cheery folk,” says Spin Magazine. The reviewers are on to something. Anthony writes catchy songs and performs them with a compelling style.
Liz Longley has a gift for culling musical treasures as though straight from thin air. And now, the Berklee College of Music graduate and award-winning songwriter is set to share them with listeners on her self-titled album.
