A former Biblical scholar turned Outlaw Country singer/songwriter and cult figure, Lonesome Liz's spins a web from the crossroads of the sacred and profane. Part gypsy conjure woman, part hellfire and brimstone gospel singer, she is also a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, art and drama. She infuses all with her Southern Gothic perception. Her words, kaleidoscopic, often shift to expose the seamy underbelly of the South. She then translates her perceptions through a mystic veil of mojo; drawing on history, Hoodoo, religion, Blues & Folk traditions.
A natural story teller, her powerful lyrics are as captivating as her sultry contralto. Though unquestionably feminine and alluring, she describes hangings, hauntings, reckonings and shoot-outs in a way that makes you think she was not only there but participated. She's been compared to Janis Joplin and all four Highwaymen, (Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson). Her music has received praise from a number of influential musicians, including Mike Seeger, the artist Bob Dylan credited with inspiring him to write his own songs. Liz primarily plays guitar but also picks up the banjo, mandolin and even tap dances from time to time
Liz collaborates with avant-garde and underground artists from around the world. Her performances and exhibits have included New York sensation Molly Crabapple, psychedelic art icon Bob Masse, Drive-by Truckers artist Wes Freed, Ron Thomas Smith, (Hasil Adkins' documentarian) and Jesco White, the controversial Dancing Outlaw. As a curator, recent exhibits include Swimming Cities annual auction in NYC, (voted best parties in Manhattan by Time Out New York) and Art Defining Music at Nashville's Estel Gallery.
She blasted boundaries with Lonesome Liz's Mojo Sideshow, a collaborative multimedia production and seance play for thousands. In part a Southern Gothic interpretation of the Faust legend, the Sideshow featured fine art, dance, juggling, magic, burlesque beauties. The show's traditional Gospel score was performed by Lonesome Liz and fellow Outlaw Country artist J.B. Beverley to a trashcan, riot rifle and tap rhythm section. The show's lyric play, with influences ranging from Lorca to Tennessee Williams, was praised by Charles Plymell, the Beat poet who introduced Bob Dylan to Allen Ginsburg.
Since she first emerged on the Alt Country and fine art scenes as a music, arts and culture/spirituality writer Liz has been on a long strange trip, from Rt. 66 to the Country Music Highway. Along the way she's learned banjo from an Old Time picker in Appalachia who played with Bill Monroe before the Bluegrass boys, danced at a Santeria Tambor in East New York, braved a coastal hurricane to spend a weekend behind the scenes at the legendary Stone Pony and has otherwise fallen repeatedly into adventure.
The Great-Niece of Norvell Page, creator of the Pulp Fiction precursor to Spiderman, Liz's first novel, an adaptation of The Purple Scar, one of Pulp Fiction's most formidable heroes, will soon be published by Airship 27. She is also working on an adaptation of Beowulf. Other recent projects include penning a modern take on Sartre's No Exit and assistant directing Capitol Arts Youth Theater of Bowling Green's Odyssey.
Liz also hosts popular ghost and fortune telling events and is featured in the best-selling Everything Ghost Hunting Book. She was Barnes and Noble.com's beginning tarot instructor for several years and was Astrology, Tarot and Mythology editor at BellaOnline.com and Suite101.com. She reads tarot, dice and tea leaves, lucid dreams and holds the occasional seance.
She loves nothing more than being in a tent in Appalachia in the late spring, except maybe New York in June. She likes Gershwin tunes, German Expressionism, the circus, obscure songs from Tin Pan Alley, Vaudeville and Silent Films. Though Liz secretly reads F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton voraciously, she'll put them down to sing for you, make you a piece of mojo art, write for you or tell your fortune if you cross her palm with silver.
Do you want to interview Lonesome Liz or feature her music on a radio show, blog, website or other media? elizabeth.bissette@gmail.com
