Liz,  we  at WKU Libraries and Java City were delighted to have you play for our Noontime Concert Series last September.  I received many positive comments about  your performance even as you were playing I realized that even though you have been around Bowling Green for some time some folks may not have heard of you so, can you tell us a bit about your personal and musical history?

I’m originally from Richmond, Virginia and have just been back here a short while. I started singing as part of theater training/performance when I was small. I learned guitar, then banjo, which I studied up in Ashland, KY with an Old-Time musician named Bert Garvin, who was one of Bill Monroe’s first banjo players. I’ve been performing solo and with other musicians for a good while now. Shows have been everywhere from deep in the hollers of Appalachia to New York’s Trump World Tower.

They’ve included Drive-by Truckers artist Wes Freed, Timbuk III’s Pat MacDonald, Jesco White the Dancing Outlaw and several other artists who have performed or worked in some way with Hank Williams, III. I’ve also produced multi-media shows where my music has been featured along with visual art from some very well known artists, including Molly Crabapple and Wes Freed.

Ok, have to ask: Who is Lonesome Liz?

 For about a year or so I was doing a lot of recording with Jesco White and everyone up in Boone Co., (where he lives/a place Hank III has written some about), has an Outlaw nickname. Lonesome Liz became mine and it just stuck. It came in part from an old movie character named Lonesome Rhodes, (which I kind of like better, lol).

Who has influenced you as a musician? Anyone local?

I sang years ago with Johnny Thompson and he definitely heavily influenced not only my singing but the way I play. Pat Haney and Susan Morris were two of the first people to ever encourage me to sing in front of people, (without singing Broadway, that is). And Banjo Bill Green was the first person I ever wrote a play with – yes, there was a lot of influence in just the few years I was here for college.

Otherwise, Dylan, Robert Hunter and Mike Seeger, who I was the last person to interview, (I write also), have all been huge influences. Wes Freed, who writes songs in addition to his great art, has been an ongoing inspiration since the multi-media show. The Levon Helm Band, who I got to spend some time with this summer, was an enormous recent influence, though along with Johnny Cash Mr. Helm always has been to a degree. Being right there and actually meeting him made it even more so though.

Last but not least an emerging Nashville artist, Kara Clark, has been a huge influence both personally and creatively. She also plays edgy Outlaw(ish) Country and there aren’t a lot of female artists who do, unfortunately. You can find her and her new cd here www.reverbnation.com/karaclarkmusic.

What is your favorite sort of gig and favorite place to play?

 I think I really enjoy New York the most. The audiences are always very diverse there and there seems to be more appreciation for the dramatic undertones/the storytelling elements of the songs I write and play. I have really enjoyed playing in Nashville too and being around other songwriters there. Totally different experiences that I guess, all told, I like about the same but in different ways. I wouldn’t trade one for the other.

Listening to your music, it seems to be a mix of old and new so how would you describe your music?

I’ve been classified as Alt Country but that covers a huge amount of ground. I’m heavily influenced by Blues and traditional religious and folk tunes, though I wouldn’t call it folk. It’s not entirely Outlaw Country either. You probably said it best on the flier for September’s show – Outlaw Blues and Country.

I know you are involved with theater and do a number of types of shows. Can you tell us a bit about this part of your life?

I went to the School for Performing Arts in Richmond and was pretty much continuously in a play from the age of 8 to about … 26 maybe, lol. I took a break from it to focus on music and comedy, (I was part of an improv troupe a while back at Louisville’s Comedy Caravan).

Fairly recently I returned to it as a writer/producer with a mutli-media event I called ‘Lonesome Liz’s Mojo Sideshow’. It included an adaptation of ‘Faust’, (with Outlaw Country tunes!). You can see/read it in the multi-media section here: http://lonesomelizpage.blogspot.com/. I’ve also written an adaptation of Sartre’s ‘No Exit’. I played Estelle in it in Chicago and never stopped wanting to do the play one more time.

In addition to theater in Louisville, Chicago and Richmond, I worked with both PTK and Fountain Square here in BG a great deal in the past. Since I’ve been back I’ve stage managed several children’s theater productions but have not yet ventured back into adult theater. I am thinking of auditioning for Bill Leonard’s next play though, I was in a Neil Simon play at PTK with him years ago and would love to work with him again.

I see that you are a blogger and a writer. What does blogging mean to you?

I love blogging! I wish I had more time to write, both interviews and features and my blogs. I wrote a lot of the former for a site called GratefulWeb and was asked to take over their blog because of the popularity of my interviews. I still host it, http://blog.gratefulweb.net/.

I’m not sure how to answer what it means to me… it’s a lot of fun and is a great way to both promote my writing and other projects, as well as those of friends. It also gives me a place to write about whatever I’d like at the time – be it a top ten list or a full length feature. You can’t always do that with websites and magazines. In addition to GratefulWeb, I’ve also been a regular contributor to ‘Fine Art Magazine’ and other publications, print and on-line, over the years.

Where do you want go with your music, theater and writing?

I’d love to do more multi media productions like the Sideshow. Combining all of the above and adding visual art, (the Sideshow also had burlesque dancers, a magician, all kinds of cool stuff), is really the best way to express the things that come out of my imagination because they come out in all of those forms. It’s also a great way to collaborate, which I love doing. I’m planning on recording some of my murder ballads and other tunes with a friend/producer in Nashville but, again, time has been short over the past year. New Year’s resolution is to make more time!

Thanks for taking time to talk to us Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you! Visual art is something I’ve been doing more and more, (I was an art minor but focused more on art history than production) and I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really amazing people both as artist and curator, including Rock & Roll icon Bob Masse, who did the poster for ‘Electric Ladyland’ along with a lot of other’s you’ll recognize, (http://www.bmasse.com/). I hope to start exhibiting again over the next year, not only here but at the very least in Nashville too, if not in NY. Check all this out at http://lonesomelizpage.blogspot.com

Post Script:  We look forward to hearing Liz again at Java City This February 14th for a Valentines concert with myself and maybe other performers.  Come on out at noon to hear this remarkable individual.

About the author: JackMontgomery is a librarian, author and Professor at Western KentuckyUniversity where he handles bookings for musical acts in UniversityLibraries, Java City coffeehouse. Jack has also been a professionalmusician since 1969 and performs with a celtic quartet calledWatersprite. Visit him at MySpace/shadowdancerjackor on Facebook.