LIVE SHOW REVIEW: LISSIE at 3RD & LINDSLEY

A sizable crowd had amassed at 3rd & Lindsley to see Lissie, who is currently touring in support of her newest album, My Wild West, out in February via Lionboy Records and Thirty Tigers.

Lissie supporter Robert from Paducah, Kentucky graciously invited us to share a table with him; “What do you enjoy about her music?” I asked. “When she sings, she bleeds,” he replied. I was intrigued.

The Rock Island rocker, who recently returned to her midwestern roots from years living in sunny California, took the stage without fanfare. “I could have been a hero/I could’ve been zero/Could’ve been all these things” she sings in her uniquely smokey voice that cuts right through the sound of everything else in the venue; it’s the voice of an old soul, a voice that’s from another time. She prowled across the stage like a lioness, a strong and commanding presence—there is something so empowering about watching a badass sass machine who wields a guitar and whips her long blonde hair as the music moves her. I was transfixed.

As her raspy vocals belted out her western brand of anthemic Americana, she leaned down and sang to her adorers pressed against the front of the stage,“I got a lotta lovin’/I got a lotta love in my heart” she sang; Lissie let loose and took us to church with a rousingly foot-stomping call and response exchange with the crowd—it was obvious that she could hardly contain the musical emotion that was happening inside of her, and she expertly transferred that excitement to a very willing audience. I am a fan.