Mad Love for Lissie

So I read about this Lissie lass in a recent issue of Paste. Admittedly, my first thoughts were not related to what the writer had to say about her music, but to the provided picture. When I first saw it, I thought she was a dead ringer for Joni-see below:



However, I quickly realized that I was generalizing and that just because someone is a blonde-ish, guitar-strumming female singer-songwriter does not mean that they look like Joni Mitchell. More importantly, it definitely doesn't mean they'll sound like her. I always want to compare everyone to Joni because she is Like the Love of My Life and the Wonderful Woman Who Wrocked My World and One of the Most Magnificent Musicians and the Standard for All Female Songwriters and Would Be For All Songwriters if Not For Bob Dylan and The Beatles (I think you get it. Her albums have meant a lot to me, and countless others, over the years.) So then I decided I shouldn't compare Lissie to Joni right off the bat. So naturally... I wondered whether she might be more comparable to someone like... well, Ke$ha, who kinda makes me visualize Taylor Swift in The Midst of a Cracked-Out Rebellion... (Yeah. "TiK ToK." I know you know it):




But the truth is Lissie doesn't closely resemble Joni Mitchell or Ke$ha. Blonde hair doesn't mean anything; she doesn't really look like either of them despite the sorta-similar qualities of the pictures above. She doesn't have the inimitable "flit" and off-kilter rhythms of Joni's voice, but her voice is rich and complex in its own way. And she doesn't sound anything like Ke$ha and certainly would not be chosen to sing backup for Flo Rida (as K did). However, her voice does, on occasion, recall Patty Griffin's, but that was the closest comparison I could draw. Just know that, in general, if you dig female singer-songwriters with a Hint of Twang and/or Whole Lotta Soul-anyone of the Emmylou/Joni school-you probably will enjoy Lissie. Her full-length debut album will be released in 2010, but no definite date has been set yet. She currently has an EP out (released in November) called Why You Runnin'. So far, though, my favorite performance of hers was not on the EP, but was actually a YouTube cover I stumbled upon of her singing "To Ramona" by Bob Dylan. Crazy...how often is it that A.) A webcam-recorded video of someone singing is even DECENT, let alone PHENOMENAL?? B.) A Bob Dylan cover actually possesses ANY of the original's emotion and manages to do it justice???? The answer to these questions, of course, is ALMOST NEVER. But Lissie breaks the mould here (and blows our minds in the process):



Watch for Lissie in 2010. I have a feeling she's going to be making quite a name for herself.