Written by Logan Clarke
Buy tickets for Liz Brasher at City Winery June 19
Liz Brasher is a southern style musician from Memphis Tennessee who mixes a concoction of garage rock, delta blues, gospel, and soul all into one. This blend is attributed to Liz’s upbringing with consisted of a diverse musical and cultural background. She is not a fan of rules and continues to break musical boundaries. To celebrate the release of her newest EP, Outcast, which debuted in April of 2018, Liz has been touring nationally and will be making a stop at City Winery June 19th in support of Red Wanting Blue.
City Winery in DC delivers a high-end combined experience of wine, music, and food. They present a grand opportunity to share wine with family and friends while listening to live music. The DC location of City Winery is brand new, featuring a barrel room, a restaurant, and a seated area to relax and watch live music in an intimate environment. There are eleven on tap to choose from and much of the food is prepared in front of the guests. There is also a selection of over 400 wines from most major winemaking regions in the world.
With a combination of wine, food, a beautiful atmosphere, and some good old fashioned music to hit the soul, there no telling where the night will go. We talked to Liz Brasher to gain some insight into her music and tour in anticipation of the show June 19th.
The songs on your new EP draw from many inspirations in your life, can you tell me a little bit about your songwriting process?
Songwriting is usually therapy for me. It’s the way I process the world and either take in what i’m observing to digest it more, or a way for me to work through different emotions. Sometimes another song, a book, a movie, a line I hear someone say will inspire a song or a handful of them. Sometimes i’ll just use a subconscious stream of thoughts to formulate a song. Usually that’s how the lyrics get written. The melodies, forms, and rhythms always come from records I spin. I’ll hear a bass line I like or a beat and come up with something around that!
Who is your favorite singer and who do you think inspired your music the most?
My favorite singer is Mahalia Jackson. I would say that The Beatles inspired my music the most. I learned melody from them. As a child I’d try to come up with 3rd harmony parts to sing with Paul & John. Also their catchy pop hooks make it super easy for me to write in that way now.
Tell me a little bit about how touring has been—where are you excited to visit and why are you looking forward to your play at City Winery?
Touring has been great. Every night it’s a different crowd you have to prove yourself to – I like that challenge. Seeing the West Coast for the first time was pretty remarkable. I’m also looking forward to seeing DC & Boston for the first time!
If you could only have one genre of music to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I could never only listen to one genre of music! If I had to pick I would narrow it down to an era instead of a genre, and that would be the 60s.
