Diving into some Americana tonight by way of Liz Cooper, recorded live at Audiotree on November 22, 2021, coming at the tail-end of masks-only but still with some social-distancing in the studio. Needless to say, there’s a big sigh of relief spreading around music circles – clubs are opening back up – concerts are happening – festivals are picking up where they left off two years ago and generally everyone is optimistic and a little nervous in places – being away from audiences has sparked a bit of fear that chops aren’t back up. But everybody who has taken the dive says it’s like nothing ever happened. So this Summer ought to be pretty sensational.
Liz Cooper has been at it since 2014, having decided swinging a nine-iron just didn’t have the same appeal as a Fender. It was a wise move as she’s been getting rave reviews ever since her first set of gigs, and they’ve been great ever since.
In 2019 she played the Newport Jazz Festival and that brought her to a much wider audience, and the accompanying fanbase. So far there’s four eps and two albums to her credit (first album is with her old band The Stampede), her latest, Hot Sass is solo.
She’s been variously described as neo-psych, homage to ’60s, or as one reviewer put it: “Her songs unfurl like smoke spiraling off an incense cone late in the afternoon, with Cooper pushing deeper into psychedelic openness, punk ferocity, and beyond”.
All that and catching up after being put on hold while COVID was happening. There’s a tour starting up in July around the U.S. and that’s just the start. So things are looking up.
If you aren’t already familiar, hit the Play button and crank it up. A good time is guaranteed for all.