Month: January 2016

In 2005, Lisa released Armstrong Avenue.

It was a self produced recording she engineered on a Roland VS880.  Local talents like Gabriella Sweet, Charlie Van Stee, Crystalline Ruby, Dan Rumsey and Karen Mueller made special appearances.  The result was a well received compilation of songs still played on community radio and internet stations today.

In 2002, Lisa released Surroundings.
Tracks from this compilation stayed on KFAI’s rotation for 15 consecutive weeks.  One, Mother Nature’s Pace, was featured on MPR’s Living on Earth.  This album was nominated for Acoustic Album of the year with The Minnesota Music Academy as well.   Randy Gildersleeve at GilderSound Studios engineered and co-produced Surroundings.  Thea Ennen, Tim Lyles and Crystalline Ruby are a few of the many talented musicians who accompanied her.

In 2001 Lisa released Sooner than Later…  This project was engineered by Terry Eason.  It was the first and only time Lisa released a compilation of songs where she played solo.  One woman, one voice, one guitar.

Lisa’s debut album Old Strings & All was released in 1999.   It was engineered and coproduced by Randy Gildersleeve at GilderSound. Kari Larson, Jay Cook and Tim Lyles accompanied her on this project.  This album received a lot of attention on KFAI’s WomenFolk, KTNA (Telkeetna, AK) and KAXE. A few songs made their way to Twin Cities compilation CDs as well. Most notable are: Minnesota Homegrown and Voices in the Wilderness.

Lisa emerged on the Twin Cities scene in 1995 as a co-lead guitarist in the all female metal quartet (hair band) Zelpha Trippe.  ZT recorded several cassette tapes with Brian Bart at Logic Studios.

There is no doubt Lisa’s time with Zelpha Trippe impacted her playing.  ZT, was often referred to as the all girl version of RUSH.

The early years  influenced Lisa’s live performances as well.  ZT often shared stages with No Man’s Land and Hester Mofet.

Playing with other women influenced Lisa’s wardrobe as well.  Here she can be seen wearing an outfit given to her by ZT’s bass player, Wendy.  Wendy also helped with hair and make up.

Before ZT, Lisa played in a high school rock band called Fair Warning.

 

This year is off to an amazing start.  We’re less than two weeks in and I’ve had the honor, pleasure, and privilege of cowriting with Thea Ennen and Tim Lyles.

Both Tim and Thea have been extremely influential on my musical style, writing, all around approach to guitar playing, and life.  I feel blessed–to say the least.

The songs are different from what I’d normally write, which is such a gift.  And the point. Collaboration is truly an amazing process.   I’m stretching and reaching new places on guitar, vocals, and with song structures/formulas.

With Thea, I’m learning to sing harmonies while  accompanying her piano playing and catchy melodies.

With Tim, we take song structures and chordal movements to a whole new level.  In fact, my fingers and hands ache after sessions with him. Aches and all,  Tim Lyles is one of my greatest teachers, a lifelong musical companion, and incredible friend.

My goal over the next few months is to record demos of the songs Tim and I create and make them available on SoundCloud.

 

 

Random Promo Pics