Need To Know: Lydia Loveless
Who: Bloodshot Records recording artist Lydia Loveless
When & Where: Tuesday, Jan. 17th at the Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St. Tickets are $8 and the show starts at 9 p.m. Gerald Lee Jr. opens.
Why: Only 21 and on her second album, Lydia Loveless is on the rise. Her rough-and-tumble alt.country sound seems already grown-up, but still plenty reckless. She swings classic country with outlaw spirit, adding in rock and punk moves to keep it modern and punchy. Already, critics are calling up comparisons to Neko Case, though Loveless seems to have more energy on her 2011 Bloodshot Records debut, Indestructible Machine.
In Her Words: "This past year was pretty insanely full," Loveless told the Reader earlier this month. "It's also gotten easier going into bars."
Loveless has been busy on the road, since Bloodshot Records signed Loveless when she was still on the dry side of 21. Now she's no longer relegated to benches outside bars and venues prior to her showtimes.
Loveless now calls Columbus, Oh. home, but up until she was 14, Loveless was a country girl. While there wasn't a big musical influence in the family, Loveless says she can recall her dad being an Eagles fan. Once Loveless was in the city, the twang came to her though.
"I got more into country music once i left the country," she says.
In her not-all-that-much-younger days, Loveless listened to punk and tried her hand at playing in that style. She admits she wasn't very adept at it. So she fell into her current style. The distance between the two wasn't all that far though, she says.
"I think country and punk are really similar."
posted at 11:00 am
on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
