Lizzie is a Tucson born and raised indie folk musician. Her latest EP "Turn It Into Art" came out this past November.
The songs on "Turn It Into Art" navigate themes of growing up, friendship, and heartbreak, while showing how music can be a way to heal and bring us all together.
She has been a finalist in the 2024 Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Competition, part of the 2024 Tucson Rock Lottery, a finalist in the Dusk Music Festival 2024 Battle of the Bands, has opened for artists such as The Wildwoods and Kaz Moon, and most recently won Alice Cooper’s Proof is in the Pudding 2024 Competition and opened for him at The Celebrity Theater!
We asked Lizzie 5 questions about their experience as a musician in Tucson. Here's what they said:
What's your favorite venue to play in Tucson?
I have so many places that I love but I would have to say my favorite is Hotel Congress. There has always just been something about that place for me. When I was a high schooler trying to start a band, Hotel Congress was like the promised land. It felt as though if you could get a gig there you were officially in the music scene, and I’ll always remember how excited I was to play there the first time I got asked.
Besides performing, I’ve also attended so many amazing concerts there and met so many beautiful people that I think it’s always just been a place of magic for me. Something that I especially hold with me are the words written above the club stage. In Latin they say, “Musica Delenit Bestiam Feram”, which translates to something along the lines of “Music Calms the Wild Beast.”
What's the funniest thing that's happened during a performance?
Oh boy, I’m about to tell you guys one of my biggest secrets ever. Recently I won “Alice Cooper’s Proof is in the Pudding competition” in 2024 and I got to open for him in December! However, during the final round of the competition, I was absolutely falling apart. I had a cold that week and I was feeling better but my voice was not. Prior to going on stage I was literally downing a bag of cough drops and doing my neti pot in the bathroom but I knew I just had to get up there and give it my all, since I had already worked so hard to get to that point in the competition.
Here comes the worst part though, not only was I struggling physically, but I had worn pajamas on the way up to Phoenix and when I went to change into my show outfit which consisted of a skirt, I realized that I had packed absolutely no underwear. And to top it off I’d also forgotten my contacts, which anybody who knows me knows I’m absolutely blind as a bat, but I didn’t want to perform on stage with my glasses.
So to set the scene, it's the final night of the competition, I’m shaking in my boots, and I had to get up on that stage with about half my voice, a cold, blind as all get out, and no underwear. Maybe this story is just embarrassing but it still makes me giggle. It wasn’t one of my best performances but I still got through it and came out at the end with happy tears, smiles, and a night I’ll never forget.
I will say one thing though, performing with no contacts actually made me less nervous because I couldn’t see anyone!
What's your first memory as a musician?
When asked this question I had to sit and think for a little bit. I tried to stretch my memory as far back as it would go and this is the memory I found! When I was a little girl I remember my dad working outside in our front yard and he would have the garage door open with our old big boombox of a radio on 94.9 fm. My absolute favorite song at the time was “Need You Now” by Lady A, and I remember dancing barefoot on the garage floor and singing all the words. I think even then I knew I had a passion for music, moving to it, and singing. I’m realizing now, reminiscing about this, that I’m still like this at concerts, always moving and singing.
What's your favorite song to perform?
My favorite song to perform is something that is constantly changing. It might be my most recent original, or a cover that I know people are going to love, but at this very moment I would say my favorite song to perform is one I recently wrote titled, “The Axe.” I’ve always been inspired by the power of music but I’ve decided recently that I need to actually use it more instead of just talking about it. I’ve also been learning more about Joan Baez and the ways that she used music as a form of activism which I found incredibly inspiring.
Yes, it’s fun to write about love or heartbreak but I think music can also be a gift for us to talk about things that need to be talked about or act as a way of bringing people together, so I wrote this song about a lot of the hate and separation going on in our world. No matter where you stand in your beliefs I think we can all agree on this one. I wanted this song to acknowledge this, but also to motivate people to overcome this by coming together and trying to grow the love that we still have. If I accomplish anything with my music I hope it is this: to bring people together.
What's the best advice you've ever received?
I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by so many mentors throughout these past years and still today but there’s one piece of advice that I will never forget. Me and my high school band “Anura” were playing at Groundworks in Tucson one summer and had the honor of opening for the artist/band “Blvck Hippie.” Prior to the show we were all in the green room talking and I specifically remember a conversation between me, a bandmate, and the bassist from “Blvck Hippie.”
We were talking about music as musicians do and their bassist was telling us about life on the road and what it’s like being a freelance musician. My friend said something like, “Man, that must be quite the grind.” He replied “Yeah but anything is going to be a grind, so you might as well do something you love.” And I still think about that today.
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