Member Since: 3/2/2006
Band Website: www.elizalynn.com
Band Members: Eliza's Band =
Sean Foley - keyboard,
Will Straughan - lap steel,
Jeff Hersk - upright bass,
Mike Rhodes - drums,
Jill Fromewick - harmonica and
Eliza Lynn- vocals, guitar, banjo **********Grit Pixies:
Jill Fromewick - harmonica, washboard, vocals and
Eliza Lynn - vocals and guitar **********
Influences: There are so many kinds of influences on my music. There are the names that people would recognize like Hoagy Carmichael, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Billie Holiday, Mississippi John Hurt, Dolly Parton, Precious Bryant, Tracy Chapman, Loretta Lynn, Paul Simon, Lyle Lovett, Ali Farka Toure, Gene Harris, Reverand Gary Davis, Merle Haggard and so many others. But those folks are only partially responsible for the way I sound. I am more influenced by the people who have been in my life, who I sing with, who are friends or family members. Singing with my parents and brother, in the car, with the lanterns lit when the electricity was out, at church. Singing the same Merle Haggard song over and over again in the car, teaching it to the gymnastic carpool when I was little. Suddenly it seemed like the whole gymnastics team was singing "Mama Tried." Or being in the stairwell at Warren Wilson College, belting spirituals, trying to sing harmony, being buoyed by the strength of my voice in the echo. When I've traveled to foreign countries, I've learned new songs and found a depth to my understanding of myself and my own culture in sharing songs. In Lesotho, in Southern Africa, in a home stay, my family told me that I sounded like Dolly Parton. I sang for them, they taught me beautiful songs that still sit easy in my heart. In a small dirt floored kitchen in India, a young boy sang with such beauty as a friend and I ate chapattis, rain on the roof overhead. I am influenced by the weirdness of being a person who sings wherever she goes. I know it is not normal, and there's no other way I'd rather be.
Sounds Like: People seem to think I sound like Janis Joplin, or remind them of Tracy Chapman. They might compare my voice to Norah Jones or Bonnie Raitt. Lord knows. I hope I sound like Eliza Lynn.
Record Label: Civility Records