Lydia Luce may well be classically trained on the viola but her path has been far from predictable having released her first EP, The Tides, in 2015, and hit the road as a fiddle player for Sam Outlaw. As you can hear below, she can also write great songs. The tumultuous opening on Helen serves as a reminder that the Helen referred to is Mt. St. Helens – inspired by the iconic story of Harry R. Truman, who refused to leave the mountain when it was going to explode. The airy notes and gentle piano offer the perfect canvas for the telling of a deeper story…
Lydia explains:
“Helen was written with my friend Skylar Wilson during a period of time when I was interested in volcanos and the captivating beauty of the Northwest. I spent a good amount of time touring around the Oregon/Washington area and camping/hiking when I could around Mt Rainier and Mt. Hood. On the long drives, I’d study up on my volcano knowledge. There is a pretty iconic story of a stubborn man named Harry R. Truman who lived on Mt St. Helens and refused to leave the mountain when it was going to explode. Much like the captain of a sinking ship he went down with the mountain. In his words, ‘If the mountain goes, I’m going with it.’
“The song is a bit of an extension of this story, Truman is singing to Helen whom he loves but has been beaten down by time and time again. He is perpetually drawn to the beauty of the destruction she brings.”
About Lydia Luce
There are some artists literally born to make music. Lydia Luce is such an artist. Her mother, a gifted organ and piano player, conducted her own symphony orchestra. Her brother, a cellist. For Luce, her instrument of choice was viola; later adding guitar to her set of prodigious talents. By age 13 she was performing with her mother’s South Florida-area orchestra, Ars Flores.
“My mom introduced my brother and me into to a world of classical music and I’m grateful for it,” Luce says. “It guided my desire to create music of my own.”
She studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., and continued on to a master’s degree in viola performance from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Making her home now in Nashville, Tenn., the folk singer-songwriter finds inspiration in combining her accomplished formal education and plentiful session work as a studio musician with the personal and emotional content of family, love, and life experience.
“The record was written after moving from Los Angeles to Nashville. Some of the songs are reflections of my time out west and the unbelievable nature that I miss,” says Luce. “I have spent a lot of time in beautiful places with people that I love and my mind often wanders to those memories and relationships.”
Her first EP, The Tides, landed in 2015. She followed that debut with a finish as finalist in the 2016 Rocky Mountain Folk Fest songwriting competition and hit the road as a fiddle player for Sam Outlaw. In 2017, Luce graced the stages of Merlefest and Americana Fest, as well touring as an opening artist for singer-songwriter Peter Bradley Adams. Currently, she is prepping the release of her latest single, “Sausalito,” from her forthcoming LP, collaborating in Nashville with Jordan Lehning and Skylar Wilson.
“This record feels like the fruit of a few discoveries I made last year. I’d put out my first EP and only just started to focus on writing. Last year I started making some sense out of the new tunes,” says Luce. “Playing strings has been a huge part of my life. On this album, I got to record viola and guitar on my tunes with people that I truly admire. I’m very proud of what we’ve created.”
Find out more here: https://www.lydialuce.com/
Photo Credit: Fairlight Hubbard and Megan Thompson Fitchuk