“Traces,” Lizzy’s debut album, is an intimate collection of acoustic songs.

For all you Chapel Hillians: we are selling our CDs at CD Alley on Franklin St. You can walk in there and pick one up for 12 smackeroos.  You can also get them at Harry’s at Whitecross on 54, the Saxapahaw General Store in (you guessed it) Saxapahaw and at the Poplar Knight Spot in Aberdeen.

INTERNATIONAL? Click the “donate” button below.  CDs are $12 US each, plus the shipping charge of $12.78 US (total of $24.78).  You can also order the album on iTunes–just search for “Lizzy Ross.”

If you’d like to donate more, just click the link below. We’ll e-mail you ASAP to ask how many CDs you would like!

Thanks for listening and supporting the music! I’m independently produced, so every CD bought helps me get closer to more recording. Plus, I can be a not-so-starving artist….

Post-swimming... in her natural habitat.

Lizzy Ross was born and raised in Annapolis, MD, where she learned to play guitar and began writing songs.  Her performing talent really began to shine while she studied music and philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill. While in school, she and two other UNC students hooked up as “Lafcadio” to enter a band competition hosted by Vinyl Records. They won the competition within a week of forming, began performing regularly at local venues, and released a critically acclaimed EP in January 2009.

After her success with Lafcadio, Lizzy decided to extend into solo performance. Her fans praise her songwriting as insightful beyond her twenty-two years, and are always struck by the intensity and passion of her live performance. She is known for blending the flavors of singers like Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell to create a smooth, strong, and soulful sound. Lizzy has been featured on WRAL-TV, as well as WKNC and WXYC radio. In June 2010, Lizzy released her first full-length solo album, “Traces.”  This intimate, acoustic collection of original songs has been called “the perfect antidote to clear away the muggy humidity of a North Carolina summer day.” (Norris, the Daily TarHeel).  She performs regularly in North Carolina’s triangle area, both solo and with her band.

The band includes Dylan Shrader on lead guitar, Casey Toll on upright bass, and Drew Smith on percussion. Both Shrader and Smith hail from the Asheville area, while Toll comes from Wilmington, NC. Shrader’s training in bluegrass, combined with Smith and Toll’s formal jazz education, creates uniquely soulful music with hints of rock, jazz and blues. Layered against Lizzy’s powerful voice and the folky textures of the songs themselves, the band’s musical style is intelligent, danceable, and unique.

Dylan and I will be offering acoustic serenades from 7 to 10 p.m. at Bocci and Nantucket Gril in Durham this Saturday.  We’ll be on the patio between two great restaurants, located at Sutton Station in Durham, 1/2 mile north of the Interstate 40 and Fayetteville Road interchange (Exit 276) and just south of Woodcroft Parkway.

We’ll have CDs on hand and lots of good songs!  Come out to hear some new material and keep us company.
Next weekend the whole band is up in Blacksburg VA, Thomas WV, and Charlottesville VA – come on out and see us if you’re around!

Also, check out this picture of us playing on the ocean in Carolina Beach, NC.  Thanks to all the folks who joined us!

love,

Lizzy

-Lizzy

Two great FREE shows this weekend (holy cow!).  We’re playing on Friday at Woody’s at City Market in Raleigh from 11 pm to 2, and on Saturday at SAXAPAHAW from 6 to 8!  For me, Saxapahaw is the show I’ve been most excited about all summer.  I love this beautiful place on the Haw River.  It’s got the best food I’ve ever had from a gas station, not to mention the farmers’ market and games of capture the flag (!?).  Both shows are free, so come on out and play with us!

For those of you who haven’t yet picked up a CD, its available on iTunes and on www.lizzy.net.  You can also buy it through our reverbnation site.

As always, thanks for listening.

Much love,

Lizzy

You gotta be mean to get this good.

Casey Toll grew up in Wilmington NC listening to his parents’ record collection and a few country ballads relayed by Ppaw during family gatherings.  He started playing piano at 6, switched to guitar, clarinet, bass, then back and forth a few times.  From middle school on his time was spent in a mess of musical projects : catholic school punk rock band, high school bar band, school concert band, school orchestra, county and state orchestras… After high school Casey decided to move to the closest thriving music scene he had grown up reading, hearing, and dreaming about : Chapel Hill.

It was in school at UNC that Casey studied jazz and made the decision to try and make himself feel at home with the upright bass. After four years and a music degree Casey decided to spend some time taking advantage of whatever musical opportunities in the area came his way – mostly recording and performing. It was in this period that Casey made the acquaitance of Dylan (when he was faking bluegrass tunes) and Liz (when he was faking her tunes). Casey knew that their energy, talent and enthusiasm was something he wanted to be around.  He jumped on board in November of 2009 and is excited about continuing to be a part of this music and these people.  The band returns his enthusiasm–we are lucky to be in the company of such a capable musician and good friend!

Dylan's concentration face

Dylan Shrader’s love for guitar developed from unlikely sources of inspiration.  He first picked up the guitar at age twelve.  The Chicago and Delta Blues were early influences, and his first public performance was at a blues jam in West Asheville.

In college at UNC-Chapel Hill, Dylan studied political science, Asian studies, creative writing, and Hindi. It was during a semester abroad in India, in the deserts of Rajasthan known colloquially and cheerfully as Marwar (the Land of Death), that Dylan developed the resolve to become a bluegrass guitarist.

Back on American soil, Dylan honed his chops in the picking circles of Western North Carolina.  He traveled to all the famous jams in the area, learning new tunes and immersing himself in the traditional music of the Appalachians. After graduating college, he spent months in an isolated cabin in the high country of NC, not planning to leave until he was as good as Tony Rice.  Thankfully, Lizzy Ross brought him out of his hermitage by inviting him off the mountain to start a band. In addition to acoustic and electric guitar, Dylan plays old-time fiddle and writes original songs.

Keeping the BEAT!

Drew Smith keeps the rhythm going in the Lizzy Ross Band.  He is a wonderful addition to our group, and we feel lucky to have him! More info TBA.

Lizzy Ross’ Traces
(self-released)
by Andrew Ritchey

Singing for Lafcadio, Lizzy Ross belted indie twang with disregard for whomever her stagecoach ran over. Drums and electric guitar spurred her forward. But on Traces, her solo debut, Ross reins everything, creating a quiet ode to youth and love. Besides the occasional bass or percussion backdrop, it’s just her and her acoustic. Picked guitar patterns provide motifs for extended verses that largely forgo choruses, emphasizing stories and emotion rather than typical song structures.

She visits a boyfriend’s hometown in “Not Yet” and looks at an old photo. “I can see a beard that’s making threats of growing in,” she sings, “but not yet.” Whether discovering the beginnings of love or stealing a husband, as on “Wedding Cake,” Ross creates intimacy with details and near-whispers. She can be sultry or innocent, despondent or hopeful. Throughout, though, her voice jumps octaves and bursts into extended runs, barely containing some hidden joy of youth or the excitement of uncertainty. During “Needle and Thread,” Ross ventures to “stitch together threadbare hearts/ make a new love from old parts.” In Traces, love is wonderful and cruel and steadfast and elusive, and Ross wants all of those pieces.