Lydia Loveless | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Firebrand alt-country singer Lydia Loveless combines the honky tonk sound and style of classic country stars like Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline with the no-quarter attitude and spunk of punk rock divas such as Exene Cervenka and Carla Bozulich. Lydia Loveless was born in Coschocton, Ohio in 1990; she was raised on a farm, but her father was also a music fan who booked bands at a local bar, and Lydia became accustomed early on to seeing bands play and discovering an out-of-town act asleep on the living-room floor in the morning. By the time Loveless was 13, she had taken up songwriting and was doing shows with local bands, playing a combination of rootsy country and punk-influenced rock & roll. After relocating to Columbus, Ohio, Loveless fronted a pop/rock band with her sisters called Carson Drew, but the combo broke up not long after the release of their 2006 album, Under the Table, and Loveless began concentrating on her solo career, forming a backing band with her dad on drums. In 2010, Loveless self-released her first solo album, The Only Man, which earned her rave reviews from the alt-country music media, and as she began work on a follow-up EP, she was contacted by respected insurgent country label Bloodshot Records, which promptly signed Loveless to a record deal. At the labels behest, Loveless expanded the EP to an album, and her first Bloodshot release, Indestructible Machine, was released in September 2011. After the album arrived in stores, Loveless and her band hit the road hard, touring extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. In 2013, Loveless began writing material for a third album, but shortly after the sessions for the full-length were completed, Loveless had a burst of inspiration that led to her writing and recording a hard-rocking five-song EP about the ups and downs of relationships. Titled Boy Crazy, the EP was released as a stopgap in late 2013, while the album, the confident and eclectic Somewhere Else, appeared in February 2014. Somewhere Else received enthusiastic reviews, and writer and punk rock icon Richard Hell said of Loveless, "Lydia is the only singer/songwriter the power of whose music and voice consistently makes me cry." Filmmaker Gorman Bechard began work on a documentary about her life and music, Who Is Lydia Loveless?, which debuted on the film festival circuit in the fall of 2016. And in August 2016, Loveless released her much-anticipated fourth album, Real. In October 2017, Bloodshot reissued the Boy Crazy EP in a new edition including tracks from three non-LP singles. The collection was titled Boy Crazy and Single(s). | ||
 | Album: 1 of 9 Title: The Only Man Released: 2010-03-02 Tracks: 10 Duration: 33:12 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Always Lose (03:27) 2 Paid (03:40) 3 Girls Suck (02:48) 4 Things I Do (02:37) 5 Back on the Bottle (03:43) 6 Grant Me My Man (04:21) 7 Wishing on Her Star (03:56) 8 The Only Man (03:24) 9 Your Man (03:21) 10 Let Me Leave (01:55) |
 | Album: 2 of 9 Title: Indestructible Machine Released: 2011-09-13 Tracks: 9 Duration: 38:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Bad Way to Go (02:59) 2 Cant Change Me (04:14) 3 More Like Them (05:19) 4 How Many Women (03:44) 5 Jesus Was a Wino (03:36) 6 Steve Earle (04:28) 7 Learn to Say No (04:14) 8 Do Right (03:51) 9 Crazy (05:52) |
| Indestructible Machine : Allmusic album Review : If youre someone who seeks out the place where punk rock, country music, crafted songwriting, and raw, immediate, visceral garagey rock & roll meet, look no further than Indestructible Machine, the Bloodshot debut of Lydia Loveless. The 21-year-old Ohioan is the product of a rock & roll drummer daddy (who plays in her band), a Loretta Lynn-worshiping momma, and a boyfriend who hipped her to country musics outlaws and the latter-day XXX-brand country of Hank III, Shooter Jennings, etc. Indestructible Machine reflects all this, but Loveless is more than the sum of her influences: her writing and singing talents are in their own class. She has a big throaty voice that recalls Neko Cases at first blush, but Loveless is bigger, richer, more expressive -- her singing owes more to singers Lynn and Jeannie C. Riley. Shes backed by a bona fide careening country sextet with lead guitarist Todd May, banjo boss Rob Woodruff, pedal steel player Barry Hensley, fiddler Adrian Jusdanis, Ben Lamb on bass, and dad Parker Chandler on skins. The set kicks off at 100 miles per with "Bad Way to Go." The banjo and guitar struggle for dominance, the snare and kick drums skitter at a gallop, and Loveless wails atop a charging bassline. Her colorful language is filled with double and triple entendres and images of a seedy America reflected in the rear-view mirror. "Cant Change Me" is a feminist anthem that stays on electrical overload but in a minor key. "How Many Women" is a straight-up honky tonk weeper. "Jesus Was a Wino" is a rockin triple-time 2-step that celebrates the Son of Gods empathy for the struggling human race. The song "Steve Earle" simply has to be heard to be believed; its hysterically funny. If the Rolling Stones had ever recorded with the young Emmylou Harris when she was part of Gram Parsons band, it might have sounded similar to "Learn to Say No," one of the finest moments on the record. "Do Right," with its NASCAR-fueled bluegrass tempo and dueling banjo and guitars, is an unapologetic paean to the consequences of substance abuse. "Crazy" is a spare country lust song worthy of Charles Bukowski. Lydia Loveless Indestructible Machine possesses a classicists grip of country, a rock & roll sense of swagger, and the keen eye of a songwriter twice her age. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 9 Title: Boy Crazy Released: 2013-11-05 Tracks: 5 Duration: 19:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 All I Know (04:25) 2 All the Time (03:05) 3 Lover’s Spat (03:19) 4 Boy Crazy (04:23) 5 The Water (04:31) |
 | Album: 4 of 9 Title: Somewhere Else Released: 2014-02-18 Tracks: 10 Duration: 42:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Really Wanna See You (03:56) 2 Wine Lips (03:42) 3 Chris Issak (04:33) 4 To Love Somebody (04:38) 5 Hurts So Bad (03:33) 6 Head (04:21) 7 Verlaine Shot Rimbaud (04:38) 8 Somewhere Else (05:24) 9 Everything’s Gone (04:42) 10 They Don’t Know (02:50) |
| Somewhere Else : Allmusic album Review : Judging from Lydia Loveless second album for Bloodshot, 2014s Somewhere Else, relationships dont come easy for her. She falls for married men, she thinks a lot about her old boyfriends, shes lonely, shes needy, she gets lust mixed up with love (and vice versa), and she wants the sort of grand-scale romance that doesnt work in real life. In short, shes a twenty-something woman who lives in the real world (it doesnt get much more real than Columbus, Ohio) and has developed an uncanny ability to talk about matters of the heart and soul with a lyrical voice thats graceful, keenly observed, and brutally honest. Loveless singing is just as outstanding as her songcraft -- she can move from sweet country and canny pop to fierce, Stones-style rock & roll at the drop of a hat and nail it at every turn -- and as good as 2011s Indestructible Machine and the 2013 EP Boy Crazy were, Somewhere Else feels like the point where shes really mastered the recording studio. The production by Loveless and Joe Viers is subtle but captures the full range of Loveless moods and ideas, and her interaction with her band is intuitive in the best way; she sings with the musicians, not over them. And while the tone of the songs on Somewhere Else is often confessional, she makes the details feel powerfully authentic and deeply felt; theres no shock value in Loveless doing cocaine to get a man off her mind in "Really Wanna See You" or telling her lover what she wants and needs in "Head," theres just the clear, unashamed sound of someone laying her life bare for us, and the effect is liberating. (And Kirsty MacColls "They Dont Know" is a pretty inspired choice for a cover.) At the age of 23, Loveless is still young enough to be fearless, but shes matured enough as an artist to make something truly special out of her stories, and Somewhere Else confirms shes the most strikingly accomplished woman to emerge in roots rock since Neko Case. Its anyones guess where Loveless will go from here, but shes already made an album thats genuinely dazzling, and Somewhere Else sounds like a real contender for best album of 2014. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 9 Title: Folkadelphia Session 9/25/2014 Released: 2015-07-23 Tracks: 6 Duration: 25:57 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 To Love Somebody (04:54) 2 Boy Crazy (03:52) 3 Falling Out of Love (02:54) 4 Really Wanna See You (04:48) 5 Come Over (04:01) 6 Steve Earle (05:25) |
 | Album: 6 of 9 Title: Real Released: 2016-08-19 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Same to You (03:54) 2 Longer (03:56) 3 More Than Ever (03:34) 4 Heaven (04:37) 5 Out on Love (03:49) 6 Midwestern Guys (03:03) 7 Bilbao (04:50) 8 European (04:47) 9 Clumps (02:00) 10 Real (04:11) |
| Real : Allmusic album Review : If any artist can get away with calling an album Real, its Lydia Loveless -- from her earliest work, her songs have always been smart but utterly fearless in their honesty about whats happening in her head, heart, and soul. 2016s Real is Loveless fourth album, and its her most mature and polished bit of studio craft to date. While most of Loveless music has walked a line between honky tonk country and raucous rock & roll, Real finds taking a few steps back from her twangy roots and embracing a more pop-oriented sound that still puts the emphasis on guitars but boasts a cool sheen thats decidedly different than her sound on Boy Crazy or Somewhere Else. Without sounding like shes compromised herself in the least, Real offers us a Lydia Loveless who could possibly get on the radio with numbers like "Heaven" and "Same to You," songs that could likely connect with fans of Taylor Swift (the former) or Kelly Clarkson (the latter) if they ever heard them. Real is a less raucous and more measured album from Loveless, but a quick scan of the lyrics reveals shes no less bold and passionate than shes ever been, especially as she discusses the clueless creepiness of Midwestern guys, the sometimes untrustworthy call of her own heart, the struggle to find a lover who honestly understands her, and the trickier matter of understanding herself and the world in which she lives. (And old fans shouldnt fret, tracks like "European" and the title cut are still steeped in country influences.) Loveless is a master lyricist, articulate and expressive without seeming forced or hitting a false note, and her vocals on Real are superb, less the work of a belter but still as passionate and eloquent as you could hope for. Anyone who wasnt convinced that Lydia Loveless is a major artist by Somewhere Else should make a point of giving Real a listen -- at her best, shes quite simply as good and as brave a singer and songwriter as anyone working today, and Real finds her at the top of her game. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 9 Title: Boy Crazy and Single(s) Released: 2017-10-13 Tracks: 11 Duration: 41:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 All I Know (04:25) 2 All the Time (03:05) 3 Lover’s Spat (03:19) 4 Boy Crazy (04:23) 5 The Water (04:31) 6 Mile High (04:03) 7 Blind (03:59) 8 Come Over (03:44) 9 Fallling Out of Love With You (02:41) 10 I Would Die 4 U (04:06) 11 Alison (02:51) |
 | Album: 8 of 9 Title: Live From the Documentary Who Is Lydia Loveless? Released: 2017-11-24 Tracks: 6 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Out on Love (?) 2 More Like Them (?) 3 Desire (?) 4 Really Wanna See You Again (?) 5 Heaven (?) 6 Boy Crazy (?) |
 | Album: 9 of 9 Title: Folkadelphia Session 11/04/2017 Released: 2017-12-14 Tracks: 4 Duration: 13:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 If You Were Mine (03:29) 2 Out of Love (03:13) 3 Longer (03:44) 4 More Than Ever (03:18) |