The Uncarved Blog

I heard an interview this week (May 8, 2019) on Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa with Charity Nebbe. She spoke with singer/songwriter Lissie. During the conversation her connections to Twin Peaks, Fairfield and TM came up. Listen to Singer Lissie On Ditching The West Coast For Life On An Iowa Farm.

I had never heard of her and was impressed with her powerful voice and candid nature. She can sometimes sound like Stevie Nicks or Adele. Listen to this Fleetwood Mac cover of Dreams and you’ll understand why.

Around 9 minutes in she talks about a peace she found in Mt. Pleasant at her great-grandmother’s funeral. She carried it with her to California and always came back to visit family. Then she says, “I went to Fairfield and took a TM course, Transcendental Meditation.” We checked and verified that Lissie had learned TM in June 2014.

Lissie says the same thing in a video with this Des Moines Register article from Aug. 15, 2017: An Iowa musician was featured on one of this summer’s favorite TV shows. They’re referring to Twin Peaks.

They embed the video from Oct. 11, 2016: Folk musician Lissie escapes back home to Midwest. After leaving the Quad Cities area for the fast-paced lifestyle in Los Angeles, Folk-style musician Lissie discovered an Iowa farm was better for her soul than the fast lanes of Southern California.

Lissie says: “I spent my time growing up in Iowa. I had this kind of romanticized dream or idea that some day I’ll have a farm in Iowa. I visited the Bridges of Madison County. My mom and I took a road trip and we went to John Wayne’s house. You know, like I’ve done some things in Iowa. I’ve been to Fairfield to learn Transcendental Meditation. And I’ve just always had this soft spot for Iowa.”

Lissie identifies as a Midwesterner from the Heartland and says how much she loves Iowa, describing all the reasons why. It’s where her heart belongs. Looks like she found her roots and is at peace with herself.

I mentioned this to Erin Skipper (The Light That Seeks You). She said, “David Lynch is a fan and had her be a Roadhouse performer on Twin Peaks.”

Dean Hurley, the show’s music director, and a collaborator since 2005, said she “is an incredibly emotive performer who completely embodies her music and gives everything. Lissie was definitely one of the acts that David wanted involved from the beginning. He’s been a big fan of hers for years and discovered her by a series of videos she posted on YouTube covering Lady Gaga, Metallica, etc.” (See others including Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan.)

In that interview, The Music of Twin Peaks: The Return: Lissie, Dean further explains what David looks for in a musical performance when realizing his ideas for the series. He blends intense music, emotion and acting, so the power of Lissie’s music fulfills that for him.

He said “David doesn’t attend a lot of concerts, but when she came through LA years back, he wanted to go. I can’t emphasize how rare that is for him to want to go out to a show.”

He added, “An artist like Lissie thrives in the live performance arena, she’s one of these people that almost can’t be contained on a recording because she’s the fullest realization of herself live.”

Lissie was invited to sing a certain song to close out Part 14 of Season 3, but she suggested Wild West instead, which turned out to be a better fit. You can hear it on “Twin Peaks – Music From The Limited Event Series” – Track 15, Lissie – Wild West (Roadhouse Mix). Here is the Official Audio version from her new album Wild West. She posted it on her YouTube channel: Lissie – Wild West (Twin Peaks version). She posted a clip from the show on her Instagram: Lissie – Wild West – Twin Peaks: The Return.

See the Update below where Lissie explains how she and David connected, how she learned TM in Fairfield, Iowa, then went to have coffee and talk with him in LA, and ultimately received an email from him asking her if she wanted to be part of the new Twin Peaks.

I enjoyed this short video profile on iHeartRadio: Lissie – Artist Stories – Interview (2016) – Part 1 and Part 2. It starts with her intention: “I would like to be successful with my music, but it’s about more than that, it’s about, like figuring out what my purpose for being on this planet is.”

This is an interesting description from that interview: With a career that has seen her open for renowned artist Lenny Kravitz an early supporter, Tom Petty, and even been asked to perform at Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s wedding, Lissie has had a wealth of incredible experiences that have made her the confident and determined artist she is today.

This is also worth watching: Lissie On Staying True To Herself At The Patch. From Cali to Iowa: Lissie keeps it Lissie. Join her at The Patch as she performs “Ojai” and “Don’t You Give Up On Me” and talks about giving in to her ambitions, not giving them up.

Verse 2 of Ojai is pure poetry; so succinct yet says so much!

I miss the seasons, I miss the land
I miss them for reasons I don’t understand
I took it all for granted
I bloomed where I was planted

She sums up her approach: “You know, I’m not trying to do anything. I’m not trying to be cool. I’m not trying to ever have a fresh sound or a cool look for an image. I’m just singing songs about my life in the most heartfelt genuine way I can, and I’m gonna be moving on to more songs very soon. And it’s as simple as that.”

I wonder if some of these developments may have come about after she learned TM? Lissie had the courage to trust and act on her inner yearnings and is happier for it. She followed her heart and is now living her life on her own terms.

Lissie has a new album out: When I’m Alone: The Piano Retrospective: https://lissie.lnk.to/WIATW. Here’s the title song with lyrics.

Here are 3 examples of the first song on the album—Don’t You Give Up On Me—the official video with her band, a live version with her guitarist in the studios of 89.3 The Current, and on this new album as a Piano Version. Listen to her on Spotify, YouTube and VEVO.

It’d be nice if she decided to visit and play Fairfield one day. Some of us are reaching out to her. She’s on tour, so we’ll see if anything happens.

Update: Now that I’ve been finding and listening to more of her performances and interviews on YouTube, I noticed Lissie mentions again her learning TM in Fairfield, in last year’s BUILD interview, and also says it’s where Maharishi University is located in Iowa.

Further into the interview she’s asked how she got into Twin Peaks, and extends what Dean Hurley had mentioned about David Lynch going to see her in concert. “We ultimately ended up talking on the phone and he came to my show. He’s really into TM, so after I had been in Iowa to take this TM course, I had reached out, and ended up joining him at his home and drinking coffee and catching up on life. And so we just stayed in touch over the years and he’s just been very supportive and kind to me. So I think it was 2015, I got an email, ‘Hey would you want to be on the new Twin Peaks?’ So of course, like yes, that’s amazing, like this legendary status. Ya, he wanted me to be a part of it, and I performed in episode (14) for Twin Peaks!”

Further Update: A little over 7 months later I would finally get to hear Lissie perform in person. A strong supporter of Bernie Sanders, Lissie had posted on her Instagram that she was going to open for him at the Steamboat Senior Center in Burlington, Iowa on Saturday night, and then at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa the following night, Sunday, December 15, 2019.

I drove with a friend to the Ottumwa event. We sat up close to a makeshift stage in the lobby area surrounded by rows of chairs. When she sang, I felt my head tingling! Wish fulfilled. After she left the stage, I introduced myself, that I was from Fairfield, Maharishi University, mentioned her TM teacher, her meeting David Lynch, what he thought of her as an artist, and that I felt the same way.

I asked her what it was like when David invited her to perform in Twin Peaks, The Return. She was driving at the time and had to pull over to the side of the road to read his message. What an unexpected surprise!

Lissie said David’s friendship and support did a lot for her self-esteem. David’s like that. He recognizes talent when he sees it. He’s given several unknown artists a chance to shine, drawing out their best performances that would launch their careers. Naomi Watts comes to mind.

Of course in Lissie’s case, she was already a fully formed exciting artist, as Dean Hurley explained in his interview. What David did was offer her a legendary venue to perform in and be heard by a much larger audience!

None of this fame seems to have gone to Lissie’s head. She’s very down to earth, accessible. I found her to be very friendly, quite lovely actually. She introduced me to her sister Annika, who took our picture. Here is a cropped closeup of one of them. Looking forward to Lissie visiting us some time next year.

New addition: Don Henley and Lissie use the same approach to writing songs—don’t force it and wash the dishes!

Newer addition: Feb 19, 2021: @ipondrnetwork posted a short video profile of Lissie today on her farm in NE Iowa. This musician didn’t know she was missing something. Until now. Musician @lissiemusic migrated back to the Midwest after spending time in California, and was surprised to find how creatively fulfilled she felt there. The pandemic has afforded her more time to enjoy her new home and appreciate the passing of the seasons. Lissie also posted a clip from it on her Instagram. See the full 5:09 minute video here.

Winter Holiday addition: Saturday, Dec 18, 2021: A Holiday Winter’s Eve Concert with Lissie. Just in time to kick-off the season, Lissie returned to The Parkway Theater for a very special holiday performance which was filmed and will be streaming for you. Join in for a festive show of holiday classics and some of Lissie’s originals accompanied by piano. Lissie will be live-chatting during the premiere on Dec. 18 at 1pm PT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET / 9pm UK time – come say hi! If you can’t watch the premiere you can watch the stream On Demand through December 26th. Get your tickets: https://bit.ly/lissiexmas.

New Album: Sept 2022: Lissie’s new album, Carving Canyons, is out now and she’s on tour starting in Norway. While there she collaborated with Darling West for a new Family Session where they recorded a beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.”

She’s been doing interviews to promote the album. Here are a few: The XS Noize Podcast: Lissie on her new American-tinged indie folk album Carving Canyons and Voice Of America’s Border Crossings: Lissie where she also sings a few songs. VOA reaches 100 countries in multiple languages.

I follow her on Twitter (https://twitter.com/lissiemusic), which is how I discovered those podcasts. Visit her website (https://lissie.com) for tour dates, recent videos and more.

Posts on other great musical artists

Discover and enjoy the amazing soulful voice of young Angelina Jordan. It is jaw-dropping great! || My Mind by YEBBA at Sofar will blow your mind! || The hauntingly beautiful voice of Eva Cassidy || Colin Hay’s song—I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You—is so relevant during these tough times || Leonard Cohen said there’s a crack in everything—how the light gets in. It came thru him & lit up a broken humanity. || Hafiz said to leave something in the marketplace, and Jesse Winchester sure did before he left us. || The hauntingly beautiful music of Davy Spillane played on uilleann pipes and low whistle || Bill Evans’s Peace Piece is musical onomatopoeia || Bobby Hutcherson plays Bouquet with Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock at One Night with Blue Note

Tags: Charity Nebbe, David Lynch, Fairfield, iHeartRadio, Iowa, iowa public radio, ipr, Lissie, musician, singer songwriter, Talk of Iowa, the draw of the midwest, TM, Transcendental Meditation, Twin Peaks

This entry was posted on May 11, 2019 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Articles, Audios, Music, Peace, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.