Lisa Stevens got her first guitar for Christmas when she was twelve years old.  Her parents had done a good job of hiding it in the weeks prior to Christmas, and it was one of the best surprises she can remember.  Her first performance was not long after that when she performed at a talent show at her school.  She sang "Blowin' in the Wind" - a folkie from the start!  Lisa was raised listening to all kinds of music - big band, opera, jazz, show tunes, classical, and, of course folk music from around the world.  Her father had the stereo going every Saturday morning while Lisa and her brothers and sisters cleaned the house.  Folk music was always her favorite.

 

Her early influences included John Denver; Bob Dylan; Joni Mitchell; Peter, Paul, and Mary; and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  Her parents have often said they don't know how they would have survived her adolescence without her guitar.  In the many hours she spent closed in her room, she sang and played her heart out, finding songs that expressed all that she was feeling during those difficult years.  She was a thunder storm on the horizon - music was her outlet.  One afternoon, as she sat on the floor of her bedroom, it dawned on her that she should try to write her own songs - to try to tell her own story and express how she felt through the sound hole and the strings.  What followed was a love affair with songwriting that has lasted thirty years.

 

Lisa writes about her own experiences, both joyful and sad, and her songs tell the stories of a gentle soul and a tender heart.  Contemporary artists like Kate Wolf, John Gorka, Cosy Sheridan, and Nanci Griffith have helped her continue to redefine as well as refine her songwriting.  Her story is so familiar.  You will hear your own in her music.  Her first CD, Just the Way My Mama Made Me, walks across twenty years of her life and almost as many years of her songwriting.  Many of her talented friends and her two sons join her on the CD.  It is a work from the heart of a kind and loving woman.  If you listen to her CD, you will know her spirit and a big part of her story as well.

 

Music is her passion and her creativity.  Midwifery is her calling.  Lisa works full-time as a certified nurse-midwife in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains.  She delivers babies with the same love that she gives to her music.  She lives in Morganton with her two sons, Daniel and Jacob; her cat, Jericho; and her big dog, Gabe.

 

Please feel free to contact her and send your comments about her CD.  Like all of us, she is still learning.

 

Thanks for listening.  Peace to you always.