Lillie Mae & Family Release New Album 'Festival Eyes'

Lillie Mae & Family have released the acclaimed singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist’s eagerly awaited new album Festival Eyes, out now via S || C Records. Today’s release is accompanied by an official music video for the title track, which is streaming now at YouTube.

Recorded in Dallas, TX with producer Beau Bedford (Paul Cauthen, Tanner Usrey, Orville Peck), Festival Eyes will be supported by a busy live schedule, which includes return to the high seas on the upcoming Outlaw Country Cruise 8, sailing February 4-10, 2024 from Miami, FL to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and San Juan, Puerto Rico aboard Norwegian Pearl. For updates and additional information, please visit lilliemaemusic.com.

Lillie Mae’s first new album in more than four years, Festival Eyes was first heralded this spring with the Nashville-based artist’s passionate rendition of Neil Young’s classic “Razor Love.” An official music video, directed by Jace Kartye, is streaming now on YouTube.

Inspired in part by Lillie Mae’s mother’s maiden name of Razor, the emotionally charged track – which features backing by her siblings, Frank Carter Rische (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmony vocals) and Scarlett Rische (acoustic mandolin), along with husband Craig Smith (electric guitar, B-bender guitar), producer Bedford (keys, synth, guitar, Moog), Aaron Goodrich (drums, percussion), and Geoffrey Muller (electric bass) – continues a remarkable body of work begun with her acclaimed 2017 debut album, Forever and Then Some (produced by 12x Grammy Award-winner Jack White), and its 2019 follow-up, Other Girls (produced by 8x Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb), both released on Third Man Records.

Lillie Mae has been singing and playing since she could stand on her own two feet, performing with her family band at churches, fairs, festivals and theme parks across the country. In 2012, she joined Jack White’s all-female touring and recording combo, The Peacocks, playing fiddle and mandolin.

The two musicians formed an immediate kinship, both being the youngest children of large families and instrumental polymaths. White was similarly appreciative of Lillie Mae’s songwriting, producing Forever and Then Some at his Third Man Studios in their mutual home city of Nashville. She swiftly followed up with 2019’s Other Girls, pushing her sound into different shapes with superstar producer Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell) at the helm.

“On her second album, the Nashville spitfire flits easily between country, bluegrass, and rock,” raved Pitchfork, noting Lillie Mae’s willingness to merge to myriad strains of Americana to present an authentically original vision all her own. Now, with the premiere of “Razor Love” and the promise of more new music to come, Lillie Mae once again affirms herself as a gifted and heartfelt musical storyteller, marked by remarkable authenticity, resourcefulness, and passion. 

Photo Credit: Misa Arriaga