Liz Brasher Announces West Coast Tour with The Zombies + Debut EP OUTCAST Out Now
By: Macon Prickett May. 21, 2018
Liz Brasher has just finished up a wildly successful stint on the West Coast in the midst of her 44-date cross country run and is excited to announce she will be heading back in the fall for a tour with the venerable, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees, The Zombies in September. More information on that tour can be found here.
Liz Brasher Opening for The Zombies
9/07 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
9/08 - Petaluma, CA @ Mystic Theatre
9/10 - West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour
9/17 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
9/18 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
9/07 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
9/08 - Petaluma, CA @ Mystic Theatre
9/10 - West Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour
9/17 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
9/18 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Liz Brasher's debut EP for Fat Possum Records, Outcast, sees this new fiery vocalist and band leader digging into her past and present to create music that is as timeless as it is refreshing. It's a diverse sound rooted in the influence of Brasher's two homes: her adopted hometown of Memphis; and her childhood stomping grounds in rural North Carolina, where she was raised in a musical, multi-ethnic household.
NPR Music premiered Brasher's debut EP calling hers a "singular sound...coupled with abundant inherent talent" and describing her genre spanning work, as like "turning a prism to behold all the colors of refracted light." Brasher and her soul power trio are currently in the middle of a 44-date, coast to coast, tour that started April 27th with The Delta Saints at the Double Decker Arts Fest in Oxford, MS, and has so far included an appearance at Shaky Knees Festival with an upcoming show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC with Red Wanting Blue and an official showcase slot at AmericanaFest in Nashville. Liz Brasher has been lauded by Rolling Stone Country as an artist you need to know saying she sounds like "Memphis soul meets garage rock, marinated in gospel and the vocal fury of Florence Welch".
Brasher's release showcases not only her robust voice, but her guitar playing and songwriting chops, as well. Inspired by everyone from Pops Staples to surf guitar icons The Ventures, she approaches her electric guitar from a melodic, moody perspective, often cranking up the tremolo and reverb for big, bold effect. Elsewhere, she attacks the instrument with rhythmic stabs, underscoring her own melodies with blasts of chugging soul. Meanwhile, her lyrics tackle everything from Biblical themes to heartbreak, spinning stories that are as evocative and wide-ranging as her musical influences themselves.
"I don't like rules, and I don't like to be put into a box," says the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader. "I make music that's garage rock meets the Delta blues meets gospel meets soul. It's southern music - my version of southern music."
After just releasing two songs, "Cold Baby" and "Painted Image", Brasher garnered the attention of NPR Music who chose her to be one of their Slingshot artists to watch for 2018. Brasher stormed the Stubb's Stage at NPR's official SXSW party, which saw her lauded by both Rolling Stone and NPR.
"Brasher's voice seems to come from many places and eras at once, from early soul and girl groups to modern pop" - NPR's Weekend Edition
"...driven by pure R&B fury, the Memphis native fronts a rare entity: a soul power trio." - Rolling Stone
"Brasher's strain of soul, is one that's flush with lyrical nods to Biblical images, Rubber Soul harmonies and a gruff reverence to its southern roots" - Billboard
""Body Of Mine" recalls the girl-group thing, but somehow feels totally contemporary, too - it delivers power and frailty in equal measure" - NPR Music
The title track from the EP, "Outcast", draws from the well of Memphis' deep rock and roll history. Clocking in at under 3 minutes "Outcast" is a searing, fuzzed out garage track Brasher says she wrote "while looking at different periods in my life where even within sub-groups of the "counter-culture" I haven't fit in. I've always been on the fringes. Being Dominican-Italian and growing up in the south as a daughter of immigrants, I never had a place in a set group, genre, or ethnicity. That bothered me for a long time but as I grew as an artist I realized it's actually what made me unique. The song poses the rhetorical questions of what it says about human nature to not accept others, and what it says about people who find the strength not to care. In the end, you're always an outcast until you're not. You can make your own category, but it's only because you find the courage to go outside of yourself and the accepted norm to do something completely different."
Fat Possum Records, the venerable Oxford, MS label founded in 1991 by Matthew Johnson, gained instant recognition with albums by Mississippi bluesmen Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. One of the most diverse labels around, Fat Possum is also the home to The Black Keys, Al Green, Townes Van Zandt, Spiritualized, The Walkmen, Wavves, Melody's Echo Chamber, Soccer Mommy, The Districts and more.
Liz Brasher Tour Dates
05/22 - Bozeman, MT @ Filling Station*
05/23 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Rye*
05/24 - Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre*
05/25 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown*
05/26 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry*
05/30 - Nashville, TN @ City Winery*
05/31 - St Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill - Duck Room*
06/1 - Des Moines, IA @ Wooly's*
06/6 - Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark*
06/7 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Hall*
06/8 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall*
06/14 - Charleston, SC @ Charleston Pour House*
06/15 - Hilton Head Island, SC @ Rooftop Bar at Poseidon*
06/17 - Atlanta, GA @ City Winery*
06/19 - Washington DC @ City Winery*
06/20 - Pawling, NY @ Daryl's House*
06/21 - Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theater*
06/22 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom*
06/24 - Holyoke, MA @ Iron Horse*
06/25 - Boston, MA @ City Winery*
06/28 - Chicago, IL @ City Winery*
06/29 - Toledo, OH @ Civic Music Hall*
06/30 - Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue*
* w/ Red Wanting Blue
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