Lissie is a Rock Island, IL-born and based singer/songwriter, whose third full-length effort My Wild West thematically is a tribute to a her time in California, in which she arrived as a fresh-faced, passionate singer/songwriter, who returned to her hometown as a wiser more self-assured person an artist — and in some way, the album represents a both a return to the artist’s roots and a new beginning; in fact, the album’s bookend songs “Hollywood” and “Ojai” purportedly point to the extremes of her decade in California — the ups and downs of the former and the “stability, joy and peace” of the later. Interestingly, the album was released to commercial success and massive radio airplay — the album hit number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, Top 10 on the Independent Album chart, and number 16 on the UK Albums chart.
Album single “Wild West” has built up quite a bit of buzz, especially after the Rock Island, IL-based artist appeared, performing a special rendition of the song on Twin Peaks and will be available on the Twin Peaks Soundtrack slated for release in September; but as soon as you hear the song you’ll see why it’s garnered such attention — it’s a slow-burning track that features Lissie’s pop belter vocals within a sparse arrangement of twangy guitar, stomping percussion and a soaring hook but under-pinning the song is a tale of resilience and perseverance at all odds.
Interestingly enough, in a similar fashion to the original video for “Wild West” which was filmed by and features the adventures of 4 kids that Lissie’s videographer knew, the video for the Twin Peaks version was filmed by 14 year old, aspiring filmmaker Finn Deen-Lester. As Lissie explains of the Twin Peaks version video, “My friend’s teenage son takes photos & makes videos in NE Iowa so I approached him to create a video of his own imagination. He didn’t know what it was for & took to the country with 3 friends & a camera! I am so in awe of his young talent & eye and really enjoy this kind of collaboration!”
