Alabama Singer
Lisa Mills Says I’m Changing on New CD Coming Oct. 21 from Her MillsBluz
Record Label
MOBILE, AL – Blues, roots and gospel singer Lisa Mills
announces an October 21 release date for her new CD, I’m Changing,
on her MillsBluz record label, distributed nationally by Burnside Distribution.
I’m Changing was recorded primarily at Back Door studios in Mobile
and was produced by Lisa Mills and Ian Jennings. The album showcases Mills
backed by an impressive cast of musicians including guitarist Rick Hirsch and
drummer T. K. Lively of Wet Willie fame, as well as guitarist Corky Hughes (Bo
Diddley, Black Oak Arkansas). Bassist Ian Jennings has a host of world-class
recording credentials, including work on albums with Jeff Beck (Crazy Legs),
several albums with Van Morrison and Tom Jones, plus appearances with Robert
Plant and Jimmy Page. Ian was also named Britain's best bassist last year by one
of the UK’s top blues magazines.
Lisa Mills is a Mississippi
native who currently lives in Mobile, Alabama. Her last CD, Tempered in
Fire, was released in 2010 and won her universal acclaim for its rootsy
mix of blues, country and gospel sounds powered by her incredibly soulful voice.
UK writer Grahame Rhodes described her as “a
full-throated female Otis Redding, with some Muscle Shoals soul and Nashville
country touches for good measure.” Another reviewer praised her “unique vocal
ability to make one feel the good times and bad times in every song,” comparing
her to Lucinda Williams.
As its
title implies, I’m Changing is actually a re-constructed new
version of tracks Lisa originally recorded and released in 2005, with the added
benefit of the more pure expression of her artistic desires and abilities.
Perhaps most importantly, Lisa was able to put the new project in the hands of
groundbreaking producer Trina Shoemaker, the first woman to win the Grammy Award
for album engineering, having worked her magic on sessions with Sheryl Crow,
Steven Curtis Chapman, the Dixie Chicks and Indigo Girls. Under Shoemaker’s
mixing mojo, I’m Changing became an entirely new animal from its
predecessor, and the results are explosive.
The
even-dozen tracks on the new CD include 10 originals, plus scintillating covers
of the Rev. Robert Wilkins’ “Wish I was in Heaven (Sittin’ Down)” and the Jimi
Hendrix classic, ”Little Wing,” which undergoes an amazing transformation
courtesy of Mills’ soulful vocal attack.
“There are
two fully re-recorded tracks on the album,” says Lisa: ‘Take My Troubles and
Tell Me’ and three new songs: ‘Rain in the Summertime,’ ‘I Don't Want to be
Happy’ and ‘Eyes So Blue.’ All of these tracks are original
songs.”
She also
admits that during the original 2005 sessions of I'm Changing, she
was having a terrible time with her voice and thought she’d have to re-record
just about everything for the new release. “But once Trina got started on the
mixing,” she adds, “it became apparent that the vocals were actually really good
and so the only thing I re-sang was one phrase in ‘Little Wing’ and the two
tracks I had recorded in Los Angeles – ‘Tell Me’ and ‘Take My Troubles.’ These
were recorded entirely in the original Mobile, Alabama studio. Also, I went
back and used an original vocal done in Mobile instead of a take I tracked in
L.A.”
Lisa’s
Gulf Coast background brings a hotbed of Southern musical influences that have
informed her sound from the get-go. She often sings the blues – but to call her
a blues singer would be to limit her potential audience reach. “I tend to think of myself more as a bit of a
blue-eyed-soul singer armed with a guitar,” says Mills. “If anything, I would
refer to what I do as American Southern roots music.” And that includes
straight-up gospel, as she does in daringly a cappella fashion on “Tell
Me.”
Prior
to going her own way, Lisa toured with Big Brother & The Holding Company,
singing the songs of one of rock’s most revered vocalists, and her understanding
of Janis Joplin’s gifts is far more insightful than the superficial norm. One
listen to the fragile balance of vulnerability and indomitability she brings to
“Better Than This” will bear this out.
Lisa
Mills will tour both in the U.S and in Europe to support I’m
Changing.
