Reviews
View Interview with Lisa on Show "Beyond the Lyric"
“Bigwood is the scariest folk singer I’ve ever heard.” ~ Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
“Had the distinct pleasure of playing as part of Brian Coughlin's Songwriters In The Round at The House of Hamez Saturday night, along with Coughlin and Lisa Bigwood. The well-caffeinated audience was most forgiving as Coughlin and I played stump the band with ourselves. Bigwood, on the other hand, brought it. She was engaging, charming, and frightening. She hides a lot of subtext in her lyrics and there's an underlying current in her playing as well. Listen and you'll hear even more sting in what she doesn't play, as it stands shoulder to shoulder with the ghosts.” ~ Frank de Blase, Rochester City Newspaper
“Impressive…a superior performer and writer. Most of Lisa's songs have neat twists and turns of phrase in them: writing of the quality exhibited here is rare. ~ Vic Heyman, Sing Out!
“Your dog could count on the toes of one paw how many local musicians have a real chance to win a national audience. Lisa Bigwood is one of them.” ~ Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
“One gets the sense that the music she’s creating is an insistent force that she could no more hold back than a passerby could resist listening.” ~ Crossroads
“Soulful attitude…a commanding vocalist with a deep, sultry voice.” ~ Music Connection
“A serious performer with serious songs. Her full bodied tenor and fine fingerpicking convincingly carry the blues.” ~ The Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Her voice and style is as deep and woody as a Tennessee holler.” ~ Crossroads
“Lisa Bigwood’s albums [are] treasures.” ~ Sing Out!
“A promising debut….superbly produced.” ~ Dirty Linen
LISA BIGWOOD
Like No One Else
CEG 49879
Lisa Bigwood was impressive in the New Folk contest in Kerrville, the same year she showcased at Telluride. She is a superior performer and writer.
Her first album, Like No One Else, is a beautifully recorded, understated folk album featuring Lisa's soft, low voice atop guitars, flute, fiddle and banjo in measured amounts. Dick Weissman did a splendid production job. It's bluesy folk: all original material delivered in a distinctive fashion. The first album contains two outstanding songs: "Spruce Top Blues," which starts off "Don't lock me in that long black box, don't lock me in the dark" about the transformation of a tree into a guitar, and "The Ballad of Charlie Asher," a song about an isolated veteran who finds a friend.
~Vic Heyman, Sing Out!
You don’t need a concept when just living inspires the blues.
Lisa Bigwood sits on the porch of a weathered old house in an Adirondack ghost town. She's leaning against the wall, looking as though she’s come a long way. A big acoustic guitar is propped next to her, and it’s come a long way, too.
This is the cover of Bigwood's first album, Like No One Else. It opens with the twangy Backwoods Woman, which is singer-songwriter autobiographical, she admits. Bigwood is particularly fond of the lines that are her response to a heckler who doesn't like sad songs: "What do you call the blues?" she sings. "You don't learn it in music school, you scrape it off your shoes."
That song earned the Rochester woman a spot in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas. She was one of three dozen performers in the new-artist category previously won by folk luminaries such as Shawn Colvin and David Wilcox. Backwoods Woman also landed Bigwood a spot in Colorado's Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
~ Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Woodland
CEG 47868
Bigwood's excellent 1995 debut, Like No One Else, opened with Backwoods Woman, a song that set the tone for the album with the truly outstanding lines "What do you call the blues/ you don't learn it in music school/ you scrape it off your shoes. "Likewise, the new album's opening Woodland Band sets a nice, full, bluegrassy stage. But it's a strange woodland she's taking you into."
There's no warm fuzziness, no declarations of unconditional love. The closest Bigwood ever comes to cracking a joke is a wry observation. She has a big, husky voice, but Bigwood keeps it in check, as though she's guarding her feelings even as she spills out her secrets."
On Bad Memories and No Shame, her characters are people who have grown stronger through experience and now can turn to face their tormentors. "You say you have sorrow/ you say you have pain/ you talk of tomorrow/ like you have no shame."
Bigwood writes these words straight from her own heart. It's clear that many other words are drawn from the wreck of the abusive marriage that she escaped several years ago — an escape that freed her to write these excellent songs."
As was the case with Like No One Else, Bigwood's words hit with the chilling impact of accusations. But musically, Woodland is a big step forward."
~ Jeff Spevak, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
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