A biography for Lizz Wrighthasn’t been written yet.
“I'd listen to the radio, especially when my parents were out on house calls to pray for people - you know, shut-ins. Sometimes, if we were incredibly sneaky, we could do it at night when everyone was asleep.”
“I call myself a singer-songwriter influenced by the gospel and jazz tradition. Naturally, because of my lifestyle and love for nature, there's a lot of folk and Americana there because that's just my life.”
“I've always been genuinely interested in the spirit world. I've seen things I will never talk about because I'd be a fool to. You can't lay out that world in words.”
“Jazz has a lot to do with being very present. You know the structure, then you flow through it.”
“Music is primal: when it's done without pretension, you can really feel the shape of someone's soul.”
“I am more prolific when I have something to respond to. I get my juice from people and real stories and things that seem common but are amazing.”
“'Moffou' is one of my favorite records.”
“At 16, I was going to church and playing music for church, and Dad would only pay for piano lessons so I could play at church.”
“Singing in church is a very different approach to music. It's very much about transcending the idea of self. It's about finding something greater that connects all of us. Gospel music is about tapping into that.”
“We had no television, and I only heard the radio when my parents went out to a Bible study group. They liked a quiet, meditative house.”
“Where I come from, music is not a business. Sharing music is a business, but music is not a business. It comes from the people and belongs to the people.”
“I know how to make myself comfortable.”
“It's hard to know who you are until you're cracked open a little bit.”
“I don't think words always lead to meaning, but the things you can create with them are still pretty amazing. I've been really into Joni Mitchell, for example, but I've also been into some studio stuff, like Bjork.”
“Making a record and being a touring artist is about cooperation between spirit, craft, emotion, and focus.”
“I always want to do good work and enjoy doing it.”
“I think living in a way that's close to nature makes you feel like that - makes you feel how thin the veil is between life and death.”
“I studied opera for a year at Georgia State University, but I wasn't interested in that meticulous, technical approach to music. So I left school and went back to jazz.”
“Whoever is playing with me, they participate in the arrangement; I learned from Craig Street to really pool the stories and the skill and the voices of everybody around you on the bandstand to build an arrangement in the moment.”
“I love talking to other musicians on tour and finding out what we all have to do, not just as artists but as business people. A lot of us are investing and trying to use social media. It is such an interesting level of responsibility and engagement on all these levels. I don't know how one can do this without absolute commitment and faith.”