Should I Listen?
Lissie: Why You Runnin’
Amelia Kreminski :: Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 5:00 pm
When I think about Illinois, I usually think Chicago first. Then I think about all things related to Chicago, like Obama and pizza and bears. Then I think about how many people I know who pronounce the state “Ill-uh-noy” and how many people pronounce it “Ill-uh-noise” (are they actually both correct?). My point is, I never think about Illinois’s country-that rural part surrounding the limelight-stealing Chicago. But Lissie, a new singer-songwriter that sounds like a mix of She & Him’s croon, Dolly Parton’s soul, and AA Bondy’s mellowness is calling attention to the other part of Illinois. She hails from Rock Island, and her gentle EP Why You Runnin’ encompasses everything good about old-school country folk that contemporary country seems to have throw out the pick-up truck window. It’s pensive. It’s sultry. It makes me want to sit on a porch swing and shuck some corn or something. And that’s impressive. Should I listen? Yes.
