May = Busy, Busy Month!

May is proving to be an exciting, busy, overwhelming month already. The record is officially being released June 2nd, and we are just embarking on the real work of this whole process. I feel like I am constantly learning about this ever-changing music industry, and I feel lucky to be releasing a record in a time where the artist has more control over her own fate. However, this also means more work. I am playing a couple of showcases that I am really looking forward to leading up to the release, and I have a couple of shows coming up really soon. The last hotel cafe residency show May 11, and the record release party is May 29th at the Roxy. I hope you can come out and celebrate this special event! It is going to be a party. I am really looking forward to playing a release show in my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas on June 4th. I'll keep you updated as more dates arise...:)

The LA Music Community

Los Angeles can feel like a vast, overwhelming city with very little sense of community. There are so many people coming and going--it is known as a very transient place. One of the toughest things about living here for me has been that I have never felt a part of the music community...until now. I recently went to Austin for South by Southwest, and while I was there I spent most of my time seeing LA-based bands and hangin' out with LA-based industry peeps. I started to realize that the music community gets smaller and smaller the longer you remain a part of it. I realized just how many wonderful, talented people I know in Los Angeles. There is a community here, you just have to fight a little bit harder to feel like you're a part of it.

Austin was amazing. It is a city built for live music, and it is my favorite city in the US. I go there a lot--it is kind of like my second home. It was really nice to feel a connection between my life there, and my life here. It made the world, and the music community in particular, seem a little bit smaller.

PRESS RELEASE!

For Immediate Release

March 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES INDIE POP SINGER/SONGWRITER

LISA DONNELLY

FINDS HER VOICE ON SOLO DEBUT

WE HAD A THING, OUT 6/2

Los Angeles Residency Begins in March/April With
CD Release Party on May 29 at The Roxy

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – "When I look back I realize: I’m a writer who sings," declares Los Angeles via Kansas singer/songwriter Lisa Donnelly. On her debut We Had A Thing, Donnelly teams with co-writer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Rob Giles (The Rescues) & Rich Jacques, alongside songwriter Kevin Hunter, engineers John Morrical (Rancid) & John Fields (Jonas Brothers). Chris Bellman put the finishing touches in mastering at Bernie Grundman Studios. The disc is due June 2, 2009 on indie Sound/B-Team Media.

Excelling at dance and theater, Lisa was a late bloomer when it came to music. “All my life I couldn’t figure out what my biggest passion was,” she recalls. “It never occurred to me to sing in bands until I was a freshman in college in San Diego.”

After fronting several bands – including L.A outfit A.M. Pacific – Donnelly embarked on a solo career and found a kindred spirits in Rob Giles and Rick Jacques. She recalls, “In all of my time in L.A. no one had ever asked me the right questions,” she further explains “they wanted to know who I was and what I wanted to say and then from there we could figure out how to say it together.”

Donnelly has crafted ten smoldering tracks that Grammy.com in a recent “Indie Artist Spotlight” feature declares, “will take you on a ride.” On the opener “Laugh,” Donnelly proclaims, “sex and money make the world go around,” in the words of an 83-year old clairvoyant who reads her future, backpacks through the cobblestone streets of Spain with the guitar-toting troubadour, “Julian,” and sizes up an interest of lust on “Little Devil.”

Grammy.com further praised the debut, “rooted in folk/pop, she crosses genres and sounds, weaving Indian sitar for eastern flavor in "Blue," while gravitating to the blues with the ballad "Stuck In A Rut," and showcasing her fresh, sharp wit in the pop single "Laugh."

In 2008, Lisa co-headlined the Roxy in Los Angeles with Rooney and Brett Dennen, was a featured indie artist on the “AFL Music – The Cause” compilation alongside talent such as Joshua James and Priscilla Ahn and earned a spot on the MTV “Choose or Lose” tour performing in her hometown of Lawrence. Prepping for her debut, Donnelly recently previewed songs to a packed house at the Hotel Café in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles.

Lisa Donnelly will begin a Sunday night residency in Los Angeles at The Hotel Café April 5, 19, 26 & May 3 before celebrating the release of We Had A Thing at the Roxy on May 29.

For more information on Lisa Donnelly, please contact THINK PRESS:

Monica Hopman / (818) 291-9513 / monica@thinkpress.net

Writing with Women

I have been writing songs for a while now…on my own, or always with men. I recently took a trip to Nashville, and had two co-writing sessions with amazing women. It was such a crazy experience—to walk into a room with a stranger, and in two hours complete a song from the heart. I was a little nervous, but it went really smoothly. I connected with these talented ladies right away. It opened my eyes to a whole new way to write music, a new camaraderie. I’ve always had such great friendships with women, and now being able to write with my fellow ladies that share many of the same experiences as I’ve had is incredibly fulfilling.

I am now working on a bunch of new songs with one of my best friends, Bevin Hamilton. (Check out her myspace!) We grew up together in Kansas, so needless to say we understand each other. To write with a woman I know so well and feel so comfortable with is yet another new, exciting adventure. But hey, I still got all the love in the world for the gents in my life. I’m just sayin', thank god I finally figured out I should write with the ladies too!

Changes

Ch-ch-ch-changes....the New Year has passed. Obama is in office. I feel like nearly everyone around me is pushing for positive transformation. I read a quote today that stuck with me: "The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more resistance we will feel toward pursuing it." Change is great; change is hard. So here's to all of us pushing through our resistance and creating positive changes for ourselves and the world around us...

Laugh At It All...

So you may or may not know that the song "Laugh" is a true story; it was written about a random conversation I had with an older woman named Besedka. She and I have since become really great friends. I call her for advice, and sometimes just to chat. Whenever I'm up north in San Fransisco, I stop by her apartment to have tea and catch up. Besedka is now 83 years old, but if you talked to her you'd never know it. She has such a vibrant, beautiful way about her...anyway, I recently finally got a chance to play the song I wrote about her in her presence. I hoped it brought her joy to see that she has had such a positive influence on me. What was her reaction? She laughed the whole time. She thought the song was great, but hilarious. And so she lives her own advice, haha...

The Record Making Process

From conception to completion this record (We Had A Thing) has been a year in the making. In some way, I feel like I've been waiting all my life to make this record. I was lucky enough to connect with two co-writers that eventually produced the songs as well. Together, we took a journey filled with smiles, stress, and all things in between. It has been an amazing experience, and I am thrilled to finally share these words and notes from my heart with you.