In simplest terms, Luisa Lopez is a songwriter. By that, yes, I mean that she writes songs. But it's much more complicated than that. The act of writing is not just something that she does with her time. It is not a function. It is not an action. You see, Luisa Lopez is a songwriter... it is at the very core of who she is. It would be impossible for her to not write. "This is my gift," she explains, "I can't stop what I do."

This self-awareness came early for Luisa, much earlier than most. At age 11 that she wrote her first tune and by 12 she had learned to play the guitar. Growing up in Houston, TX - where they dance just as good as they walk - Luisa was exposed to a solid dose of classic 60's & 70's Soul from her mother's record collection and a significant amount of Country & Western from the family AM radio. And it is this intersection of genres where her sound seems to be this day.

Now the the whole Country-Soul sound is by no means a novel fusion. From Ray Charles, Solomon Burke & Candi Stanton to Tony Joe White, Willie Nelson and even up to our very own Lambchop, Country & Soul have a long a storied history together. What has made Country and Soul go so well together all these years are the songs. These songs get to the core of what makes us human: love, lovers, loss, pain, redemption... the heaviest of subjects. These songs, well, they come with a burden.

And today we have Luisa Lopez, ready and willing to take on that burden, able to write those heavy songs. Not that she has a choice, because she's been carrying that burden, that weight of living life, long before she realized what to do with it. When she patched together those first lyrics and melodies as a little girl it was her way of accepting fate. Because you see, Luisa Lopez is a songwriter, but it's much more complicated than that.

-Joe Baine Colvert

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The Band:

Luisa Lopez – Guitar & Vocals
Moe Raw – Bass
Tony Keats – Guitar
Jeff Keeran – Piano
Todd Newland – Drums
Jessica Welch – Vocals
Cindy Lee - Vocals