DESCRIPTION:
Lisa Mills plays a foot-stomping original song at the An Beal Bocht Cafe in the Bronx, NY.

Stirring performance....

www.lisamills.com

Who is Lisa? Read on....from Early Blues:

"Lisa Mills is an incredibly gifted singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Born and raised in Mississippi, she is well grounded in her blues based, soulfully delivered original music.

Lisa grew up in and around Hattiesburg Mississippi, beginning her singing career in the church that her grandparents actually built. Gospel was her first musical love, and still is deeply embedded in her artistic foundation. Her mother loved Elvis, and her father loved Hank Williams Sr. Mix that in with a few Brenda Lee records, Lisa had quite a diverse background to develop her early musical education.

Lisa grew up on gospel and soul and began composing songs before she was old enough to start school. Destined to perform, Lisa poured her heart into writing, singing and playing guitar, gathering strength like the hurricanes that brew in the Gulf of Mexico. Her vocal influences ranged from Etta James to Brenda Lee. A friend who recognized Lisa’s potential sent Sam Andrew of Big Brother and the Holding Company a copy of Blues and Ballads, her first CD, recorded live in Pascagoula, Mississippi. It was the connection that landed Lisa her first international gig, in Germany, and a three-year tour as BBHC’s lead singer. It was the European connection that led her to meet Ian Jennings and then Robert Plant’s sound engineer Roy Williams, who encouraged her to take her rightful place as a solo artist.

Lisa has been performing summer tours in the U.K., and Europe, since 2001. While primarily performing her own solo tour, where she played such venues as The Glastonbury Festival, U.K., where she received a standing ovation from a crowd of over ten thousand people, the Gloucester Blues Festival, U.K., with Mike Sanchez and his Rhythm Review, along with Andy Fairweather Low, and The Ole Blues Festival, in Bergen Norway. She has also opened for, Dr. John, Delbert McClinton, and Tony Joe White".

I first saw Lisa Mills open the Saturday afternoon session at the 2008 Maryport Blues Festival and was knocked out by her stunning performance. Since then I've been a fan, seeing her several times on UK tours. I met up with Lisa again at the 2011 Great British R&B Festival in Colne, Lancashire.

Alan: What were your first musical memories growing up in Mississippi?

Lisa: Church, and Elvis. Pretty good stuff huh! Oh, and my Dad of course. He played a bit of guitar and he sounds like the real honky tonk deal when he sings Hank Williams and Johnny Cash and the old standards like Fraulein, Fraulein.

Alan: Did you always want to become a musician or singer?

Lisa: I don’t know if it’s what I wanted, but it’s what I’ve always done. I don’t think I ever chose it, it just sort of happened. I was singing in church and they’d bring me out when family members were coming over to visit, after church we’d go to my Uncle Shelby’s house and we’d sit around the piano and sing and I’d sing for the other kids in the playground. It was just always something I did, just happened.

Read more: http://www.earlyblues.com/Interview%20-%20Lisa%20Mills.htm