Lizzy Lehman bids Austin adieu with a free show at Radio East this Friday, June 13
Regardless of the circumstance, Lizzy Lehman is here to take no bull and encourage your candor. A lifelong musician with a musical theatre background to boot, the Evanston, Illinois native moved to Austin in 2011. They started the Lizzy Lehman Band and joined Americana group the Blackwells, though Lehman laments the Americana style never quite fit and writing and performing the songs felt like the means to an end as opposed to a true reflection of themself.
The unexpected death of friend and bandmate John Windsor catalyzed Lizzy’s approach and relationship to music and songwriting. The only thing that mattered was being honest. This change was realized on Lehman’s indie pop band Carrie Illinois’s 2017 EP Garage Sale, introducing audiences to a deeply vulnerable side of Lehman, now baring it all and using the songs as a device to work through grief, growth, and reflection.
That would prove to be not a stepping stone, but a wholly formed foundation. Through the group’s 2018 EP Runaway and Lizzy’s own solo work, Lehman’s tender, brandy-kissed voice builds on the foundation with stories and contemplations on body politics, queerness, and turning self-perceived “brokenness into liberation.”
In 2022, Lehman released “Sweet Relief,” a track produced by Austin’s Sarah Houser for Spoon drummer Jim Eno’s Project Traction. Lehman has also turned their rising strength into becoming a pillar of activism and support for the transgender community in Austin and at large, documenting their own gender and body journey and acting as an invaluable resource for support and staying informed.
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