Album Premiere: Alabaster by Carry Illinois

“Alabaster is an album that means a lot to me in terms of my personal growth and journey in professional music throughout the past seven years,” said Austin-based singer/guitarist Lizzy Lehman, of her band’s stirring debut. “I am so proud to have released this set of songs and to have finally found my true voice.”

Lehman went through hell to get there. “I wrote the album throughout a serious bout of depression and a difficult band break up (the Blackwells, a bluegrass/Americana outfit); I witnessed a friend lose her father and another separate from his longtime girlfriend,” she said. “Alabaster was the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Lizzy’s music is firmly rooted in ’60s and ’70s folk-rock, with generous dollop of feisty and dramatic Brill Building pop. Her band, Carry Illinois (guitarist Darwin Smith, bassist John Winsor, drummer Rudy Villarreal and keyboardist Derek Morris), plays with finesse and passion, solidly supporting Lehman’s voice, a yearning, smoldering alto that recalls Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks and Courtney Barnett. It’s great stuff.

If you like this, please purchase Alabaster here.