With a fresh start in NC, songwriter Lydia Loveless gets her groove back on ‘Daughter’
Fans of acclaimed country-rock singer-songwriter Lydia Loveless would likely still be waiting for her new album, “Daughter” (out this week), if 2020 had been a year like any other.
“It probably would have come out later because I’m not sure I’d have had the confidence to do the self-release,” she says. “It made me feel a little more capable instead of continuing to shop around (for a label).”
Instead, she’s releasing it on her own Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records with a streaming concert Thursday featuring her full band. That will be followed by two streaming solo shows Oct. 8 and 22.
It’s been four years since Loveless released her last studio album “Real” — which hinted at the impending end of her marriage — and three since she moved from her hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to Raleigh.
“I love it here,” she says of the area and the home she shares with magician Michael Casey and her cat Catterson Hood. “The summers are a b----, but I really like where I live. I found it pretty peaceful and creatively inspiring. Although I haven’t been out of the house in six months.”
“Daughter” delves headlong into the pain and uncertainty of divorce and newfound freedom in a world that suddenly seemed more willing to recognize women and their trials and tribulations. Now 30, Loveless — who had married young and signed to Bloodshot Records at 19 — was on her own for the first time as the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements were gaining ground. (In 2019, Loveless shared her own experience with sexual misconduct at her former label on her Instagram account.)
“Daughter” continues that broader conversation as Loveless ruminates on the value that’s placed on women who are mothers, sisters and daughters above others. On the title track she sings: “What is my body worth to you without your blood in it?/Is my story worth the read without your name on it?” It’s a stunning opening and later questions why a woman’s worth is still tied to her choice to have (or not to have) children.
“I could see this rage building up over childless people,” says Loveless, who lacks that maternal desire. “It’s interesting to think of just being yourself, to exist as a person and not trying to carry on my lineage.”
Leaving her hometown, being separated from her band, and parting ways with her label and husband (who was also her bassist), meant writing the album in utter isolation in her home studio in North Carolina.
“I’m not really into writing in the moment of turmoil,” she says. So it was here — once she was settled — that she started writing, while learning to use a drum machine to fill in for the band. “I’m used to being with my band in a room and we’re sort of jamming out the songs. I was making drumbeats, which is not something I’m particularly skilled at, but felt it was necessary to fill the space. It was something I was trying to learn so I’d never have to learn it again.”
Although she wrote much of it on piano with tracks and a synthesizer, “Daughter” still sounds like the Loveless who has charmed fans throughout her career with dry wit and blatant lyrical honesty.
The record came together quickly once the group reconvened in Chicago, where Against Me’s Laura Jane Grace turned up to sing on the aching “September.”
“I think everyone felt really ready to make a record. My favorite part of being a musician is recording,” she says. “I had a solid year of not accomplishing much. I felt like I got my groove back.”