Lisa Wright – ‘Mind of Mine’ EP Launch – The 229 Venue – Wednesday 23rd May

Over here at Belles and Gals we pride ourselves on supporting upcoming women in country music, in the US and of course as we are a UK site, UK artists. In my opinion, Lisa Wright’s career is about to blossom in a magnificent way, we at Belles and Gals are so excited to watch. Lisa demonstrated the above at her EP launch last Wednesday.

Lisa took to the stage carrying the usual bubbly, genuine and hysterical manner she grasps her audience with. She has mastered her stage presence already, which is so impressive for such a young artist; it is blindingly clear how hard she has worked at her craft. Showcasing her impressive catalogue of songs, upbeat and mellow, old and new, Lisa had the audience rightfully captured throughout the hour set.

Obviously the evening’s main focus was the release of Wright’s new EP, entitled ‘Mind of Mine’, so undoubtedly the performances of these tracks were very much anticipated, and let me tell you, I can guarantee no one was disappointed. Some of my highlights of the evening were in fact EP tracks, the wistful ‘Giving up the Ghost’ which Lisa sang acoustically after telling the audience how the song came about. Sang with such emotion, you can’t help but get lost in Wright’s vocal, especially in a song like this, as it’s so easy to understand the lyrics and the feeling that come from them. Another high point for me was of course lead single off of ‘Mind of Mine’, ‘Tennessee’. I am absolutely obsessed with this song, I think it’s one of the best songs that has come out of the UK country scene and I believe it’ll catapult Lisa’s career onto another level. It was such a pleasure to see this performed live with her wonderful cowriter Kaity Rae. Congratulations girls, this song really is just marvellous!

Lisa’s personality shines effortlessly on stage, she constantly had the audience in stitches of laughter as she joked about her ‘happy’ song ‘Before I die’ and her Essex accent compared to her singing voice. On the other hand, she also knows how to get a little serious, while serenading us with the beautiful melodies of ‘Back to You’ and ‘In the End’. Lisa Wright is UK Country’s girl next door and no matter how many ‘big’ American artists come over, I for one, will always have a special place in my heart for small, intimate UK gigs like this. Lisa is a front runner in the UK Country scene right now and she deserves all the support we can give her. I’m telling you, she’ll do us proud.

‘Mind of Mine’ Lisa’s latest EP came out Friday 25th May. So, do you remember what I just said? Yeah? So go and buy it!

Review written by Shannon Hynes
twitter.com/s_hynesmusic