At 22, Lydia Loveless has already lived a couple of musical lifetimes. The Columbus resident started playing in the family-centric Carson Drew at 13, started playing solo shows at 15 and then focused on her own career when the band broke up. Inspired by classic Country (Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline), quirky Rock (Velvet Underground, Elvis Costello), bracingly smart Punk (Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Television), jangly Indie Rock (from The Strokes to Gin Blossoms), contemporary Pop (Ke$ha, Britney Spears) and even Metal (a la Hank III), Loveless is a twanging, banging gene splice of Loretta Lynn and Joan Jett. She’s a melodic songstress with the nuance to coax the sweet out of a sugar bowl and the power to start a fistfight between thunder and lightning. Loveless’ first album, 2009’s The Only Man, was a self-released revelation that merely hinted at her developing gifts.
AltCountry/Roots Rock/Americana super-label Bloodshot Records recognized something special and signed her, releasing last year’s full-length Indestructible Machine.
The LP displayed an exponential amount of growth and maturity, but those advances were even more evident in Loveless’ live shows, where she swaggered and stomped with youthful vigor and crooned with an old soul’s shambling wisdom. Since her impressive 2011 MidPoint Music Festival appearance in Cincy, Loveless has been working up brand new songs and forging them in the fires of her relentless tours. Her Friday gig at the MidPoint Indie Summer series should be an even more incendiary display … if such a thing is even scientifically possible.
LYDIA LOVELESS performs Friday, July 6 at Fountain Square downtown as part of the MidPoint Indie Summer Series with guests The Ready Stance and Patrick Sweany. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here.
