Powerhouse New Orleans singer-songwriter / pianist / activist Lilli Lewis has announced her fall tour (subject to virtual pivots), and album release date for Americana – a follow-up to critically acclaimed EP My American Heart Red + Blue.
Lewis has been on a roll this summer – releasing the “Wrecking Ball” video from My American Heart Red + Blue in conjunction with her selection for Global Music Match, an online collaboration showcasing 78 artists from 17 countries.
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The last #GlobalMusicMatch included a virtual showcase at Folk Unlocked, the digital Folk Alliance International Conference, where Lewis spearheads FAI Committing to Conversation to promote racial equity in folk.
Lewis’ advocacy has extended to co-founding the inaugural Black Opry Festival originally planned for New Orleans and pivoting to virtual in fall 2021, as described in Offbeat Music Magazine’s article: Numbers Don’t Lie: Lilli Lewis Talks Black Presence in Americana. For updates, search for the hashtag #BlackOpryFest.
Trained as an opera singer and classical pianist, Athens, Georgia native Lilli Lewis has been a composer, producer and performer for over two decades. After carving out space as an African-American lesbian of size, Lewis is lending her voice to the industry’s need to diversify, as quoted in panels from Billboard to Rolling Stone.
Lewis has been featured at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s Chanteuse series and The Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America, held virtually. In 2021, The Folk Rock Diva played WWOZ FM’s star-studded Piano Night, performing “My American Heart” – a song one reviewer compared to “a contemporary Jessye Norman if folk rock had been her genre,” and Mandy Patinkin compared to “the color of light.”
Lewis performs folk, roots, country-soul, gospel and jazz, and has integrated New Orleans traditions by singing lead for Dirty Dozen Brass Band founding member Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove. VP and head of A&R for Louisiana Red Hot Records, Lewis’ releases include 2018 solo piano The Henderson Sessions, 2019’s We Belong and 2020’s My American Heart Red + Blue EP. Up next: Americana, Oct. 29, 2021.
Lilli Lewis Fall Tour / LLP = Lilli Lewis Project
8/27 Hot August Nights Riemers (solo) Hammond, LA
8/28 Cutting Edge Showcase New Orleans, LA
9/18 Baton Rouge Blues Festival (LLP) Baton Rouge, LA
9/22-23 AmericanaFest Nashville, TN
9/24 Broadmoor (Brown Sugar) New Orleans, LA
10/2 French Quarter Fest (trio) New Orleans, LA
10/8 Allerton Park Music Barn Festival (CANCELED) Monticello, IL
10/15 Marc Stone Presents: “Love in Vain”
Blues roots of The Rolling Stones New Orleans, LA
10/27-31 Black Opry Fest (virtual) New Orleans, LA
10/29 “Americana” Album Release (virtual) New Orleans, LA
11/6 NOMA Concert Performance (LLP) New Orleans, LA
Connect with Lilli Lewis:
Official | Amazon Music | Twitter | Apple Music | Spotify
